Ok. Let's sort this thing out. Life's hard, I work my ass off every day, and then try to squeeze az much as climbing in between. Why is all that? I guess just to keep it sporting folks.
It has been quite a while since I've got some blogs out of my mind. But it has been building up for a while, so in this damn hot summer night, during a break of sleep at midnight, I am here for a write up for the last couple of months.
Where the hell I have been since March 22th? Well, let me just give a quick summary of things that went on my side:
- During April 12-20th week, I was in Fontainebleau. I bouldered my elbows off on this sandstone heaven for a full week.
- After I came back from Font, I just stayed for two days in Ankara, and headed directly into Geyikbayiri to deal with "life", and do some more climbing.
- Then at May 13, I came back to Ankara, and since then, I have been working hard, training hard and trying to climb some boulders in my local bouldering Crag - Barek Mountain. I started logging my training on some self invented Excel file that I would like to elaborate more on later. During these last few months, I guess I slowly accumulated a right hand ring-finger injury, and I am also trying to manage that, too.
In the mean time, as I just came back from Fontainebleau, I learned that some friends would visit Rocklands - South Africa during July. With some sudden storm of planning, hotel reservation and plane tickets, guess what? I am in for that. Now it's June 28, and I am flying to South Africa to visit another bouldering mecca. I'll be there for a full month, but I will spend half of the days working remotely, and other half, climbing and exploring the area. (Spoiler, I am already there, almost finishing the trip, and looking forward to write about that, soon).
Now, back to the details about the trip to Fontainebleau.
Fontainebleau: What took me so long to come back here?
My first trip to Fontainebleau (abbreviated as Font, or Bleau) was in 2007. I was only 27 years old. Just dropped out of my last job, paid off all the credit cards debt, shut off my rental house in Istanbul, and then headed off to my first journey far from my mother land. It was a lonely journey, but I had some friends living in Paris. I had a chance to stay for a month in Paris, and then make some daily trips to Font. Oya was already a Parisian, and a Font local, doing her PhD, and already climbing in the area for some time.
During that visit to Font, I also had the chance to climb with Jean-Claude Droyer (see
this and
this article for a brief intro). Apparently, Jean-Claude was one of the pioneers of free climbing in France. The guy climbed 7b in 1970, and since according to
this artice, the first 7b was climbed in 1970, I guess he was among the first climbers who did that. I remember Jean was approaching his sixties during that time. Apparently, Jean and Oya were close friends, and it was an absolute joy to climb together, since he knew the area very well, and we went to some of the best routes that I could tackle in that time.
Back then, it was quite astonishing for me to figure out the level of foot technique required to do the boulders in Font. This time, it was no different. Font slabs are notoriously hard for their grades, and I believe if one can feel comfortable on those slabs, it can open a whole big window of opportunities on other types of rock. And after some 17 years since my first visit to Font, this is still unchanged. While we're at it, let's also brag a little about the grades in Font.
What the hell is going on with the grades in Font?
Grades in Font are generally hard. We are currently developing Barek, the new bouldering area close to my home town, and I was hoping to come back from Font with a wider opinion on bouldering grades. Oh boy... All I can say to summarize is: on the lower part of the spectrum, grades in Font are literally "all over the place".
Font grades go like ... 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A ... and after some point, grades have "+", like 6A, 6A+, 6B, 6B+, etc. And this goes up to 9A, I believe.
Now, by convention if you see a French grade with low caps (e.g., 7a+), that should represent a sport climbing route, and if you see one with high caps (e.g., 7A+), that would represent a boulder grade.
I could easily do most of the easy stuff like 4A, 4C, etc. However, I still got surprised how hard some of those climbs were. And when we go up to grades like 5B, 5C.. Well, I must say some 5C slabs are still out of reach for me, and some of them I really had to be careful not to ruin the flash attempt.. So, I can say that, my feeling for the lower grades up to 6A was very mixed. Most of the problems felt a lot harder than the grades attached to them.
But then, when I started to look into higher grades like 6C and up, I saw a higher correlation with the sense of bouldering grades I developed over the years in my home country. I mean, there are still tons of 6C routes that it would require a number of sessions for me to complete, if not impossible at all... But I can say that average feeling of difficulty is not as dispersed as it was in the lower grades.
And there is much diversity on the upper spectrum, too. I could climb two 7A+ problems on this trip. One was a flash, but the other one took two sessions and lots of failed attempts, and it gave me so much elbow pain.
Where to get information about routes?
There is a free application called
Boolder. You can download it, and then see most of the routes on the map. On the other hand, the source of truth for Font routes is still
bleau.info. If you can't find a boulder problem in the Boolder app, you can search in bleau.info.
The Crew
This time around, the plan was to meet Ensar in Font. Ensar was studying his masters degree in Germany, and apparently he was planning to visit Font with his friends from Germany during the Easter holiday. We made the plan in early February. Apparently, Mustafa Eren (Musti - Turkish bouldering legend) would also visit Font in that very same week, and he joined us for some 3 days. And when Musti left, Ensar's friends from Germany came. I met with Charles, Ilya, Alan and other folks, and we had a great time together.
Accommodation
It is possible to stay with a tent in one of the campings in the forest. However, this time, I planned to work for some days, so I needed a proper place where I can have a strong internet connection. Besides, the campings in Font are not comfortable like the ones we have in Antalya - Turkey. They have toilets, shower, a place for your tent, and that's it. No kitchen to cook, no place to hide when the weather is cold, and no comfortable place to work. So, I just had to bite the bullet, and rent an Airbnb in Noisy Sur Ecole, very close to 95.2 sector.
Initially, I was planning to reach Font by public transportation, but since Musti was also coming, we decided to rent a car. I think that decision was a very good one, because having a car in Font makes life a lot easier. First, you can visit the town center easily to shop around or eat outside. Besides, Font is a really big area and there are many sectors. If we did not have a car, we would probably only climb in the same sectors during the week. But since we had the car, we could visit some of the best and classic locations.
Where to get Crashpads?
The nice thing about Font is, landings for most of the problems are really nice. Since Font is made of sand stone, the ground is mostly covered with a fine grained sand, and it makes it possible to climb even without a crashpad on some boulders. And for the other ones, you need much less pads compared to other areas.
This time around, for the first 3 days, we were 4 people, and we could climb with two normal sized crash pads. I could bring a normal sized Metolius crash pad (90x65x10 cm) with me, and Ensar rented a smaller Simond pad from one of the campings.
Keeping feet clean in Font
The ground is often covered with sand, just like a beach. So, before you start trying a boulder problem, you should clean the soles of your shoes and wipe off the sand on them. For this, most of the folks in Font carry a door mat, or similar cloth based stuff. Musti gave me a special mat designed for this - one of his own brand: Revolution. I must say it has been an addiction since then, and I also carry it with me when we go to bouldering in my local crag... I even use it in sport climbing areas to clean my shoes before each attempt.
So, how did the bouldering itself go?
I wasn't in the best shape when I went there. And I probably never would be in any of my trips... Maybe the "best shape" is just a hype??? But still, ideally, I should have focused more on bouldering, but during March, I wanted to spend some time in Geyikbayiri. At least I tried to prefer shorter and harder routes to prepare myself for the upcoming bouldering trips. Here is a detailed logs of my days:
Day 1: 95.2
It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived in Font in the night. In the morning, rain was gone, but everywhere was hot. Luckily, we were very close to the sector 95.2, which is one of the sectors which dries up pretty fast after the rain. So, we started our first day there.
 |
| The way to sector 95.2 |
 |
| First moments towards the rocks |
 |
| Sweet sand stone all over the place |
We tried some slabs on the following boulder which were graded around 5b, 5c. But they were notoriously hard, and unfortunately I could not top even the easiest one of those :) Yeah, slabs in Font are really hard.
 |
| Easy looking, but notoriously hard 5B, 5C slabs... |
But then, towards the right overhang face of that boulder, we had a great 6A+ (Le faucon). I could do this problem in a few attempts.
 |
| Le faucon 6A+ |
I think my best mistake was to join Ensar on his first day fight on Indestructible 7A+. The problem was so compelling that I think I have most of my fresh energy on that, from the very first day. The result was failure, though I could tackle most of the correct the beta for me.
 |
| Elbow crushing first session on Indestructible 7A+ |
 |
| Musti chilling out, working in between attempts |
Day 2: Elephant
We went to Elephant sector the next day. The weather was a lot warmer, and there was bright sunshine.
 |
| Entering Elephant Sector |
 |
| The place is like a playground |
 |
| Also like a beach :) |
We warmed up on some of the easy stuff, and then headed on to one of the classics "Le Coeur". I did not try this as it looked somewhat reachy for me. But I could climb the 6C on the left of the block.
 |
| Le Coeur 7A |
 |
| Musti on La Dalle Fleaux 6B |
And then I worked on an 6B slab problem. Musti could tackle this one quiet quickly, but I could not trust my feet enough to do that.. Even after some many mini sessions and maybe something like 15 tries, no success :) But then, I surprised myself by an almost flash attempt on Les Doigts du Reptile 6c, and then succeeding on it in the next try.
 |
| The easier problem to the left of La Dalle Fleaux |
 |
| Musti, cleaning his 7C+ project |
 |
| Having fun, creating social media content :) |
The summary of this day was:
- Tried 6b slab: La Dalle Fleaux
- I think it’s much harder for short people.. but I was doing pretty close with Musti’s beta
- Climbed L’Envers de l’Aigle 5a
- Climbed Chop suey 4b
- Climbed Le Quassar 3c (left of le coeur 7a)
- Climbed Les Doigts du Reptile 6c.. I almost flashed it… missed a three finger pocket on the top out.
Day 3: Rest day at Roche Aux Sabots
Today, I had a complete rest. Since it was Musti's last day, he wanted to give some burns to some boulders in Roche Aux Sabots. We were there till noon, and then I took Musti to Airport.
 |
| Chillin out while friends are still cranking hard |
 |
| Hmm.. nice boulder.. but not for today |
These are some of the problems which looked nice. I take a record of them for my future trips:
 |
| Salle Gosse 7C - recommended by Musti, might be reasonable for shorties. |
 |
| Salle Gosse 7C |
 |
| Musti on one of the one move wonder dyno problems |
Day 3: Cul de Chien
After one rest day, we went to Cul de Chien. I think this was our first day with the new Crew: Alan, Charles, Ilya and two other folks. The place was awfully crowded at first. But then, towards evening, as always, only the most serious, and the most willing ones were to stay, and it was the conditions to "send" for the serious ones.
Summary of this day was:
- climbed:
- Navigation 5b
- Le Mediane 4c (crack)
- Libre Service 4c (slab)
- Vol a vue 6a - sloper top out.. flash
- Le Retour de la Chenille 7a+ - flash
Tried Cul de chien 7a - about 6-7 times, but could not do it… Took a fairly bad fall once. The problem requires a reachy jump move high above the ground.
I guess the main surprise of the day was me flashing Le Retour de la Chenille 7A+. The problem started by campussing on some sloper crimps, and then mantling over some sloper ledge using a quite high heel hook. I powered through it without hesitation, and suddenly I was over the top. Happy and proud send!
 |
| Amazing crowd under Cul de chien 7A when we just arrived. No one is brushing.. just attempt after attempt.. crazy.. |
 |
| Vol a vue 6a - Proud to do this flash. Very scary and hard top out |
 |
| Libre Service 4c - the slab on the right of the crack |
 |
| Le Retour de la Chenille 7a+ - proud send.. flash go. |
 |
| Le Retour de la Chenille 7a+ |
Day 4: Bas cuvier
Bas Cuvier is one of the most famous sectors, home to some nice problems like Le Helicopter 7A, Carnage 7B. It was crowded as always… We started warming up by: Flashed all these
- Le petit surplomb 3b
- Le cepe - 4a
- Blue 4 - 4b
- Blue 5 - 5a
- Le Ciul De Souris - 6b
I tried helicopter - 7A 2-3 times.. jump feels far for me… Then I Climbed La Daube 7A on 3 or 4th try.
Tried first move of La Carnage - 7b 3-4 times… The boulder looks very doable for me… not very reachy. But I definitely need to get better and stronger for this.
Climbed La Joker 7A - it was an amazing bro send with Ensar… This is supposedly world’s first 7A…
At the end of the day, I climbed La Marie-Rose, which is world's first 6A.
 |
| Le Ciul De Souris - 6b |
 |
| Le Ciul De Souris - 6b |
We had a rest day after Bas Cuvier, and then on the next day, we were at 95.2 sector. The summary is:
- climbed indestructible 7A+
- Climbed retour aux sources 7A
- Tried rude boy 7A
- Climbed 6C on the left of rude boy: duel dans la lune - flash
- Lower moves are same with rude boy.. not a proper flash, though..
 |
| Garden of the Airbnb I stayed. Quite calm place. |
 |
| This was a problem I opened brand new. I guess it was something like 6B |
 |
| Retour aux sources 7A |
 |
| Retour aux sources 7A |
 |
| Retour aux sources 7A |
 |
| Rude Boy 7A - hard for me... |
 |
| Ilya on Rude Boy 7A |
 |
| Duel dans la lune - 6C: perfect climb, perfect shape |
 |
| Duel dans la lune - 6C |
 |
| Having a good time with the crew. |
Last Day: 95.2
On the last day.. We had so little time before we head to the airport. But we also had very little reserve to try hard. But here we were at 95.2, trying to warm up our stiffened bodies.
 |
| Trying to find a place to warm up with our wrecked elbows |
 |
| One of the crimpy problems which we thought would be softer for our elbows |
At the end of this day, I tried a 7A that I liked a lot. But could not manage to do all the moves. I guess I did not record the name.
Thanks to Ensar for his great photo shoots. I believe this was not the end. I am pretty sure I will be back here sooner. Not after another 17 years :D
