This is the latest from Dave Mason:

So the rain turned into snow, making Fontainebleau look beautiful but still not ideal for climbing boulders. Luckily after the two days of blizzard conditions the sun came out today. The temperature was still in the minus numbers so we headed out to brush the snow off Karma. This is probably one of the most famous blocs in Fontainebleau, it was climbed by Fred Nicole in 1995, Mr. Moon repeated it in the classic bouldering flick 'The Real Thing' and it is on most boulders to-do list.

After brushing off the snow and chalking up the holds we warmed up on Ned's portable fingerboard! It is perfect in this kind of situation as all the other boulders were covered in snow. Twenty minutes later it was time to start... I had had a brief play on Karma in the past and got thoroughly shut down! It would be interesting to see how I would fair a year on. Ned got ridicously close this time last year and it had been at the top of his list of things to do on the trip.

A few warm up goes and the holds were feeling in good nick; we were both getting our heel up but not managing to initiate the rock over. This went on for half an hour or so and then Ned managed to fight his way to the top. He was very pleased to say the least. Right there was my inspiration; my next go I hit the hold well, placing heel I started to rock-wow I was actually doing it!. I reached up for the left hand sloper, coming up short, I carried on battling but just could'nt feel the hold. Eventually my heel popped! I was gutted, I thought I had done it! An inch can make such a difference in climbing! My next few goes were frustrating: Every time I started to rock on my heel the right foot would slip closely followed by my heel. With anger building up inside I took a break and went down to Rencard, a small 7c wall my friend was trying. A few goes on this refreshed my mind and I roled into the snow at the top of the bloc.

Right: Back to Karma for a few more efforts. My skin was thinning, my left arm was losing its lock and my right shoulder was aching from the intense pressure put on it but I wanted this problem so much. I put my boots on, chalked my hands and jumped for the starting jug. I locked up for the right hand intermediate and went again, hitting the hold perfectly I put my heel on and rocked up, I was suddenly at the sloper. Getting this I rocked a little more and went again to the jug! Matching the jug, I sorted my feet and topped out. I could'nt believe it, everything had happened so fast and I was stood atop Karma! This was the best feeling that climbing had ever given me, I sat in the sun and grinned, the grin is still on my face as I sit here writing this!!

Snow is better than rain and hopefully the melt wont start too soon, a few more days climbing would be nice!

Cheers
David