February 28, 2021 - Early Easter.

Already last weekend, it seemed like it was already Easter. It was at least as crowded in the forest as you would almost expect on an extremely busy infamous Easter weekend. It was reported in the news that the police fined over 450 motorists for dangerous or obstructive parking. I was always early and luckily only noticed the crowds when I left the isolated boulder that I had been climbing on in Mont Pivot.
This weekend was no different unfortunately, and as I had to work yesterday morning until early afternoon, I was only able to leave late and the roads towards the popular parking areas in Noisy-sur-Ecole were already sealed off with a warning that the parking areas were saturated. It was only then that I decided to go to Boissy-aux-Cailles to work in the still somewhat confidential "Kong" again.
Somehow, I had trouble getting out of the work vibe of earlier that day and despite quite comfortably doing "Kong", using the original method, in two overlapping parts, I couldn't stitch it all together from start to finish. It was nice to Jean-Hervé (Baudot) again though, and nice meeting Laurent.

This morning, I was able to leave earlier, but on my way to Marlanval, I could see the parking areas that I passed on my way, already starting to be filled up. I knew though, that I would most likely be all by myself in Marlanval, where I wanted to try "Mach 4". Despite having worked out the moves separately, the North face of this boulder that rarely sees the sun, was lacking the conditions required for me to do it in its whole. I decided to drive to the nearby Boissy-aux-Cailles again, but this time to try the publicly known but surprisingly not so popular "Alléluia". It most likely lacks the attention  that it deserves mainly because it's so isolated from the other better known boulders in the area, but still,  it's only across the small field when coming from "Eden Roc" for example. One can practically see the boulder, especially now, when the trees are still stripped from their leaves.
Even though I already knew "Alléluia" for years, I had never tried it before because climbing aretes isn't really my specialty, but as Jan (Gorrebeeck) recommended it, I decided to give it a chance.

I must admit that I wasn't climbing comfortably, constantly having to keep in balance while pulling hard sideways on the arms and not really trusting the feet. It's a pretty high boulder, the top slopers felt sandy and thoughts of falling down with one leg stuck in the crack were racing through my head. No, climbing aretes isn't my specialy and that is probably very visible in the non-aesthetical way that I climb them. Nevertheless, I got there, and I have to admit that Jan was right about this one. This is a beauty!

Fontainebleau - Boissy Le Plaid - Alléluia 7A+