Broken Crimp
Rainbow Rocket
- Grade
- 8A (V11)
- Style
- Boulder
- Where
- Franchard Sablons Carriers, Fontainebleau, France
- First ascent
- Alexis Allayaud, 2002 or earlier
Rainbow Rocket is a single jump on the Mur des Carriers, at Franchard Sablons Carriers in the forest of Fontainebleau. From a good ledge to the top of the boulder there are 2.6 m of blank rock, and for a moment in the middle no hand or foot is on it. Alexis Allayaud made the first ascent in 2002 or earlier.
History
Allayaud’s ascent is recorded only as before September 2002. He jumped with no foot on the starting holds, and that way it is 8A. Later climbers found that a foot on the starting ledge makes the jump easier, and the grade has been argued over since: on bleau.info about half of the public votes say 8A and most of the rest 7C+.
It has been climbed hundreds of times and is still a problem people travel for. One climber counted about 220 tries over three trips before it went. Kensuke Hamada climbed it in 2020 and Charles Albert in 2023.
The climb
| Section | What it is |
|---|---|
| The break | A very good ledge with a crack beside it |
| The jump | 2.6 m to the top of the boulder, with nothing in between |
| The top | The edge of the boulder, caught with the feet off |
The boulder is about 5 m high. There are two ways to use the ledge: start with one foot already on it, or put the foot on it during the jump. The second is the one drawn here.
The beta
This is the foot stomp, put together from written accounts. The file is a drawing: the holds are placed from those descriptions and are not measured from the rock. Which foot goes on the ledge, the hands at the catch and the way over the top are a best guess.
- The start. Hang from the break with the left hand on the ledge and the right hand in the crack beside it, feet low on the wall.
- The stomp. Jump, and while already moving up put the left foot on the ledge beside the hands. Climbers who have done it say that learning this step is the hard part.
- The flight. Push off the foot and let go with both hands. Nothing is touching the rock: the arms are thrown up at the top and the legs trail behind.
- The catch. Catch the top of the boulder with both hands and hold the swing.
- The top. Walk both feet up the wall and press out over the top with a mantle.
Open it in the app
Open it in the web app with the button below, or download the file and import it into Broken Crimp. Either way, step through the beta move by move and slow it down.
Open it in the web app Download the .beta file
Sources
- bleau.info, Rainbow Rocket
- climbing-history.org, Rainbow Rocket
- fontainebleau.rocks, Rainbow Rocket
- Blocbusters, Rainbow Rocket
An unofficial reconstruction, put together from the public sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the climbers or sources named, and it is no substitute for your own judgement on the rock. See the Terms of Use.