After 10 days of rest, I decided to head back to Font' on Sunday and give my right index a test drive. For some reason, the skin on my fingers was slippery and I couldn't hold anything. I sent a few easy problems and then tried a 7A+ and a 7A. I spent the rest of the session spotting a friend. My finger was not screaming at me.
Monday, back to Font' for the orange circuit at Mont Ussy. After 10 boulders, I felt my index complain and got worried. I kept climbing but mostly used the other nine fingers. I took photos of the entire circuit; they are now available on bleau.info (see here).
Tuesday: Roche aux Oiseaux. About 20 easy boulders from the red circuit, a six-meter 6A+ (I flashed it to test my nerves) and three or four technically tough boulders in the 6th degree. Summary of the day: I learnt yet another technique for a heelhook (how many are there?); I did a move that I needed to master in order to send Chasseur des Prises (raise a foot very high, sit on it and then switch feet while using very bad handholds) that has resisted me during 3 sessions; I sent a beautiful boulder (around 6A). I need to film the last one: my technique was probably flawless and it made me feel like a dancer.
Wednesday: Rocher de la Reine. After 17 km of biking, three consecutive days of climbing plus my injury, I didn't expect anything more than an easy circuit. That's because I had forgotten the importance of climbing in good company; this was the first time that our team would be getting back together after summer time. We started working on a tough 7A (Napoléon assis). Every single move was physical but I sent them all very quickly except for the crux. I missed this one (a right shoulder lock with a bad, bad handhold) by only 3 or 4 cms and then lost it for good. And then it was prow time: Compression Zip (7A)! Simple but beautiful. I realise that my top three boulders in Font' all "happen" to be prows. After 15-20 tries, I was able to come up with a great beta that allowed me to stroll on the rock. I'm never content unless everything is clean. I had found an ideal beta before that but lacked the 3 extra cms. Yes, I know it sounds like a pattern but it IS true: it is always those 2-3 cms - or lack thereof - that make me work harder. As you can see in the video, my back muscles are hardly tense; that's because I simplified my beta to the maximum.
Then, it was Le Couguar (7A+ but I give it a 7A). The first move is a tough right-shoulder lock, a move that I've never been able to pull off on other boulders. My team members - much taller than me - were able to grasp the left hold with their left arm extended to the max therefore I thought I couldn't do it. I tried to dyno, to go staticly, I was two centimeters away every time. Then, I understood the position I had to put my body into. Next try, I did the move but fell on the next one (a right heel hook). Heel hooks being my specialty, it really got to me that I would allow myself to make such a mistake. For the life of me, I don't understand why, while my technique is getting better and better, I keep making elementary mistakes. Funny enough, Guillaume Glairon-Mondet was writing something similar a few days ago:
In the end, I am fighting from the beginning to the end of the circuit and topped only two problems to finish around the 40th spot. My worst place so far, while I am stronger than I've ever been... Hard to believe!
Next try it went smoothly and I sent it quite easily.
On my way to the train station, my body was drained. I had to take two 2-minute breaks on the ride back. It took everything I had in me to get back home. I opened my door and didn't know what to do first: eat, shower, lie down, watch TV? I was starving, my body was aching and I had sand everywhere, even behind my ears. I ate a bowl of chick peas, 300 g of shredded carrots and two eggs. But my dinner lacked something... I headed to the fridge and while opening the door, I prayed to an nonspecific deity: "please let there be a melon in there!" And the deity answered favourably! I was in heaven!
Thursday was lead climbing again. My left shoulder, neck and calves were aching so I was pessimistic. But after a soft warm-up, I tried a 6c. "Sang pour sang" (eng. Blood for blood), 13 meters, 5 quickdraws. It was all monos, tiny pinches and crimps. I flashed it rather easily despite the painful holds. I am very proud of this one. Then a 5C and a 6B.
Tomorrow is my day off. No matter who calls me, I am saying no... I have to resist, damn it!
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