Build My Own FeedVIDEO: BD athlete Nalle Hukkataival bouldering in Fontainebleau, France
Black DIamond athlete Nalle Hukkataival escaped the cold of his native Finland this past winter to enjoy the iconic blocs of France's Fontainebleau. Below is the video that Nalle's fellow BD athlete Chris Schulte filmed and edited while he was also in the forest.
“Anywhere else I usually try to just go and do a lot of hard stuff, to just get things done” says Nalle Hukkataival. “here in Font, I’m way more psyched to try and learn something new from a climb, whether I do it or not.” With numerous first ascents and repeats right at the edge of the scale and across the map, Nalle credits Font for a set of skills that are constantly being refined. Five trips to the magic forest have given rise to a rather traditional relationship between him and the climbing here, reminiscent of the alpinists of yesteryear. “It’s more of a training area for me” he says, “Obviously, I want to do many of the climbs here, but for me, I come to get really, really fit. To learn something, which is so much better than if you just DO a climb fast, with pure power, missing foot holds, and just pulling through.” Considering the factors of weather, skin, and problem-to-problem issues of conditions and morphology, his approach and tactics are worth consideration. The experience of learning to do a climb for yourself comes through, despite the grade hung on it by others: their experience is not your own. “So many problems I’ve done here are way, way harder for me that for say, someone who is just a few centimeters taller, or whatever... You learn to look at things differently. The good thing about it is you can end up doing a problem after like a hundred tries or something- most places you get just so many goes before your skin is gone, or you’re tired of doing one move.. Here you almost climb better when you’re tired!” After two weeks of training the core, Nalle headed down to explore a few of the many boulder-stuffed valleys that run through the Ticino canton of Switzerland. No doubt a handful of amazing new problems now await the coming season...
United States / English 
