TripBeta: Fontainebleau, France
The forest of Fontainebleau in the Trois Pignon area.
Best Time to Visit
Like every other bouldering destination, the best time to visit is when temps are in the 50’s. These temps can be found in Fontainebleau during early spring to around mid-April. And though Bleau can be fun during the off season, note that Bleau is BY FAR the most temperature dependent place I visited during my 10 month trip. Due to the necessary friction moves, the problems can feel a bit harder during the off season.
Be prepared for rain when visiting Bleua. I was extremely lucky and had only one climbing day cut short due to rain during my 3 week visit. I heard this was an anomaly.
Length of Stay
I was in Fontainebleau for 3 weeks and had barely scratched the surface of the climbing. A trip of months would still leave you with problems to explore.
How to Get There
The climbing in Fontainebleau is very dispersed making a car quite a necessity. Fontainebleau is an hour south of Paris or four hours north of Lyon. If without car, you can catch the train from main cities, with the ride from Paris being less than an hour ride. I hear you can usually hitch rides if staying at one of the main camping sites. That being said, I would still suggest to any readers to rent a car. I found the best deal through Holiday Autos, a Travelocity subsidiary, but would also suggest checking Expedia and EuropebyCar. Note that many credit card companies will have rental insurance (simply call and ask your credit company for details) and often will provide discounts on rental cars.
Guidebook
The must-have resources are the purple “Fontainebleau Climbs” and a map of the forest. Trust me, you will want a map of the forest in order to understand the forest layout. There are numerous other guidebooks that highlight certain grades, with the 7 + 8 book having additional excellent maps.
Classic Climbs
I usually write up a whole post of my favorite climbs in each area. However, in Fontainebleau you really can’t go wrong with anything you hop on. Plus the climbing in Fontainebleau is different than any other area because it is organized in circuits. At each crag there are a handful of circuits, meaning a grouping of problems, that are all marked (literally painted) with numbers. Most climbs do not have names, just a number. And the idea is you go to an area and run a circuit. Levels of difficulty are noted by the color, but also a circuit at one crag may be harder than the same color circuit of another crag because the difficulty is assessed by averaging all the problems in that circuit. The guidebook notates the difficulty of each area.
Each circuit problem will have a painted number and an arrow that shows the direction of the climb. Often there is a dot that shows the starting foot. It is NOT uncommon for a climb to be a jump start and very few climbs actually sit start.
There are also off circuit problems, usually named, often of very quality.
Some of my favorite problems and circuits included the following:
- Everything at Le Diplodocus was great.
- The Red Circuit at Roche Aux Sabot was very good, but hard.
- Bas Cuvier Classics were The Helicopter, Druxmanie, the Joker, La Marie Rose, and Holey Moley.
- Fronchard Isatais – Many excellent problems including La Statique (part of the white circuit), La Coquille, El Poussif and El Poussah.
- Canche Aux Mercier has numerous great problems, with my favorite being 13 red.
- Definitely try the Cul de Chien Roof.
Camping / Where to Stay
I was extremely fortunate that I was introduced to Guillaume through a mutual contact. Guillaume offered me a place in his house, such a generous offer and being the perfect setup for me. Most climbers either camp or stay in gites. Here is some information but there is definitely more out there.
- Gites – gites are apartments that are rented out, being most affordable with groups of people. Two gites I would suggest, due to friend recommendations, are Lu Clos du Tertre, owned by Stef, and Maison Bleu, owned by Neil. I did contact both of these people prior to knowing I had a place at Guillaume’s and must say they were both genuinely nice. I would urge people to contact them if going to Bleau.
- Formule 1 – Forumle 1’s are affordable hotels with simple accommodations.
- Camping - There used to be free camping near Bas Cuvier. Note that this has now been closed. Musardie, based in (or right outside of) Le Vaudoue seems to be the main campground. I was told by a handful of American friends not to camp… but, to be honest upon seeing the campground I think I would have felt just fine staying there.
Food / Drink
I can’t really opine on this subject as I didn’t go out at all when in Fontainebleau. I instead enjoyed going back to Guillaume’s house and spending time with his family.
Personal Hygiene
Not very knowledgeable in this area since I was staying with a friend. I know the gites have showers, but unsure what to do if camping.
Rest Day Activities
I wrote up a whole post on this, which you can read here.
If wanting to visit Paris, it is easiest to either just simply take the train or drive to the closest port of Paris (I believe it is the Port d’Orlean) and park your car, taking the train from there. (In 2009 you could get roundtrip train ticket and full access to Paris buses and metros for 16 euors.) The driving in Paris is CRAZY and it is hard to navigate, to the point where I didn’t dare drive into the city. If you do drive, whatever you do AVOID THE ARC DE TRIUMP ROUNDABOUT. Supposedly the arc de triump roundabout has six unmarked lanes and is sheer mayhem. =)
Buying Gear
I had been told that the closest gear stores were the Vieux Campeur stores in Paris. Note that due to the small space available in Paris, there are many Vieux Campeur stores within a couple block section, all of which carry one type of outdoor gear (climbing, backpacking, capming, etc.) You must ask where the store you are looking for is located. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I did hear from an American friend that there is a gear shop by the Carrefour near Barbizon, yet I did not visit it. The best bet if you are needing climbing items, Fontainebleau guidebooks or your shoes resoled, is the below pictured van. The van is usually parked at the Cul de Chien / Roche Aux Sabot parking lot on weekends and holidays.
At the Vieux Campeur guidebook store. The entire store was simply guidebooks and maps. It actually was quite phenomenal.
The only shoe resoler and the best source for climbing goods in Fontainebleau. Usually parked at the Cul de Chien / Roche Aux Sabot area.
Other
Other items to remember or of interest.
- Gasoline Prices - I love visiting other countries and being reminded of how spoiled us Americans are when it comes to gasoline prices. I was driving a tiny Ceteron C3 that took diesel fuel, yet it was still 39 Euro (approximately $55) to fill up my car. Unbelievable. If you look at the prix par litre of 1.04 Euro that is equivalent to $5.82 a gallon. The thing is, these are NORMAL rates outside of the US, yet all of us Americans complain with high fuel costs.
First time buying fuel in France. (Nice self reflection, I know!) =) I must admit that I was pretty proud of myself for driving through Europe, though speaking very little French, yet actually making it to all destinations accident free.
- Lots of Pads – The problems in Bleau aren’t nearly as high as Bishop, but there are definitely still some high’ish problems. It never hurts to have a lot of pads. Pictured is L’Helicoptre. This problem is known to be ankle twister with everyone landed in different spots. Definitely pad this problem up!
The pad party at L’Helicoptre.
Links
The best link I found was bleau.info. However, it has changed since I used it and I must admit I don’t like the new look. Before it used to provide excellent trip beta, but now it is looking closer to an 8a. Boo! It does, however, have a forum where you can possibly post up for gite mates.
If you have additional information, please feel free to post a comment.
Tags: beta, bouldering, climbing, Fontainebleau, France