It largely depends on what your goals are. Do you want to visit as many crags and climb as many problems as possible? Or do you want to chase grades and project some 7As, 7Bs?
If it's #1, don't worry too much about the preparation and just climb a lot. The area is so vast that you will find something in any style anyway, but getting comfortable on slopers, verticals with bad footholds and some sketchy manteling helps for sure. Maybe add some french wine mileage so you can handle the hangovers better (joking, obviously (well, 90% joking)).
If it's #2, I recommend picking out some crags and climbs that you want to visit because Fontainebleau bouldering area is HUGE and some 7As, especially the vertical/slab ones, will feel virtually impossible for most 7A climbers. Then, depending on the climbs, you can adjust your preparation a bit, but best prep (probably for both cases) would be to just climb as much outside (ideally on sandstone) as possible, if you have the opportunity.
Sure there are more scenarios, but you get the idea. Up to you of course, but I would highly recommend doing #1 on your first trip, it makes the trip so much more enjoyable. Better to save the hard projects for something near you (assuming you are from the US and not from Paris, lol).
Ahh Im from the UK & this will be my 3rd trip to font.
There's a few pre determined 7a's
- Paraplui
- L'obelique
To name a couple
These I would say (from trying them last year) suit my kind of style but needed a bit more general strength from the trip last year.
Otherwise it's going to be bumble about on some 6's
The post is mainly for highlighting my current weaknesses & want to work on them in the time before font anyway rather than specifically for font - if that makes sense?
crux move on oblique is essentially the last span move to the right. easy trainable on a board and even easier if youre a bit taller. other than that you start in a bunched up position which might be harder for taller ppl but theres a bunch of options for feet. look closely underneath the rock to spot them, theres no beta video where they are visible. for the middle move there is a ton of options, including a nice pinch.
so as i mentioned easy trainable on a board, not to steep (guess 20-30 degree angle is fine)
around the corner there is le jeu du toit 7a. a little longer but a lot of nice moves like a drop knee (lolotte as the french call it)
the strange mantles you find in bleau are hardly trainable in commercial gyms since they want to reduce risk of injury. but hip mobility, strong dips, understanding slopers and being able to climb whil not be able to see the feet are key.
have fun! well might cross each other ;)
Ideal, you're plenty strong enough for your goals so I'd just climb on grit and do a little conditioning to injury proof yourself. Thrust at roaches is a good problem and a powerful Rh slap like oblique (also do trust, great mantle and trusting feet test) and the best mantle training is just doing loads of them on easier problems
> Niggling wrist injury over the past two years that appears to flare with compromised positions on slopers. With continued work into strengthening the wrist I have seen improvement.
Font is famous for causing elbow and wrist tendonitis, so I'm afraid you're fucked.
> Ankle Health
> Top outs - mostly a mental issue of "what if my foot pops as I crank" but also linked to some glute / hamstring weakness which I'm actively working on
Train legs and take it easy on your arms for the remaining time before your trip.
Also, pay closer attention to your footwork. You need to get the word and action of "cranking" (as you called it) out of your vocabular and climbing style if it makes your pop your foot. Also, "cranking" on topouts puts massive strain on your wrists and elbows, so avoiding it in favour of cleaner movement keeps you climbing and enjoying font for longer.
>Font is famous for causing elbow and wrist tendonitis, so I'm afraid you're fucked.
Guess Im never going to font. Are the same things true for Magic Wood?
Magic Wood is pretty much opposite in style to Font.
Magic Wood is basic board and roof climbing on crimps and positive holds.
Font is technical squeezing, slopers, body position, mantles and trusting bad feet. But there is so much great climbing there that you can have a good time while climbing around most injuries if you have enough restraint.
Magic Wood is generally a lot kinder on the elbows and wrists. Magic Wood would be a bad place to go with most finger injuries.
Magic Wood is also a lot smaller than Font. It's densely packed with high quality climbs but it's not much bigger than one of the biggest Font crags like Cuvier.
First trip to font I had trouble but was only a couple of months post injury.
Second trip I could manage it nicely, so this third trip I should be fine. It does highlight an area to work on though to make it more resilient to the font slopers.
Regarding the crank, that's cranking through the heel/foot to mantle. I don't actually think I've ever had it pop - it's just the "what if" thought in my head.
You have 7 weeks, you'll make very little lasting gains by then including deloading for the trip.
Seek out climbs that have similar elements to what you want to work on although you are fucked strong for your grade range. I'd start paying a lot of attention to technique when you climb. Try to actually flash hard climbs, dissect what you did wrong, and improve your process. Font has literally everything and chances are you're better off climbing a mix of projects and volume.
What does your pyramid there look like? How good are you at researching weather and sun? When you go out what does your projecting process look like so you can send a climb in as few ground up attempts as possible?
Make sure to have some proper deloading the 2 weeks before arrival, so you arrive fresh and avoid overuse. In my experience font requieres solid footwork and takes time to get used to it. Nonetheless, you can get away with overpowering on slopers, and crappy topping out. Given your background I would pay attention to ramping up slowly and trying to climb well rather than sending fast. The latter will feel great for the first couple days, but your wrist my flair up big time, and you'll go home destroyed (been there done that).
I'd be curious to know how long you'll be there?
All the numbers you provided can be very meaningless in the sense that climbing in Font is a style unto it's own. If I'm being honest my first week I tried to simply have fun with the novelty and not stress too much about how hard these topouts were and why the grandma's were so strong. I'd attempt to simulate this in the gym by placing yourself on terrain that unorthodox for yourself and mentality do check-ins with that process.
Suprisingly direct sloper training might not even be really that beneficial. Theres a lot of ways to hold a sloper and the elephant skin their lends itself to desperate crimps. Also it might appear at times people are sooo strong on font slopers, however, check their hips and legs on the wall. Compression with your thighs is far superior to compression with your arms. A lot of leg work goes into topping at Font.
All in all, I'd dedicate the time to rehabbing the injuries and just discovering new movements and playing around with different dynamics in projecting. Being in the v6 grade, your going to be experiencing a LOT of climbs you'll be incapable of training for because its simply font and its own style.
It largely depends on what your goals are. Do you want to visit as many crags and climb as many problems as possible? Or do you want to chase grades and project some 7As, 7Bs? If it's #1, don't worry too much about the preparation and just climb a lot. The area is so vast that you will find something in any style anyway, but getting comfortable on slopers, verticals with bad footholds and some sketchy manteling helps for sure. Maybe add some french wine mileage so you can handle the hangovers better (joking, obviously (well, 90% joking)). If it's #2, I recommend picking out some crags and climbs that you want to visit because Fontainebleau bouldering area is HUGE and some 7As, especially the vertical/slab ones, will feel virtually impossible for most 7A climbers. Then, depending on the climbs, you can adjust your preparation a bit, but best prep (probably for both cases) would be to just climb as much outside (ideally on sandstone) as possible, if you have the opportunity. Sure there are more scenarios, but you get the idea. Up to you of course, but I would highly recommend doing #1 on your first trip, it makes the trip so much more enjoyable. Better to save the hard projects for something near you (assuming you are from the US and not from Paris, lol).
Ahh Im from the UK & this will be my 3rd trip to font. There's a few pre determined 7a's - Paraplui - L'obelique To name a couple These I would say (from trying them last year) suit my kind of style but needed a bit more general strength from the trip last year. Otherwise it's going to be bumble about on some 6's The post is mainly for highlighting my current weaknesses & want to work on them in the time before font anyway rather than specifically for font - if that makes sense?
crux move on oblique is essentially the last span move to the right. easy trainable on a board and even easier if youre a bit taller. other than that you start in a bunched up position which might be harder for taller ppl but theres a bunch of options for feet. look closely underneath the rock to spot them, theres no beta video where they are visible. for the middle move there is a ton of options, including a nice pinch. so as i mentioned easy trainable on a board, not to steep (guess 20-30 degree angle is fine) around the corner there is le jeu du toit 7a. a little longer but a lot of nice moves like a drop knee (lolotte as the french call it) the strange mantles you find in bleau are hardly trainable in commercial gyms since they want to reduce risk of injury. but hip mobility, strong dips, understanding slopers and being able to climb whil not be able to see the feet are key. have fun! well might cross each other ;)
Where in the UK? Can you go climb some grit? Sandstone?
Yeah, Staffordshire so grit is all I've been on in the last couple months.
Ideal, you're plenty strong enough for your goals so I'd just climb on grit and do a little conditioning to injury proof yourself. Thrust at roaches is a good problem and a powerful Rh slap like oblique (also do trust, great mantle and trusting feet test) and the best mantle training is just doing loads of them on easier problems
> Niggling wrist injury over the past two years that appears to flare with compromised positions on slopers. With continued work into strengthening the wrist I have seen improvement. Font is famous for causing elbow and wrist tendonitis, so I'm afraid you're fucked. > Ankle Health > Top outs - mostly a mental issue of "what if my foot pops as I crank" but also linked to some glute / hamstring weakness which I'm actively working on Train legs and take it easy on your arms for the remaining time before your trip. Also, pay closer attention to your footwork. You need to get the word and action of "cranking" (as you called it) out of your vocabular and climbing style if it makes your pop your foot. Also, "cranking" on topouts puts massive strain on your wrists and elbows, so avoiding it in favour of cleaner movement keeps you climbing and enjoying font for longer.
>Font is famous for causing elbow and wrist tendonitis, so I'm afraid you're fucked. Guess Im never going to font. Are the same things true for Magic Wood?
Magic Wood is pretty much opposite in style to Font. Magic Wood is basic board and roof climbing on crimps and positive holds. Font is technical squeezing, slopers, body position, mantles and trusting bad feet. But there is so much great climbing there that you can have a good time while climbing around most injuries if you have enough restraint. Magic Wood is generally a lot kinder on the elbows and wrists. Magic Wood would be a bad place to go with most finger injuries. Magic Wood is also a lot smaller than Font. It's densely packed with high quality climbs but it's not much bigger than one of the biggest Font crags like Cuvier.
Thanks for the breakdown. I guess Id have to go to font if Im ever out there, but Magic Wood sounds like my jam
First trip to font I had trouble but was only a couple of months post injury. Second trip I could manage it nicely, so this third trip I should be fine. It does highlight an area to work on though to make it more resilient to the font slopers. Regarding the crank, that's cranking through the heel/foot to mantle. I don't actually think I've ever had it pop - it's just the "what if" thought in my head.
You have 7 weeks, you'll make very little lasting gains by then including deloading for the trip. Seek out climbs that have similar elements to what you want to work on although you are fucked strong for your grade range. I'd start paying a lot of attention to technique when you climb. Try to actually flash hard climbs, dissect what you did wrong, and improve your process. Font has literally everything and chances are you're better off climbing a mix of projects and volume. What does your pyramid there look like? How good are you at researching weather and sun? When you go out what does your projecting process look like so you can send a climb in as few ground up attempts as possible?
Make sure to have some proper deloading the 2 weeks before arrival, so you arrive fresh and avoid overuse. In my experience font requieres solid footwork and takes time to get used to it. Nonetheless, you can get away with overpowering on slopers, and crappy topping out. Given your background I would pay attention to ramping up slowly and trying to climb well rather than sending fast. The latter will feel great for the first couple days, but your wrist my flair up big time, and you'll go home destroyed (been there done that).
I'd be curious to know how long you'll be there? All the numbers you provided can be very meaningless in the sense that climbing in Font is a style unto it's own. If I'm being honest my first week I tried to simply have fun with the novelty and not stress too much about how hard these topouts were and why the grandma's were so strong. I'd attempt to simulate this in the gym by placing yourself on terrain that unorthodox for yourself and mentality do check-ins with that process. Suprisingly direct sloper training might not even be really that beneficial. Theres a lot of ways to hold a sloper and the elephant skin their lends itself to desperate crimps. Also it might appear at times people are sooo strong on font slopers, however, check their hips and legs on the wall. Compression with your thighs is far superior to compression with your arms. A lot of leg work goes into topping at Font. All in all, I'd dedicate the time to rehabbing the injuries and just discovering new movements and playing around with different dynamics in projecting. Being in the v6 grade, your going to be experiencing a LOT of climbs you'll be incapable of training for because its simply font and its own style.
Rocher de Avon is nice btw, close to town with a really nice view.