Tobias Haug, who is running the Josito guesthouse in Geyik Bayiri has done his hardest route ever by Josito Paradise Extension 8c/+ in Öküzini. The 48-year-old has previously done nine 8c's out of which the first in 2006. (c) David Kaszlikowski

"45m of very steep and fantastic climbing. The extension has three hard, very complex and physical boulder problems. It felt totally out of reach in the beginning. Seven long weeks of finding beta, trying and doubting often that I can ever succeed. I never climbed 8c+, that's why I can not really give that grade, but the route felt harder than all 8c I've climbed before."

How can you explain peaking at age 48 :) Any special training?
I think it is still possible to improve a lot in climbing, even after 32 years of living this passion. I'm thankful that I can be here at the camp in the position to exchange and learn a lot of good climbers that come to share nice times with us at the rocks. For sure to have a motivated climbing partner, like my wife Duygu, is also pushing a lot. Normally I don't like too much long projecting, but this time I really enjoyed the whole process, also mentally.

We climb most days. I do by side some campus moves on our training wall. For the project I concentrated on short bouldery routes for 3 weeks, which was a good preparation for the hard boulder problems in this long project.

Natalia Grossman has done Euro Roof Low Low 8B in Little Cottonwood. "First go, second session!!! This climb truly has some amazing movement. I guess it is time to go deeper in the cave." (c) Quinn Mason

What can be found deeper in the cave?
If you go all the way to the bottom of the cave you’ll find the start of Grand Illusion, one of the most amazing lines I’ve seen! I believe there is also a higher start that is an 8B+, but I’m not positive.

Grand Illusion is the 8C+ or 9a+/9b that Nathaniel Coleman put up last year. It is 25 intensive moves almost roof climbing on granite without any rest which takes around two minutes to climb.

Samuel Ometz has repeated Dave Graham's Coup de Grace 9a in Ticino. "Legendary route from Dave! That last boulder in the roof has to be one of the coolest section I've ever done on a rope. Used a kneepad which lets you recover better before the roof and for sure makes the route easier. 3 days this year + few goes in the last 2 years." (c) Fedir Samoilov

In total, the 25-year-old has done nine 9a's out of which five the last 12 months. In previous years, he has been focusing more on bouldering having done 66 boulders 8B to 8C.

Katie Lambhas done her seventh 8B the last year, Chinese connection in Mortar Rock. "Legends only. Test piece and a king line in its own special, crumbly way. The most beautiful spring day in the Bae with Berkeley legends bill and ethan g. Mortar rock - where heroes are made." Video on her Insta. (c) Ethan Goldblatt

Last week, the 23-year-old, who is #5 in the ranking game, also did her 14th 8A+, Dominator in Camp 4. "Channelled inner try hard for the last move sat. Full moon power at the bloc, amongst legends. 8 eager seshes this spring culminating in last day valley magic. Personal level up and ffalala. So special."

So what have you been up to this spring?
I have mostly been finishing school and trying Dominator. I had to focus on full-body training, including legs and neck. I was inspired by my study of F1 race car drivers, who will risk it all for glory. I study environmental engineering and the power grid.

Analise Van Hoang did her first 8A+ in March, Bayview Crimp in Mt Tam after three sessions. Her second, A Maze of Death in Bardini Boulders, occurred last week. "Yay! Such a beautiful line and scenery! Took about 45min. Feels soft because it totally fits my style, crimpy. Psyched to get this done 1st sess! Another climb ticked on the list!" Video

Her first 7C+, out of eleven, she did two years ago, at age ten. Here is a presentation from 2018 by Touchstoneclimbing, where she talks about competing. She also have a Youtube channel with most of her hardest ascents.

Dani Andrada reports on Insta that he has done yet another 25 FA's in Alquezar from 7b to 8c+/9a, Apego del Monje. In total, he spent 53 days in Alquezar. (c) Carlos "Citro" Lograño

The 46-year-old has previously done 75 routes 8c+/9a and harder which makes him #3 on that list after Adam Ondra and Alex Megos. In total, he has now done more than 4 500 routes 8a and harder and bolted more than 900 routes. However, when it comes to bolting and doing hard FAs, "La máquina" is totally superior in the world. In practice, the number one reason why the areas 1-3 hours west of Barcelona has become the hardcore epicentrum in the world is thanks to Andrada.

Thea Wulff, who did her first two 7C+' at age 13, has done her first 8A+, Euro Trash in Little Cottonwood. (c) Quinn Mason

Could you please say something about your climbing background and how you took it down?
I’ve been climbing for 9 years, but I mainly focus on indoor competition climbing (I’ll be competing at the Salt Lake City World Cups in a couple of weeks). I’ve been trying to get outside more often, but it’s hard to find the time with training. I just moved to Salt Lake City and Little Cottonwood Canyon is only 15 minutes away, so I wanted to check out Euro Roof. On my first session last weekend, I did the 7C+ start, and tried the 8A+ moves but was too tired to give a real effort. Natalia Grossman was working the 8B, so we decided to head back out yesterday, and both of us sent in under an hour! Until this climb, I hadn’t seriously tried any other 8A+ boulders, but now I’m more psyched than ever to get on some more hard outdoor blocs!

Jonathan Siegrist has repeated James Litz' Ace of Spades 9a+ in Poptire. Actually, Litz did not grade so the proposal came from Daniel Woods who did the first repeat and Jonathan agrees. (c) Matt Pincus

"I first came to this crag in 2017 and I had a really good trip, I climbed everything in the cave more or less but I just did not have the bouldering power to really imagine being able to try this route. My climbing has changed a lot in the last several years as I have gotten much more powerful (at least for my low standard!). So it was nice to come back and do this route in a couple of days.

As for James Litz, he is an incredible dark horse and has been a fixture for hard bouldering first ascents in the US for many years. These are his hardest routes, and in many ways his opus, or at least it would seem. I am not sure how much he climbs any more but he is one of those names that command respect from those who know who he is."

8a interview with James from 2018, talking about his possible 9b FA.

Jana Vincourková has had an amazing April after getting out from lockdown, doing three 8A+' and a flash of Red Hot Tortilas 8A. In the 8a ranking game, the 23-year-old Czech is #7. Here are her two latest videos showing her impressive ascents; video #8 and video #9.

"Finally after being locked in the town for three months, we finally could travel in April. In total, I spent eight days on the rocks already, yaay. We began around Brno where I managed to send 8A+ and 8A. Then we travelled for our first bouldering trip to Sněžník. We spent six days there. On the first climbing day, I was able to send 8A+ boulder “Nesplněný sen” which was a really good start of the trip for me. The next day I started another 8A+ boulder but wasn't able to send it that day, but I flashed an 8A that Lucie Hrozová had flashed a couple of weeks before. Two rest days later the conditions were so good and I managed to climb that boulder which I said was 8A+ named Ko-Fan.

So those five 8ish boulders I did during two weeks. All I can say is that the hard work during winter is paying off so far. Mainly hang-boarding on small crimps with weight and I also did some pull-ups on small crimps with weight and some maximal weight pull-ups on jugs. There I did a big improvement which helps me now a lot. We also twice a week did a Moonboard session.

Next I am going to try some harder boulders and see how it goes and hopefully I will send some 8B boulder again this year or even harder. The season has just started so we will see. :)"

Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Le Pilier du Désert assis 8C in Fontainebleau after just four sessions, beside two sessions doing the 8A+ stand some years ago. The 34-year-old and 187 cm tall did six 8B+' last year and also his second 8C, The Story of two world's. (c) Bart Van Raaij

Interestingly, Manu Cornu who did the second ascent thought it was 8C+ but the third ascentionist, Nico Pelorson says he leans more towards 8B+ as it just took him three sessions. It should be noted that Nico has previously downgraded two 9A's.