Sans le pied gauche sikaté ..... - - (18-07-2003 17:51)
plus difficile et intéressant à refaire pour ceux qui l'avait fait avec ( c'était alors 7b+ à mon avis ).

évolution prise de main - ; (17-09-2007 11:49)
La prise de pied gauche de ce bloc n\'est pas la seule à évoluer.
Depuis trois ou quatre an, un trou-vertical main gauche devient de plus en plus gros. Il s\'agissait au début d\'un mono et maintenant on peut y loger presque trois doigts! Le Alta initial (avec son célèbre croisé) est court-circuité par une méthode plus facile utilisant cette nouvelle prise.
Quant à la cotation, il me semble qu\'avec cette nouvelle prise, et malgré l\'évolution de la prise de pied, elle aura du mal à se hisser jusqu\'au 7c.

alta sit start - tom (19-09-2005 20:15)
did a sit start to alta - just wondering if anyone knows anything about it?

7b+??? - Anonymous (29-03-2008 15:41)
I see in the new 7+8 guidebook (which I haven't bought because it contains all the same errors and the same deficient maps as the first edition) that the new grade is 7b+ because "the holds are getting bigger and bigger". I find this hard to believe. Exactly which holds are getting bigger and bigger?

7+8 - Anonymous (29-03-2008 20:50)
Hi Joakim Thommesen,

In Alta, the sidepulls are bigger than before. Alta is possible without the hard cross over move these days. You can read more about this in the former posting (in French, 17-09-2007).

"Depuis trois ou quatre an, un trou-vertical main gauche devient de plus en plus gros. Il s\'agissait au début d\'un mono et maintenant on peut y loger presque trois doigts! Le Alta initial (avec son célèbre croisé) est court-circuité par une méthode plus facile utilisant cette nouvelle prise."

Please let me know what errors my guidebook contains and how I can make the maps more deficient. Most reactions I recieve on my book are very positive. Especially about the large amount of accurate maps. I know my book contains some errors and I will soon publish a file with the errors I know. I would be pleased to add the ones you found too.

Kind regards,
Bart van Raaij
bart [at] bleau [dot] info

Alta 7+8 - Anonymous (07-04-2008 12:28)
Hi Bart,

It's very sad to hear that chipping is still going on in Font. It might be time for the climbing magazines to adress the issue and promote ethics, in general, to a higher degree.

When it comes to the guidebook, I must say that you have created av gem of a book - very tasty looking, with inspiring photos and a very good overview map system. But, I found a lot of the same errors and poor directions in my friends 2nd edition when we were in Font recently. I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but I simply don't remember the specifics.

What I find lacking the most, are drawings of the really BIG dirt roads that would be very helpful for orientation purposes. For instance the GR's in the area behind Rencontre Plafonnique at Cuvier est would have been very helpful. I spent 2 rest days searching for this boulder without results before a friend finally showed it to me :-) And, it's lying practically ON a big dirt road wich is not drawn in the map...

I realise it's a HUGE undertaking to map the forrest, but I still hope you will make some improvements of the maps in the 3rd edition (if you find inspiration to produce one).

Best regards
Joakim Thommesen

7+8 - Anonymous (07-04-2008 17:52)
I believe most improvement of holds are not because of chipping but because of brushing. Sandstone is not the same as granite and not all climbers who are used to climb on granite treat sandstone different than granite. Brushing wet sandstone holds will improve them. Sad examples are Cortomaltese and la Balance in Cuvier.

Thank you for answering my question. Unfortunately you can't help me with any error in my book. The big dirt road (GR) behind Rencontre Plafonique is actually in the maps and toppo's of both editions. I have improved a lot of the maps in my second edition and off course, they could be better. If there will be a third edition I will spend a lot of time to improve the maps even more. I believe my guidebook contains good maps and this is the main reason for the existence of my book: I was not satisfied with the maps and topo's I could find in other guidebooks. There are people who buy my book just for the maps (people who can't climb 7a). Your standard of quality is obviously higher than mine and there might not be a guidebook matching these standards. If you find one (even of another area than Font), please let me know. I am looking forward to get inspired by such a book. My favorites are the most recent Hueco Tanks and Peak district guideboks.

7+8, signing off - Anonymous (09-04-2008 15:41)
Okay… I’m not gonna have a big argument over whether your maps are good or bad. I just know that my friends and I sometimes have huge problems finding boulders, and when we finally find them, we see that they are not where they are drawn in on the map, and often significant features (such as things in the terrain, big routes, or the name of routes) are left out. It’s a couple of years ago the incident with Rencontre Plafonnique, so I remembered wrong in my last description of the problems we had finding it. The problem was that the overview map on page 191 doesn’t have any of the big routes (or the names of the routes) drawn onto it. Since the routes in the area behind the boulder have big name signs on them (as they always have) it would have been VERY helpful if these were drawn into the map. Other examples of sub optimal maps are P’tit Reine and the directions for Guichot Business on Rocher Guichot. I really can’t se why all big routes surrounding the areas should not be included (with names) in the overview maps, as they are very helpful if you get a bit lost – as I often do ;-)

As for "people who buy my book just for the maps (people who can't climb 7a)", I can inform you that people do it the other way around to - we buy the "Des gres six"-book in order to have supplemental maps. This doesn't necessarily mean that the maps in this book are so great...

Anyway, the guidebook is mainly good, a great source of inspiration, but I will continue using my 1st edition until the maps get more comprehensive.

Best regards
Joakim

guidebook - jeroen (30-03-2008 01:48)
haha,

deficient? The maps are by far the best maps youll find in a guidebook! The only deficiency it has is that it doesnt account for a reader that cant read maps.. but no human intervention on the design side will ever be able to solve that error.

good work Bart, wish you had the time to do guidebooks round this side of the world as well, being Australia

Regards,
J