It was a joy to be back visiting the magical forest around Fontainebleau, south of Paris in March 2006. This is a picturesque region where the former kings of France built a summer residence, the spectacular Fontainebleau Chateau that draws tourists from across the world to view its splendid architecture and the remnants of a decadent culture. Back in former times, the royalty protected the vast surrounding forest and hunted deer and wild boar here. But today, climbers like us come from all across the globe to the same area, seeking rocks to climb.

We arrived in early March to cloudy and rainy skies, so took the opportunity to hike a few of the ancient trails through the region to view some of the seemingly endless hillsides of boulders. Locals have been climbing here since the early 1900s. Many of France's best alpinists began their climbing careers here, training for the bigger faces of the Alps by linking lengthy circuits of boulder problems together. One of these great climbers, Pierre Alain was the first person in the world to create a rock climbing shoe, the "PA" in the early 1940s. Not only was he a great alpinist, he was also a boulderer in the modern idiom, seeking the hardest lines of his day, and playing on the rock like a gymnast.

After a week of rain, we were finally blessed by the arrival of motivated visitors Todd Daniels and John Lachey along with several days of clear skies and cool temperatures. The rock dried and grippy conditions prevailed. Even the locals are delightedly calling out, "ca colle!" -- literally, "it sticks!" We set out to pull on the rock's ubiquitous sloping features and tiny "gratons" (those little quarter-inch deep edges that bite into the fingertips).

We stayed near Nemours, and the local areas of Petit Bois and Rocher Greau turned out to have some sweet gems. At Petit Bois, Big Jim (6c+, about v5) is a smooth immaculate wall with pockets and long moves that lead to a climactic dyno -- at least for Lisa who took a fall there at her first attempt, 20 feet up. It is listed as "engagé" in the guidebook. Another beauty there is La Baleine (7a, supposedly v5/6) which I swear is a total sandbag, but whatever, I figured it out in the end! We moved on Cuvier Rempart about a half hour to the north, where there a many tall and beautiful lines. Lisa took multiple plummets from the top of Haute Tension (7c+, v10), before she unlocked the sequence. Again, Lisa was super-stretched and needed tremendous core tension to maintain contact on the tiny sloping holds. Peter Mortimer shot video of her on the ascent, as you can see from the picture below!

[Link to part 2]