Loic Zehani, who has already completed 15 FA's 9a+ to 9b, has made the FA of Phoénix (9a+) in Sainte-Baume. (c) Lunar Fox

”Nice route. 30 hard, beautiful and varied movements. Slighty overhang. Finally done after many failures in the last hard move! Thank you to Thomas and my father for finding me THE méthod for the last move . It was time for it to end before it got too hot . About a dozen days, 11 of which were with crappy methods ...”

Moritz Welt has made the first repeat of Alex Megos' Janus (9a) in Frankenjura. "idk anymore, it always felt so hard I thought it must be 9a+, this season it went so quickly."

Can you tell us more about the process behind it repeating Janus?
I tried Janus a few times over the last years, but couldn't really do more than all the single moves in isolation, and thought it felt way harder than other 9a's. Then two years ago I decided to focus on Lazarus and postponed all my other Frankenjura projects. Last season I focused on Corona and Action, so finally this spring it was time for Janus. Already on the first session I felt better than ever and finally finished it in the third session of the year. Now I think hard 9a is appropriate, but no one except Alex and me has done it so far, and still some people consider it 9a+.

What are your summer plans?
Really want to try some of my local FA projects during the next months! 🙂 Only thing I can say is that they're probably among the hardest in Frankenjura! 🙂

Cambell Sarinopoulos, who last month did her first 8A, has completed Euro Trash (8A+) in Little Cottonwood. Pictured here is the 20-year-old on Bronson's Arete (7B+).

Can you tell us more about breaking into 8A+ and your climbing background?
I really enjoyed this climb, the moves were pretty powerful and definitely fit me well. I was psyched to send it pretty quickly on my third session. The actual send attempt was messy and I grabbed every hold wrong but I was psyched it all came together. It was my first of the grade and I’m psyched to start trying some harder stuff!


I competed in both the youth and adult circuits for pretty much my entire life. I have made the youth and adult national teams and competed around the world. This year I took a break from the adult circuit and have just been getting out as much as possible.

What was your best competition result?
I won youth nationals three times and got 6th in bouldering at youth worlds in 2019. I got 5th at Team Trials and made the adult US national team in 2021 and competed in World Cups that year and the year after. My best World Cup placement was in the 30s

Amandine Loury has onsighted Elleanor (8b) and redpointed Fin del Conflicto (8c), both in Margalef. In the 8a ranking game, the 34-year-old is #6. (c) Jean-luc Jeunet

” A friend told me that it was maybe possible to onsight Elleanor. At the begining I thought it was too hard. After the send of Canto a la Libertad, I felt very well and I was not pumped. So I thougt, finally maybe it’s possible to try Elleanor onsight. I had very good feeling, it was crazy!

Fin del Conflicto is a route that I tried in October, but I had fallen in the middle section completely pumped. This time I took just two tries to remember the movement, and just two days just before leaving Margalef, I did a try and I went to the top. Fin del Conflicto is a very beautiful route bolted by O. Jimenez and Dani Andrada. There are three sections. The first is the most difficult on small pockets. The second is very very nice on crimps and tufas and the last is stressfull because it’s again difficult on tufas and pockets.”

Elisa Lauretano, who has sent ten 8A’s over the last year, has done Toy Boy (8A+) in Val di Mello.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your climbing background?
I've been climbing all my life but for the last 4 years I've been devoting myself more to bouldering on rock, which I have discovered to be my true passion! Since then I've started watching a lot of bouldering videos to [help] try out [climbs] around Italy and Switzerland. As soon as I saw the Toy Boy, something inside me clicks! I absolutely wanted to climb that crack, for me who loves crimps it was something incredible.

Last year we went to Val Masino for the first time and after finding the line I discovered that it was even more beautiful! You need strong fingers, but it's a very physical and endurance boulder. Two scattered attempts over a period of months were not enough for me to get the single [moves] right. This weekend we decided to go up to the valley, everything was quite wet, so I put my hands back on Toy boy and unexpectedly I sorted out all the singles!

Kerry Scott and Maya Madere, who last November both ticked their first 8c, Trebuchet (8c), continue their team redpointing by doing Still Life (8c) in Summersville Lake. (c) Colette McInerney

Kerry: ”Still Life is a short, bouldery route at the NRG. It has a heart breaker last move- a huge jump off a credit card crimp- that I fell on for over 10 attempts before sending. Maya Madere and I started working it together in November, and we returned in March and again in April to try and send. Normally, I feel like everything has to go perfectly in order for me to send a route, but the send caught me by surprise. I had split [finger] from the attempt before, so I had Tension tape on my index finger, and the route felt the hardest it had felt in a while…. But somehow I managed to pull it together! Maya also sent, which was the cherry on top of a great week.”

Maya: ”Dream team send with Kerry Scott, my hardest & proudest ever. Absolutely stellar line. I use an intermediate edge to bump to the big gaston in the roof and deadpoint right hand off the iron-band crimp for the last move.”