Karoline Sinnhuber, a former competition climber who has done almost 100 boulders 8A to 8B, has done her second 8b+, Minas Tirith in Ötztal. (c) Fabian Leu

"Amazing route! The real crux wasn't the crux for me... I was fighting hard against pumped forearms on the way to the rescue arete :-D. Way too hot for hard bouldering and I am still looking for a new boulder project 🤔 but it seems like winter says hello the next few days :D"

Daniel Woods reports on Insta that he has done Giuliano Cameroni's Blade Runner 8C in RMNP. (c) Daniel Gajda

"Since global warming has fucked up the seasons, (unusually hot weather remains in the high country at the end of sept!) I had to wait until 10 pm at night just to have a chance. Speaking of global warming this is also a friendly reminder to all my US friends to vote Biden/Harris into office and remove our current clown 🤡."

The 31-year-old, who is #2 in the 8a annual ranking game, has in total done 25 8C's and 6 8C+', which is most in the world. In 2010, he won the Boulder World Cup in Vail and he has also won the USA Nationals nine times in a row.

Mia Krampl, #2 in the Lead World Championship last year and who later qualified to Tokyo, has done her second 8A+, Petting with an alligator in Maltatal.

I tried it few weeks ago and I loved it. So many different type of moves and heel hooks, knee hook... when I saw the boulder it seemed so difficult to me but with some help of my friends who have already sent it and told me the beta, I liked the line even better! Unfortunately I was falling from the last move for the several times on that day. This sunday I went back to Maltatal without the plan of trying Petting... but during the time I was waiting for the colder temperatures to try something harder with the other guys, I decided to give it a go! I've send it in few tries!

The Austrian Climbing Summer Series Finals in Innsbruck is live Sep 23-26 on EpicTV

Geila Macia, daughter to famous Spanish climbers Berta Martin and Israel Gacia, has done Aribaba 8a in Montserrat, (c) Israel, as well as her first 8b, Vuelo a ciegas in Totxo del Macana. Interestingly, it was put up in 1986 as the first 8b in Spain. Berta did it ten years ago and comments,

"It is a short and explosive route with a decisive dynamic move at the beginning from two-finger-pockets. Last autumn Geila tried it once and then we went to Hueco Tanks for three weeks, where she did three 7C's. Once we returned she tried it again but then there was the lockdown and we just trained a lot at home. It was the only thing we could do...train. During the summer we focused on easier routes in Montserrat where she also did 8a and 8a+. On September 12th Geila did Arribaba, a very explosive and resistant 8a and we saw that she was very fit she returned to the 8b.

Geila was extremely motivated to go to the project because she was determined to do the dynamic move. The rest of the route is more controlled moves but requires a lot of precision on feet, and there are a couple of more controlled dynamics but she had them well-rehearsed. Many failed tries but her motivation never gave up. Eventually, she coordinated the dyno very well with the movement of feet and hips and went to the anchor... with determination and enjoying the moment."

Dani Fuertes has done Ali Hulk sit start extension total 9b in Rodellar. More info in spanish on his Insta. "For me it is a dream to achieve this difficulty, specially because I’m not a professional climber. I have my full time job as a fire man and my family! Besides it’s a route for younger climbers haha and I’m a little bit old 🙄. But I will go on there! Doing that is my passion with my family, Sílvia and Africa! I have not done any specific training, I have only climbed the route and I have worked it by sections, doing boulder in the crux and training resistance in the last part. I have learnt a lot on a mental level. The route requires to always be very concentrated because you can fall in many sections if you are not focused. Next? Climbing climbing climbing bolting climbing all time!!!🤣🤣🤣."(c) Carlos "citro" Logroño

Originally Dani Andrada did the FA of Ali Hulk sit start extension 9b back in 2007 which has only been repeated by Magns Midtbö. Then last year, Jonathan Flor added some 15 mainly crimp moves and "total" to the original name, keeping the grade. Jorge Diaz-Rullo and Laura Rogora have previously repeated it. In total, the hybrid boulder route has over 100 moves and it took the 39-year-old around 20 minutes to climb including four very good rests. It starts with a around 15 moves sist start boulder followed by some 35 moves before you tie in, then you traverse out of the cave and in total, the overhang should be like 30 meters.

Paul Jenft, who was #10 in Briancon, has beside his first 9a, done his third 8c+ during the last four weeks, Il n'est jamais trop tard in La Balme.

"It is a route bolted by Philippe Mussato in La Balme. Mathieu Bouyoud did the first ascent of this line last year and he motivated my to try the route. It is composed by two sections where the first is powerful with big moves. Then there is a good rest with two kneebars. The second section is more technical. It begins with a crux with a jump to a crimp and then there are pumpy moves until the top. I needed six attempts during two sessions to take it down."

Isabelle Faus has added yet another very impressive FAs to hard scorecard; Sinwav 8B+ in Pine Cliff, Get Laid 8B in Scoop and Glitter addict 8B in Pine Cliff. In total, she has now opened 19 boulders 8A to 8B+ FAs which makes her totally superior in the FA game. (c) Chad Greedy

"For me exploring and cleaning is a constant, I like repeating boulders too, but doing a first ascent is a contribution to the climbing community so for me it’s more satisfying. It also makes the whole experience of projecting harder.. finding, cleaning , figuring out the beta, but I love the challenge. Finding beta is my favorite part, it’s super creative... there’s no videos or pics for beta, so you really have to figure it out... Doing a first ascent means you have to have vision, know how to clean boulders, figure out your own beta, be willing to get dirty, and have faith in yourself that your doing things right and that your project is worth your time. It’s a lot harder! Process is always work, but it’s great to transform something and give a little to the community. Very grateful for all the people who showed me how to open boulders. We have endless projects and I know from exploring that we always have things to do :)

Doing Sinawav was scary! I found it in a solo mission and it’s my favorite thing I’ve found so I really wanted to do it. The day I sent I was in a bad mood, but I finally made it to this ledge before the highball ending.. I normally would have been scared cause I was sweaty and tired but... that day I gave zero fucks... It helped haha :) I definitely tried it with a rope, I always rehearse sequences on highballs. It’s hard climbing and high consequence. It breaks down like 8B to the ledge, after that you really don’t want to fall, and it’s 7C to the top. Bad slopey crimps and huge moves."

Sinawav was put up some two months ago and has not been repeated although Daniel Woods has been close. Two weeks the boulder FA queen repeated Creme de la Crumb 8B+ after some seven sessions of projecting. In the 8a ranking game she is #2 after Alex Puccio.

Eva Hammelmüller has done Der Seewächter 8b+, (c) Andre Costar, and Gondor 8c in Ötztal. In total, the 20-year-old has now done six 8c's in 2020 and she is #5 in the 8a ranking game.

"Gondor felt really hard when I tried it for the first time, but I made good progress from each try to the next. I struggled a bit on the lower crux, so I changed my beta slightly. On the next go, I climbed through these hard moves and could send the route straight away! As university starts again in October, I will climb a lot in Ötztal, but I would also like to go to Arco and maybe Tessin or Magic Wood on long weekends. Definitely a lot of outdoor climbing!"