Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen has done his third 8C in 2021, Dreamtime in Cresciano. Interesting is that although doing his first 8B+ in 2013, in the last three years the 187 cm tall and 34-years-old has been on steady progress.

"This one was a bit longer in the making. Lets be honest, who doesn't dream of dreamtime? I was thinking of Dreamtime for years. But finger injuries, snow and rain kept me from really trying it. With Newyear, it got serious and I went for it. Did it in 2 parts, but was doubting my beta for the crux (the long move) a lot. Did it with the heel with the new year, but was never happy with the small/sharp edge. Now I came back and with some micro changes was comfortable with the jump. That motivated a lot. Still needed 3 sessions this trip to get it down. So good, so classic. Just Dreamtime."

How can you explain your great continuous progress over the last three years? It kinda feels like I am getting a little better every year. But it is hard to say. I think that it helps that I focussed a bit more on the hard lines this year. Taking extra rest days (one day on one day off) and trying less easy lines. What also helps, is that we have a nice little hardcore group in my home gym (Tim Reuser and Don van Laere), and we go HARD together. Always on the spray wall thinking of harder and harder problems.

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Alexander Rohr reports on Insta that he has done Pirmin Bertle's Meiose in Charmey which originally was graded 9b. As previously Alex Megos has said, Rohr thinks that what Bertle did was a 9a+ elimination. (c) Jan Virt

"Well, I did it in more or less two sessions. On day one I was focused on giving some beta for Alex to give his flash try on Chromosome Y. So I climbed on that one a lot and later I put in the draws on Meiose. We then returned for that one the next day and he sent and I blew the last move into the mono. I spent one week in France for some climbing and returned for Meiose. I put in the draws and sent it the next try. We both did the exact same beta which is probably 9a. The one Pirmin used is good, but not logical, as my opinion is that a route should be graded based on the easiest method and not some made up cruxes."

It should be mentioned that when Adam Ondra did the first repeat he called it a "Low end 9a+" after having done it on his third go. This was in 2018 and then Pirmin responded on his blog, "I clearly refuse a downgrading of Meiose. Using it as a 9a+ reference for Switzerland would mean to block the way further up for almost every actual 9a climber of the country."

Vita Lukan has during a two weeks trip to Rodellar done 17 routes 8a and harder out of which eleven onsight or flash. Her hardest were Cascavel 8c/+, Welcome to Tijuana 8c and Florida 8c. During the first week, the Slovenian onsighted one 8b+ and one 8b. In the 8a ranking game, she is #3 and actually, only her sends the last two weeks would have put her as #4.

How was the last week?
In the last few days, I was mostly working on my project Cascavel 8c/+. It is located in the same sector as Geminis but it is a little shorter with some powerful moves. It took me 4 days and 11 tries to connect it from the bottom which made it my longest project so far. Although my main goal was to top this route I was still climbing other routes in different sectors. Welcome to Tijuana was on my wish list since we have arrived and it was a pleasure to climb such a legendary route.

I would like to mention that Welcome to Tijuana was a team ascent - also Mia Krampl and Domen Škofic sent it!

Attila Zsombor Radics, #4 in the Combined Youth World Championship, has done his first 8B+, Non Plus Ultra (low), after six sessions. "After a semi-successful competition season, I was ready to jump back on the rocks and have a good time in nature. I needed to find a new project and I happily set my eyes on this one. This boulder has a pretty technical and unique style. I had to acquire how to toe- and fingerjam properly in the roof and how to accept the failures throughout the process. I think I had had the decent power from the beginning but I didn't have the proper technique and it took me quite a while to figure out the best beta of every move. Finally, after a long and tiring school day, I could get to the crag and managed to climb this project and not just the feeling was 'non plus ultra'."

What are your winter plans?
Climb as much as I can and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to climb around Europe as well and of course to find a new project 😉

In the video, the bronze medalist in the Olympics, said he has done Es Pontas 9a+ and that he had to struggle much more then on Alasha 9a, which he did like two weeks ago. Full video is coming up.

Marcello Bombardi, who has won one World Cup, has done the FA of La Cura 9a in Ollomont, bolted by Massimo Bal. "After 7 days of work and many falls at the last move I managed to clip the chain and do the FA of this open project "La Cura"! 30 moves with no rests on a slightly overhanging wall."

What is next?
I have two other projects close to home, one of which is quite hard, but we have the last national comp in two weeks so I will focus on that one first.

Manuel Brunn, who previously has done two 9a's, out of which the last one in 2013, has made the FA of X-Drive 9a/+ in Allgäu. It is a link-up of two FA by the Bindhammer brothers and it took him some 30 sessions. (c) Fabi Buhl

"This is the more logical and better line in my eyes. The process took quite a long as I have to squeeze my climbing into my daily life with kids and work. I’m also quite old turning 43 this year and need more and more rest days compared to the younger generation. Overall I tried the route for 2 seasons."

Did you do any special training or just climb on the route?
No training. I’m climbing for 30 years and for the last ten years I didn’t train at all. I just go outside. Motivation and knowing when to try hard is the key…

William Bosi, who was #11 in the Lead World Championship last month, has been on a bouldering trip to Switzerland where he flashed two 8A+'; Red Snapper and De Lucifer, redpointed Foundations' Edge 8C as well as another four 8B+'. Amazingly, the 8C took just two hours with the FA Dave Graham supporting the beta and three of the 8B+' in just one hour each.

"These boulders are absolutely incredible, so just being able to try them was great fun. It was hugely rewarding to get them sent fast as well. Definitely shows my training has been paying off and that I am in a good shape. It gives me more confidence in the FAs I did at the beginning of the year in Spain but it is back to training now for future projects next year!”

Iuri Reusa has done his second 8c+, Up forever in Falesia del ghëddo. It was put up by his 14-year-old son Michele this spring. Iuri started to climb some 25 years ago and did his first 8c+ in 2017, a couple of years after his sons got into climbing. The family has been developing the crag and Matteo (13) has also made an 8c+ FA here, which is still unrepeated.

"I am not as strong as my children since it took them only a few days to make that shot while it took me many more days, even months. Up forever is a resistance route along a big overhang with a still difficult final passage. It is located in the crag we are equipping and where there are even more difficult projects to free. We are waiting for strong climbers to come up against these routes.

I think I went up to try the pitch for twenty days. This year we have climbed a little on the rock but we have climbed a lot in the climbing gyms. Given the proximity of the cliff from our home, we can often go in the evening."

What are the winter climbing plans for the family?
I think Michele and Matteo want to climb a lot in the gym. We would like to start bolting another small winter crag. Then let's see... we still have many projects in Piedmont.