Photo : Thor19 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
L'Eléphant d'Apremont
The Elephant rock is a sandstone block whose shape evokes the animal that gave it its name. It stands in Seine-et-Marne, in the Commanderie forest, which extends the Fontainebleau forest, near the village of Larchant. The long-distance footpath GR 13 passes by the site, and the group of rocks around it used to be called "the Justice rock".
The Fontainebleau forest is known for its chaos of sandstone blocks, such as those of the Apremont gorges and desert, located nearby in the same massif. Its rocks of varied shapes, some of which evoke animals, attract walkers, families and many bouldering enthusiasts. The Elephant is itself a famous climbing block, on which several routes are marked by colour according to difficulty. Weakened by water infiltration and wear, it was removed in 2021 from the official climbing sites in order to be preserved.
