A few tips for any of you thinking about going to Fontainebleau this year.
La Baleine 7a+
1. Everything that you want can be found at Carrefour. Imagine a Super Walmart on steriods. If you stand on one end of the market and look down the center isle you cannot see the other end. It too, like the endless boulders of the forest, is overwhelming. If you don’t want to make a trip all the way to Carrefour then there is a nice little market in the middle of Font.
2. Don’t think about camping. It is not worth it, unless the weather is perfect (haha). For around 10 Euro (as opposed to 7 Euro for camping) you can stay in a gite with electricity, a bed, a kitchen, a shower, cool wrapping paper covered walls, and more… There is no question about what to do. You do need 3-8 people to really make it cheap though, but you’ll make friends (unless you’re a jerk). To get a gite, contact the gite office in Font. The people are really nice, and most importantly they speak English. Contact info: 4 Rue Royale, 77300 Fontainebleau, France -01 60 74 99 99
3. If you climb harder than 7a, get the 7+8 guidebook. Get a fontainebleau map. Without this, or someone to show you around, you’ll be lost.
4. There is a sporting goods store next to Carrefour called Decathalon. It carries climbing equipment like shoes, chalk, pads, and pretty much anything else you need. Sweet.
5. You should go to font. This will help you get here: Fontainebleau is only a click away.
I am begining to save for a trip that I will be taking after I graduate(2011) and have been trying to research the beta on font and ticino. This article has left me great insight on the font aspect of the trip, but I am still lost in the dark on switzerland…Another aspect that is still confusing me is the process of getting a car, any advice?
thanks for this post, a big group of us are planning a trip there this coming march and the insight is helpful
one question- did you bring a pad or buy one over there? what are the pro’s and con’s of making arrangements to fly with foam versus buying a mat in font/europe?
thanks!
Hey guys, I’ll post up some beta on switzerland as soon as I can.
As far as a car, if you are staying for a month or longer then you should look into Peugeot’s lease buy-back program which is what we ended up doing. It’s a little cheaper than renting (although still really expensive). They give you a brand new peugeot that is fully insured so it is hassle free. We spent about $3,800 in total for 4 months. Book as far in advance as you can because the prices can change, it jumped up $500 right before we booked ours.
Another option is to buy a car but you’d probably need to know someone in the area or know french so you don’t get ripped off.
Font is super spread out so you definitely need a car there. In switzerland you could technically take the bus to all the climbing spots (the swiss have the best public transportation) but magic wood is the only place you can camp at legally so it wouldn’t work out unless you were meeting someone with a car.
As far as crashpads, we never got charged an oversize fee and we were on a total of 5 flights on three different airlines so I don’t think you have to worry about that. I also heard from some climbers that you can declare your pad as sports equipment and then you can even bring a large pad without getting charged.
Alex