Maya Ene, who last year climbed an 8c+ route as well as an 8A+ boulder, has completed The Thrilla in Manila (8B) in Hueco Tanks (TX). Her family owns a small climbing gym in New Jersey, and her father Ionel, finished his World Cup career in 1999 by being #19 in Speed and #43 in Lead at the World Championships.

Can you tell us more about Thrilla?
I think I got very motivated to try a V13 after placing third in the Hueco Rock Rodeo competition on February 17. To be on the podium with these famous names, Nina Williams and Michaela Kiersch, meant a lot to me. The problem was beta intense (knee bars - not my style) so I worked on it for two days. I was able to send it on my last day of the trip, last try. Super psyched. Looking for a V14 now:). My father was a big support for me during the comp and while working on the problem.

What is coming up next for you?
I will try to spend a couple of more weeks climbing outside (maybe I can send my project "Pure Imagination" this spring). In May, I will start focusing more on indoor climbing to get ready for Youth Nationals.

What does a normal climbing week look like for you?
My training? Hmm, that is something hard to describe because I don't have a particular program. My parents' schedule is a bit chaotic, but we climb indoors 4 to 5 times a week. Besides our gym, we climb at many others around us to experience different styles, sets and holds. A couple of weeks before Youth nationals we focus exclusively on indoor climbing.

How often do you climb outdoors?
We have almost no climbing outdoors here in New Jersey, so to get some quality climbing we have to travel at least 6 hours, so when we go, we stay for a couple of days. I think we spend about 3 months climbing outside throughout the year.

Kai Lightner has kept up his recent form and fitness by doing the FA of Death of Villains (9a+) at Hurricave. Kai first made headlines when he sent Southern Smoke (8c+) at age 13, in 2012. The next year, he won the Youth World Championship and completed Era Vella (9a). Last November he made his return to 9a by climbing, Life Of Villains (9a).

On Instagram he comments on his 9a+ FA. "I can’t end this post without giving a HUGE shout out to @joekinder. You have really become a mentor for me in so many ways, and have gone out of your way to help me in my outdoor climbing journey. At the end of the day, the climbing community would not exist without people like you developing the crags we recreate in." (c) Gareth Leah

Can you tell us more about this FA?
Training for Death of Villains was honestly a shot in the dark. I had never projected a climb at that level, and didn’t know how much was enough. For this particular climb, power endurance was the name of the game, and I had to have a lot of it. So lots of laps, lots of 4x4’s and lots of cardio! Luckily when I showed up to the climb, I knew I had enough fitness to get the job done in the 2.5 weeks I had given myself. I had also already done half the climb, as the beginning section is shared with Life of Villains (which I sent last fall). After 9 sessions and fighting the rain and damp conditions, I was finally able to get it done on the last possible try of the last day of my trip! Super psyched to nail this one down .

How long did you prepare for the climb?
I’d say [only] the month before (January). After a busy month of December in Jamaica and going home for the holidays, I reserved the month of January strictly for training and preparing.

What is coming up next for you?
Spain in two weeks! I’ll be climbing around Spain for a month testing routes and seeing what goes. Only time will tell!

Gabriele Moroni has repeated La Rambla (9a+) in Siurana. Originally it was Alexander Huber's project and in 1994 he made it to the first anchor. In 2003, Ramon Julian Puigblanque continued six meters by traversing right towards La Reina Mora. It has been logged 26 times in the database and is considered one of the most beautiful cutting-edge lines in Spain.

The 36-year-old started making headlines in 2004 when he won the bronze at the European Bouldering Championship. Prior to that break-out success, in Lead, he had already won three European Youth Cups as well as the Youth World Championship. In 2018, the Italian finished his competition career after having won a Boulder WC that same year.

Last year he made a brief WC comeback. “I am not going to do any of the WC’s this year. I will be coaching at some of the WC’s like I did the previous years. My comeback last year was not planned. I got asked from the federation if I want to try to get selected for the OQS. But my last minute training was not enough. I got some decent results in bouldering (once in top 25) but not very good in lead (first lead comps [for me] in 14years).”


Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried it for some days during the 2022/23 New Years trip. Then again for a few days at the start of the month and finally on my second day of the last mini trip last week. The ascent came on a very windy day. I knew I had a pretty good chance to do it since I was already very close on my previous trip. I felt really good on the morning of the send. My only concern was the glacial wind conditions but eventually, I kept it together.

Did you do any special preparation for the send?
I tried to train specifically in January doing some longer laps, indoor routes and of course some power training on the board.

What is next for you?
I can't really plan much due to the work schedule. I am the head setter at Urban Wall in Milano. For sure I'd love to spend some weekends in Arco on a couple of routes I bolted last fall.

Tanguy Merard, who the last year did ten routes 9a or 9a+, has flashed Rêve de poutre (8c) in Saint Léger. During the last year, the 20-year-old has flashed five 8c’s and in the All Time Flash Ranking game, the French climber is the runner-up after Adam Ondra. (c) Joris

”A friend of mine gave me beta on the route and I also watched the video of Alex Megos in the Le Cadafist (9a) which has the same finish as Rêve de Poutre 8c. I chose the beta with more movement but easier one which is closer to my style of climbing. During the flash everything worked to perfection and I opted with the right beta. Now I will try Le Cadafist...”

Matteo Marobin reports on Instagram that he has done Supercrackinette (9a+) in Saint Léger. Last year, the 18-year-old made the FA of a 36-year-old project.

Can you tell us more about the Crackinette and your climbing background?
When I was 16 I spent a week in St. Léger. At that time I didn’t climb as hard as I do now. The hardest routes [I did] were only 8b but I remember seeing people trying Super Crackinette with my Dad. It’s located at the end of the sector, with nothing else around.

In the following years, I continued to train hard, which led to some great performances and results. Last year, I sent my first two 9a's (''Flesh For Fantasy“ and ''Remise de Pène“). I also managed to get two top 5 results and a 6th place in some European Youth Cups in lead and bouldering.

For my first year in the adult category, I have decided to put my main focus on lead competitions. Since there aren’t many comps at the beginning of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to try something hard outdoors. It’s a nice way to see improvement through training. That was when Super Craquinette came to my mind. I knew I was finally ready for this route !

My journey began in December with two trips to St. Léger. At the start, I was just trying to find right beta and get familiar with the route. Still, the route already felt really good and I made some good links. This made me think that it would be possible to climb soon.

The second trip wasn‘t as good as the first one. Mainly because I was still tired from all the training I had the week before. Additionally, I broke an important hold in the first part of the route. Despite all these inconveniences, I climbed the route with only one stop in the middle.

As the first trips had already been quite successful, I returned in February. This time my goal was clear: I wanted to send the route! After two days of trying I started to make attempts from the ground. Almost every time I fell at the first crux, going into the mono, but I could send the rest of the route pretty easily. After a few days I found the perfect feeling for this move. That way I was really close to sticking the move into the mono. This was the exact moment when I knew that I was really close, which made me really excited for the following days. The next day I stuck the first crux move with ease, but unfortunately fell on the last hard move. At the end of the day I decided to make one last attempt. Despite bad weather conditions, slippery holds and a bad mindset, I still tried to give everything. I found myself at the top of the route and finally clipped the anchor of Super Crackinette.