Indeed, I forgot my famous green water bottle (http://www.steepexposure.com/2009_01_01_archive.html) at the summit... What an idiot, I was really attached to this bottle, for various reasons...
vendredi 12 novembre 2010
Climbing the west ridge of Tete de Fetoules with Jerome&Jean Francois
With the Maureaus (Jerome and Jean Francois), we climb the classic west ridge of Tete des Fetoules. It is the right hand ridge on http://www.summitpost.org/t-te-des-f-toules/391606, a rather aesthetic right. We bivvyed next to a small&cute lake on the first day, and did the climb the next day. Fun climbing, everything went well... I supposed it is a bit of a too nice story, unfortunately blemished by a very sad story!
Indeed, I forgot my famous green water bottle (http://www.steepexposure.com/2009_01_01_archive.html) at the summit... What an idiot, I was really attached to this bottle, for various reasons...
Indeed, I forgot my famous green water bottle (http://www.steepexposure.com/2009_01_01_archive.html) at the summit... What an idiot, I was really attached to this bottle, for various reasons...
What the hell is Francis doing???
Ok ok, I have been lazy-as these last couple of month, and didn't post anything... My first message is a guess: what is Francis doing in that picture?
lundi 30 août 2010
An attempt to challenge Donn
Okay, he is actually doing better at mushroom hunting than I do... As an excuse, I should say that I have a full time job (but not for long anymore...), and he is only writing his PhD! ;o)
Bruno's arrival in Swizzy
And yes, Bruno just arrived in Swizzy, where he will work in Gland. The latter word translates as glans, which can mean idiot as well when it not employed for talking about anatomy. Obviously, I find that highly funny (yeah yeah, my sense of humor didn't improved...), and think it actually made for Bruno...
Anyhow, he was in Fribourg last week end, and I could show him the qualities of Switzerland. We enjoyed the great Fribourg market*, some mushroom hunting& mushroom tasting on the Saturday, and some excellent climbing on Sunday with Vanessa. Here are a few pics from Bruno.
* Special dedicace to Frenchie (the other one), I introduced him to the famous dairylady and bread lady...
Anyhow, he was in Fribourg last week end, and I could show him the qualities of Switzerland. We enjoyed the great Fribourg market*, some mushroom hunting& mushroom tasting on the Saturday, and some excellent climbing on Sunday with Vanessa. Here are a few pics from Bruno.
* Special dedicace to Frenchie (the other one), I introduced him to the famous dairylady and bread lady...
mercredi 4 août 2010
To the west...
Alright, Frenchy started to complain that my blog was a bit dead, despite of much recent traveling... So, here is a post on a trip to the west...
I indeed went for a month in British Columbia (BC), staying around Vancouver for 2 weeks with Bruno, and then going to the Rockies with Bruno and Travis. Of course, telling everything would be rather long, so I will focus on a few facts now, and maybe complete later...
Bruno, el Boulettos:
Now, Bruno is back to Europe since he didn't enjoy the life in Vancouver. He is currently looking after a job as a geek, and looking after some cougars at the same time!
Travis, the Feeble:
Travis could not join for the all trip since he unfortunately found a job just before, but still managed to come over for 2 weeks. A good Amercian trip for him, with tons of driving! But its alright with Bethany's fancy Subaru, which has heating sits to warm your butt if needed... Travis is a nice guy, and brought a few presents for me: 3 cans of EasyCheese* from his mum, and an American flag bikini** from Bethany. We went then to the Bugaboos ranges for some good climbing on excellent granite, was excellent. Unfortunately, we couldn't attempt the main objective of the trip, i.e. climbing Mount Robson, since there was too much fresh snow and that the weather was not great... So we went for a romantic canoe trip in the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was actually fun albeit I had very sore shoulders due to the 60kms we canoed over 2 days... Probably a bit too much for my first canoe trip ever...
Travis came back to his normal life, and discovered that his company got bankrupted during his holidays... But it has been bough by an other company which re-hired Travis... Things are going fast in North America! Now, he is enjoying mountain biking in southern Oregon, and is still dreaming of mountains, and even more of climbing gears!
* it makes actually "tasty" sandwiches combined with peanut butter... As a matter of fact, Bruno, as a good French, refused to eat any of it
** sorry, no photos since there are not politically correct!
Romaric, me:
Well, what to say about myself? I definitely enjoyed the trip! What I liked the most:
- was good to catch back with Bruno and Travis
- the great trad' and sport climbing in Squamish
- the sushi-places in Vancouver!
- climbing in the Bugaboos: great climbs, fantastic sceneries
- the lakes with dead-trees... (somehow Bruno did not enjoy them as much as me)
- the wildlife: saw a couple of bears, tons of mosquito... and a cougar!
- hiking or canoing in the Provincial Parks
- riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver, definitely a fine city bike ride
- the port of Vancouver with the huge boats and cranes, which I find scenic somehow
- the huge burger in a small place in the Cariboos (supposed to be the most boring place in BC, touristic-wise...)
I enjoyed less:
- Vancouver downtown: not much charm, really noisy, full of huge cars... But I guess it is classic stuff for large North America cities...
- the National Parks: you really feel you are a sheep there, following everybody, paying for everything... And it seems difficult to get away from that feeling... Just could not stand it...
- the mosquitos...
Now, I am finishing my postdoc position in Swizzy, and I am looking after an other one. I am applying to find my personal research funding, and I can tell you it is a pain since these are challenging to get. If that was all about science that would be fun, but 3/4 of the application is about speaking nicely about yourself, which I really don't like and makes me feeling guilty...
I indeed went for a month in British Columbia (BC), staying around Vancouver for 2 weeks with Bruno, and then going to the Rockies with Bruno and Travis. Of course, telling everything would be rather long, so I will focus on a few facts now, and maybe complete later...
Bruno, el Boulettos:
Still my master in terms of being a "boulet" (http://frenchiiiiie.blogspot.com/2010/06/being-boulet.html), I really feel normal when I am next to him. For example, I told him I was arriving at around 7pm the Saturday (my plane landing at 6pm). I went to the bottom of his building. His name wasn't in the interphone, since he never asked to link it to his phone... As well, his mobile phone was turned off so I couldn't call him... Having no idea what his flat number was, I was stuck and had to wait in the hall... After one hour, he passed by, not recognizing me since he was expecting me to arrive much later... So I had to run after him... And I have quite a few stories of the kind!
Now, Bruno is back to Europe since he didn't enjoy the life in Vancouver. He is currently looking after a job as a geek, and looking after some cougars at the same time!
Travis, the Feeble:
Travis could not join for the all trip since he unfortunately found a job just before, but still managed to come over for 2 weeks. A good Amercian trip for him, with tons of driving! But its alright with Bethany's fancy Subaru, which has heating sits to warm your butt if needed... Travis is a nice guy, and brought a few presents for me: 3 cans of EasyCheese* from his mum, and an American flag bikini** from Bethany. We went then to the Bugaboos ranges for some good climbing on excellent granite, was excellent. Unfortunately, we couldn't attempt the main objective of the trip, i.e. climbing Mount Robson, since there was too much fresh snow and that the weather was not great... So we went for a romantic canoe trip in the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was actually fun albeit I had very sore shoulders due to the 60kms we canoed over 2 days... Probably a bit too much for my first canoe trip ever...
Travis came back to his normal life, and discovered that his company got bankrupted during his holidays... But it has been bough by an other company which re-hired Travis... Things are going fast in North America! Now, he is enjoying mountain biking in southern Oregon, and is still dreaming of mountains, and even more of climbing gears!
* it makes actually "tasty" sandwiches combined with peanut butter... As a matter of fact, Bruno, as a good French, refused to eat any of it
** sorry, no photos since there are not politically correct!
Romaric, me:
Well, what to say about myself? I definitely enjoyed the trip! What I liked the most:
- was good to catch back with Bruno and Travis
- the great trad' and sport climbing in Squamish
- the sushi-places in Vancouver!
- climbing in the Bugaboos: great climbs, fantastic sceneries
- the lakes with dead-trees... (somehow Bruno did not enjoy them as much as me)
- the wildlife: saw a couple of bears, tons of mosquito... and a cougar!
- hiking or canoing in the Provincial Parks
- riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver, definitely a fine city bike ride
- the port of Vancouver with the huge boats and cranes, which I find scenic somehow
- the huge burger in a small place in the Cariboos (supposed to be the most boring place in BC, touristic-wise...)
I enjoyed less:
- Vancouver downtown: not much charm, really noisy, full of huge cars... But I guess it is classic stuff for large North America cities...
- the National Parks: you really feel you are a sheep there, following everybody, paying for everything... And it seems difficult to get away from that feeling... Just could not stand it...
- the mosquitos...
Now, I am finishing my postdoc position in Swizzy, and I am looking after an other one. I am applying to find my personal research funding, and I can tell you it is a pain since these are challenging to get. If that was all about science that would be fun, but 3/4 of the application is about speaking nicely about yourself, which I really don't like and makes me feeling guilty...
vendredi 18 juin 2010
Fun in Paris!
It's a little difficult for me to say it, but yes, it is possible to have fun in Paris, even for country boys such as myself! I always think of Paris as busy, polluted, mentality I don't like... But ideas have to be challenged! For instance, I discovered that I could learn how to appreciate chocolate, despite of being stubborn for 30years on saying that I don't like chocolate...
Anyway, Caroline invited me for a week-end in Paris in the aim of giving a visit to the catacombs, with Luc2, Grégory., and Séb'... It was a bit of a crazy trip, actually! For those who don't know, the catacombs of Paris are not actually proper catacombs, but more of an ossuary. The 300kms of tunnels have been initially dig out in order to build Paris, and some parts have been filled up with human bones when the Paris cemeteries started to get overfull, about 200 years ago. In between 2 and 10 millions of skeletons were put in total... Which means that during the visit, you are ramping on top of piles of bones by times... Lovely, isn't it?
Anyway, Caroline invited me for a week-end in Paris in the aim of giving a visit to the catacombs, with Luc2, Grégory., and Séb'... It was a bit of a crazy trip, actually! For those who don't know, the catacombs of Paris are not actually proper catacombs, but more of an ossuary. The 300kms of tunnels have been initially dig out in order to build Paris, and some parts have been filled up with human bones when the Paris cemeteries started to get overfull, about 200 years ago. In between 2 and 10 millions of skeletons were put in total... Which means that during the visit, you are ramping on top of piles of bones by times... Lovely, isn't it?
Anyhow, that was a lot of fun, albeit a bit tough for an old fart like me to go to bed at 9am... We completed the week-end by some bouldering in Fontainebleau, and some wine drinking at "Chez Georges", a nice bar where Caro is a regular...
Here are some pics from Fontainebleau, and from David Pointel for the ones in the Catacombs (sorry, I had to censure a few photos...)
mardi 1 juin 2010
Being a "boulet"
The direct translation of "boulet" would be a prisoner ball, i.e. something you drag along without wanting it. It can be applied to 2 different kind of humans: the one who are sticking to somebody's else ass, and annoying him by doing so, and the scattered brain ones, which are mostly a pain for themselves, like myself...
The past couple of weeks, I had an quite intense period as a boulet. Here are a couple of examples:
- I broke the shared washing machine in my building by putting a carpet in it... Which completely disintegrated in small plastic pieces which blocked everything... Idiot!
- I went to the library to borrow some comics... I had forgotten my library card, so I had to come back the next day... When I forget my card a second time, so I had to come back the next day... From my work, it is about 45mins of biking, good for my fitness I suppose...
- Leaving my backpack in the train...
- Going back home from work especially to get some paper I forgot in the morning, and coming back to work without them... Some more bicking...
- Leaving my credit card in one shop...
- Last Thursday, I left my climbing harness after climbing at "the bridge". I came back the next morning, but my harness wasn't there... But Oliver's climbing shoes were there, forgotten at the bottom of the wall... We were a good team of boulets!
- Just this morning, while making coffee, I was thinking I was out of my boulet period since I haven't done anything bad for the last 2 days... When I came back to get my coffee, there was a lake of coffee in the kitchen. I somehow forgot to put the bawl in the coffee machine... :D
More is to come, I guess...
"Boulets are eternal"
The past couple of weeks, I had an quite intense period as a boulet. Here are a couple of examples:
- I broke the shared washing machine in my building by putting a carpet in it... Which completely disintegrated in small plastic pieces which blocked everything... Idiot!
- I went to the library to borrow some comics... I had forgotten my library card, so I had to come back the next day... When I forget my card a second time, so I had to come back the next day... From my work, it is about 45mins of biking, good for my fitness I suppose...
- Leaving my backpack in the train...
- Going back home from work especially to get some paper I forgot in the morning, and coming back to work without them... Some more bicking...
- Leaving my credit card in one shop...
- Last Thursday, I left my climbing harness after climbing at "the bridge". I came back the next morning, but my harness wasn't there... But Oliver's climbing shoes were there, forgotten at the bottom of the wall... We were a good team of boulets!
- Just this morning, while making coffee, I was thinking I was out of my boulet period since I haven't done anything bad for the last 2 days... When I came back to get my coffee, there was a lake of coffee in the kitchen. I somehow forgot to put the bawl in the coffee machine... :D
More is to come, I guess...
"Boulets are eternal"
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