October 19, 2024 - Long time no see.

After just over a year of not having seen Pieter, he finally came back to the forest with Alberto, who I hadn't seen for even longer, closer to three years. I let them decide on where to climb and Pieter came up with Apremont Vallon de la Solitude, "Mandela" more in particular. Pieter had deliberately chosen a boulder that I hadn't done before, and there was a reason for it. I did spend two sessions on "Mandela" in the past, and I found simply too hard. There was no way that I could more than two moves in that problem. With the three of us, there would be more possibilities and maybe a slight chance to finally climb it.
The weather had been quite bad with a lot of rain the days before, and even this morning there was a slight drizzle. Everything looked wet, but the boulder of "Mandela" and the surrounding boulders were perfectly dry and even in very good conditions. It was a pleasant surprise.
Before trying "Mandela", we warmed up in "Madiba", right next to it. After working out the sketchy top part, I was able to get the ascent.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Vallon de la Solitude - Madiba 7A(6C+)

Pieter tried more, but was missing something. Not having been here for over a year had taken its toll and he was getting tired quickly. Before getting too tired, and in need for a change, we decided to start with "Mandela". 
It didn't take long before Pieter and Alberto realized why I had never topped out this problem. Being the three of us though, we didn't give up and tried a lot of possibilities. When Jan (Gorrebeeck) joined us too, we had a fourth opinion and some new ideas, but we were still stuck and a hard time making progress. 
Then after about two hours being stuck, Alberto made a good suggestion changing a minor detail on one of the methods that seemed to work best for me. Changing that minor detail finally got me further to the point where I was able to go for the top slopers, but I missed the best part of it and still fell off. Two more attempts after that, I finally was able to stick it and top it out. I had already turned off the camera by then, but I had witnesses. Jan was getting close too, and while he kept trying, I decided to try it again for having a video of it. Still having the muscle memory, I topped it out again immediately, followed by Jan about fifteen minutes later.
It was a great session with even greater company.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Vallon de la Solitude - Mandela 7A(7A+)