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Heaven or hell? For some, winter is the best season for bouldering! With a bit of luck, climbing in Fontainebleau in winter can become a unique experience, with near-perfect conditions and a little taste of wild mountain adventure.

But you will need strong motivation and good organisation: here below I share my experience and practical tips that I have developped over the years to better enjoy climbing in cold weather.

If you´re not one of the lucky ones who can brave the cold in a T-shirt, you will have to put into practice certain strategies to practice bouldering between 0 and 5 °C: good preparation, suitable equipment and a few beta that will prevent you from freezing after 15 minutes in the forest.

PREPARATION

It is best to plan short sessions during sunny hours; I aim for open and well-exposed areas. You can choose to link together boulder problems, preferably on south-facing sides of the rocks, or to project short and powerful problems on poor friction-dependent hold, like compression or small crimps when your fingers are warm enough.

DRESSING LIKE RUSSIAN DOLLS

I wear several layers that I can remove (or add) as needed: freedom of movement is essential for a better climb. A good base layer against the skin is indispensable; I prefer merino wool T-shirts. Then, a second thin sweater, and possibly a third layer; finally, a down jacket is ideal for retaining body heat (but be careful, most down jackets are very fragile; the slightest friction against a rock or tree can tear them). A good hat, or even two, is very useful because the head is essential for temperature perception and regulation; and also gloves, especially for the approach and breaks.

Some people wear leggings under their jeans,  but personally, I don't like the restricted movement you feel when climbing in two pairs of pants. I prefer a different approach: climbing in just one pair of thick jeans and putting on down overpants when I stop. These mountaineering pants provide extra warmth that prevents you from getting cold during breaks.

I use thick socks, ideally ski socks, and approach shoes one size larger for walking and rest periods to recover after my climbs, and to ensure good blood circulation in my feet.

ENHANCED WARM-UP

This step is essential for warming up and preparing the body, while also preventing injuries. Fully dressed, the approach walk with crash pads on my back allows me to properly begin the warm-up. First, you need to activate the large muscle groups and increase your cardio; then, a few pull-ups and push-ups. then, a few pull-ups and push-ups are not a bad idea. Hanging from rocks, tree branches or other supports can help you finish warming up your arms and fingers.. If you find some not-too-hard boulders on steep rocks, it's a good way to generate heat in the upper body and start feeling good before tackling more difficult projects.

Sometimes I warm up in my climbing gym at BLOASIS, especially if I'm planning to try a hard project in a remote area.

COMFORTABLE CLIMBING SHOES

Feet are also a concern for winter climbing. Some climbers wear thin socks inside their climbing shoes, something I've never gotten used to. I always climb without socks, even in winter, but I prefer to use a pair of relatively larger and flexible climbing shoes, preferably ones that have already been broken in by climbing sessions to avoid them being too tight. Poor circulation quickly bothers me and makes me lose precision in cold weather. Before winter, I set aside a pair of suitable shoes, a little too big for the rest of the year.

What will make the difference is keeping your climbing shoes warm inside your down jacket when you're not climbing. By the time you finish the approach, they'll be ready for a good session. Do the same when you rest between your climbs.

SEQUENCE

After I start climbing, I get dressed completely during the breaks between climbs; it's always better to keep moving.

A thermic bottle is a key accessory: a hot drink is also essential to stay warm and hydrated, as you sweat quite a bit when you are well dressed.

Try the delicious local infusions, such as the famous mint from Milly-La-Forêt, sweetened with Gâtinais honey for a little energy boost.

It takes a little time to put on and take off the layers of clothing, but it really works!

The best climbing days in Bleau are perhaps in December (the period when I linked 8As like Rochmaninov) or in February/early March, like last year, when we enjoyed five consecutive days of exceptional conditions with the famous "five golden brushes" of Jimmy @bleau_meteo.

If you can, take the opportunity to come to Font for some little winter adventures!

Thanks to my friends Eric Lucas and Vincent Douch for some nice pictures

In October 2022, I had the pleasure of welcoming Loïc and Charlotte (Charlie to their friends) at BLOASIS, a couple coming from Lyon to discover Font without a car - 4 busy days and a victory for eco-friendly climbing trips!

We climbed for the first time outdoors at the end of October, my partner and I, after about 6 months of practice. These few days were very important for us, so we really wanted to find a nice place to stay, close to the area, and not too expensive. After spending a lot of time on Air Bnb and not being too convinced, I put the accommodation aside a bit. I started to find out about the best practices to have on the spot, about the areas, the boulders etc. I went through a lot of information about the city and its history. I went through a lot of websites and Youtube channels. And then I discovered the Bloasis eco-house on Boulderfont.info ...

It's always cool when you feel like you've found something that's totally what you're looking for... I have to say that it doesn't happen often, but the effect felt in these cases is really great. That was the case with Bloasis.

Coming from Lyon, we took the train to Paris first, then to Maisse. There, you have to know that we're not very far from home, so it's either a taxi, a bus or the TAD. What are the TADs? I asked some Parisians to be sure, but I didn't find many who knew... TAD stands for Transports À la Demande in Paris Region. It's FREE. I invite you to find out more about it. It took us to Oncy-sur-Ecole, we just had to walk 20min to the house (we could have stopped even closer by asking the driver).

And it's very well placed, very close to the Roche aux Sabots for example, or the western sectors of Les Trois Pignons. In any case, everything can be done very well by car, there are plenty of areas nearby. I'll come back to the " means of transport " point later...

The house is great, all in wood, it's very nice, the bedrooms and bathrooms are clean, Fabien is very nice, nothing to complain about. I won't go into too much detail on this subject as you can find a lot of information on the website, but basically, Fabien, the owner, has done everything possible to ensure that the house has the least impact on the environment: straw and hemp insulation, renewable energy, etc. This was a very important point in the choice of the house. It was a very important point in our choice, to be able to stay in a place made by someone who shares our values, and who is especially inspiring.

It was also galvanising to spend our mornings and evenings surrounded by climbers, including Fabien who has been climbing for 20 years, which is really priceless. We made some nice encounters in only 4 days.

I come back to the means of transport... We came a bit on the run, with just our climbing shoes and that's all. We knew that Fabien rented crash pads for the day, and to participate a little more, we had planned to buy him some chalk and above all a pretty pyrographed brush as a souvenir. But we hadn't planned a vehicle! So yes, the sectors are close, but there are still at least 4 or 5 kilometres, it's not much but in the morning and evening with the crash pads... Fabien was cool enough (or had a bit of pity I guess!) to take us by car the first morning. We still wanted to try the walk back. I can confirm: it was a bit painful! 

This is where it gets interesting because the Parc Naturel Régional du Gâtinais lent Fabien 4 electrically assisted bicycles. So, it was two bikes that we used the other three days. Always with a view to eco-responsibility, it's nice to be able to stick to our values, and to say that in the end the car is not at all indispensable. We pushed on to more remote areas (Gorge aux Châts, La canche aux Merciers) without any problem. It was even very nice to be able to visit the surrounding area, there are some really nice places. It was the first time we rode an e-bike and frankly the kilometres went by effortlessly. What could have been seen as an organisational problem at first turned out to be a good thing. No problem with the crash pad on the back because it is on the luggage rack.

On the climbing side, Charlie is a real beginner, so she navigated between the 3rd and 4th grades. For my part, I'm more into the 6th grades, even if in the end there are also some nice boulders in the lower levels :)

As for the feeling of our first outdoor climb, we really loved it, there were a lot of discoveries, successes (footwork for me) and failures, that's normal. There is a little time to adapt, but it's quite incredible to climb in Fontainebleau. It's super inspiring, and it confirmed our desire to climb as much as possible outdoors.

So I have nothing to say about Bloasis, except that it's a really great place that really deserves to be better known. I now understand why the people we met there were not on their first visit! No reason to change when you have found the perfect place... 

We are about to organise our second trip for March and we hope that a room will be available at Bloasis! 

Loïc & Charlotte, Lyon, January 2023