May 2019 - A week of climbing in a forest full of rocks with 12 buddies, Siiik.
Day 1 - Arrival
its just turned midnight after a hour or so drive in the worst conditions know to man we make it to The House, our host and soon to be guru greets us. Andy is a man about yay high, he has short dark hair, smells slightly of sawdust and cat food. First thought was how English this Frenchman sounded, I quickly realised this dude was from Sheffield! That’s basically our turf! The peaks! We instantly got on with Andy and we knew that he would forever be our Font climbing Guru.
Day 2 - Rain
With a forecast that teased spots of rain throughout the day we decided to setup for the week ahead, supermarket then an explore of the nearby town. Good vibes. Excited to climb.
Day 3 - Rocks - Sabat
Shower. Coffee. Croissant. Early rise and straight into the forest in search of rock. We had a boulder field in mind, but in the end like all rock grapplers we got excited and we ended jumping on the first rocks we came across. We hit it hard, 12 climbers and 9 pads, people topping out everywhere, within the first hour we found a V8 dyno called ‘Smash’. We quickly became obsessed, 30 minutes later Big Boi Ben head butted the rock and busted open his lip. Smash had won. Little did font know Ben has super human strength and a few hours later he completed his first 7A climb (Dyno) ‘Legalise this’.
Day 4 - Rocks Part 2 - Franchard Cuisiniére
Beautiful Morning, everyone settled in, percolator coffee roasting, yogurt and muesli. We decided to find a circuit that everybody could jump on and do. Font in a really special place when it comes to bouldering. Lots of the climbs are numbered and colour coded into circuits, meaning you could just spend the full day smashing out an entire circuit of climbs all at a relatively similar difficulty. 40 minute hike deep into the forest. Rolling hills. Massive boulder everywhere. Huuge trees. Franchard felt like it was lifted straight out of a studio Ghibli film. such a serene and beautiful place. As the day went on the group naturally split into smaller groups of faster and slower climbers, all doing the same circuit. Number 23 of the orange circuit is an amazing crack climb perfect to learn/practice all those tasty jams.
Day 5 - Rocks? - 95.2
Hungover, sleepy start, we reached the hill top boulder field at about midday. Scorching weather. sandy af. beach vibes at the top of a hill in the middle of a massive forest. crazy. the bouldering here was interesting. I became obsessed with a roof problem, lots of sweaty battling on a disgusting mantle move. Very happy with the outcome, after about 2 hours and some lunch I managed to snag it. video is on @bhpod.
Day 6 - We found Rocks - Le Elaphant
We took the morning completely off. Everybody’s fingers are fucked so we found a river. Beers. Yoga. Swim. Evening climb in Le Elaphant. Maybe one of the most epic bouldering sessions i’ve ever had. Chilled vibe just spending the evening wandering from boulder to boulder. eventually we made our way to this huge 9m boulder known as the ‘Cheese Bloc’ a monolith of stone filled with hundreds of pockets. One by one many of us made the scary ascent. Such a rewarding experience.
Day 7 - Dwayne Johnson - Bas Cuvier
Bodies Destroyed, we set out for another day on the rocks. Bas Cuvier is one of the most popular and famous crags in Font, and it was a day full of shutdowns and tired peeps. Another 7a dyno was had ‘piff paff’ and a few people tried the famous ‘Helicopter’ problem, a climb with a dynamic lunge that send you spinning to the ground. I’ve been told that someone once died on the climb by spinning into the tree thats next to the landing.
Day 8 - Our final rock touching - Isatis
Our final day climbing, we had a mission. Walking through the forest we saw the first glimpse of it. The rock we’ve been dreaming of. A stone wave. A v11 dyno. Rainbow Rocket. For months we’ve been obsessed with having a session on it, we placed down our pads, did a quick prayer to the dyno gods. then we began throwing ourselves at it. unfortunately non of us unlocked the secret. but one day we will. The rest of the day we smashed another big circuit.
Probably the most beautiful week i’ve ever had. If you want to hear more about the trip listen to the Font episodes of the Barely Hanging Podcast.
