Font, Spring 2013, preview

I’m about to head to Fontainbleau for another short climbing trip. I’ve been going there since 2003, this will be my 10th anniversary of going to font.

The first time I went there I brought a lot of expectations with me. I was climbing pretty well and I fully expected that I should be able to run up problems of about font 6a. I think I fell off of that first 3a 6 times before I got it. It must have been years before I got any problem of 5 or harder.

I really was never sure that I ever would climb something as hard as a font 6. It seemed beyond a level that I would be able to do.

Eventually in 2010 I climbed a verifiable font 6a - le surplomb du lepreaux at elephant.

In all that time, all the years I’ve been going, there has been one climb that has represented a level to aspire to - la Marie rose, the first 6a in the world. I’ve been falling off it for about six years now. Going into my last trip I was confident. It didn’t happen.

I’m going again next week.

In the last six months I’ve done over 300 bouldering problems in the gym. I’ve done more fingerboard sessions targeted at improving my strength on slopers, than ever before. I’ve done more v4s in 2013 in the gym than in all other years combined.

Fuck it, there really is no more that I could have done in preparation for the upcoming trip. I’m going to try la Marie rose again, and I might get it this year, or I might not. The conditions might be great, it might rain.

The one thing I know is that this time when I try it, there will be no excuses, and I won’t have any regrets over my preparation. I hope I get it, and honestly I’m nervous that I might not, but I’m really happy with my training and I’m really really looking forward to measuring it up against reality.

There are a few bouldering problems lurking in the world, one took me 10 years to do, one 18 solid months of effort, trying almost every week. Marie Rose is a wonderful project, this boulder will be there, I’ll do it or I won’t, and I’ll probably keep coming back to it, hopefully for the next 10 years at least. I hope I get it.