Alex Ventajas has repeated Gabri Moroni's Trofeo dell'Adriatico (9a+) in Arco. The Spaniard, living in Italy, has during the last two years done eight 9a's and one 9a+.

Can you tell us more about your ascent?
Since I saw the picture of Gabriele Moroni’s first ascent I thought Trofeo dell’Adriatico would have been the perfect project for me. In effect, Trofeo didn't disappoint my expectations: all the moves are so intense and powerful but at the same time very aesthetic. It is meant for being climbed! While I was trying the route I said more than once that even if I kept falling I would never get tired of trying those movements, and I think this helped me keep my motivation high. I had to admit the process that lead me to the send didn't exactly go as planned. It was like a roller coaster, with ups and downs!

I first put my hands on Trofeo at the end of last year, but there were many interruptions due to some vacations, weather, and work. So I went back to it around a month later in January. Since then, I think I spend around 20-25 days on the route. Maybe they don’t seem too much from outside, but when you think you’re close and you keep falling those days might feel a lot. In the beginning, I thought I had found my betas quite fast, and after a few days I managed to give it a very good try from below. Those days I felt really close. But then a crucial hold got wet, there were bad conditions, and above all, I realize my methods weren't as good as I thought: a sequence was too aleatory and required too much energy putting pieces together.

So I realize I had to take a step back to Invest time in changing some of the betas I tried so far. That was exactly what I needed, because by changing a few things I started to have very good tries again, falling in the upper part of the last boulder. I was a little worried that high temperatures will arrive before I manage to put a red point to this great line, but yesterday there were perfect conditions, I felt very strong and I had the feeling I could control every move. Clipping the chain was so exciting! For sure this is the route that made me struggle the most but also my biggest climbing satisfaction so far, and it taught me a lot: to accept failure, learn from mistakes, look for solutions, and go for it without losing motivation! Most of the time the correct mindset it’s all we need to reach our goals!

William Moss has done the FA of Best Things in Life Are Free (9a) in Trapps, and it comes with an R as it is trad/mixed ascent with a risk of injury. This is the first 9a mixed route in the world and as the two bolts, Moss clipped, are in fairly easy terrain, some would consider it as a contender for the hardest trad route in the world. The climb is the 10 meters direct variation to Friend zone (8c+). which he did two years ago. "Two seasons of projecting on this one. My proudest ascent to date and the hardest line up the t’s Buttress."

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the included R grade?
It is the original aid line that was called Best things in life aren’t free. It was always the obvious and hardest project on the Buttress but it had been too hard and too scary in the past for me to send. It is by far my proudest ascent to date. The R is the safety rating. I gave it that because at the crux I am runout about 20 feet above my last piece of protection and the sequence requires climbing upside down which leads to the potential of hitting my head or back in a big fall. This made it scary to climb and was the reason I wore a helmet.

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Brooklyn in Orgon. In total, the 21-year-old has now done over 60 routes 9a and harder. ”Crazy send. A new route, bolted by my father between "Macumba club" and "Bronx". After about twenty very hard and powerful moves on natural holds it ends with Macumba club (8c). Three approach moves lead to the first crux: a very hard move from a bad crimp to go to a shoulder followed by three "campus board" moves (6 moves around 8A+). Then you have the second crux with, in particular, a bad little undercling followed by a nice dynamic move (8 moves around 7C+). After all this, you climb the second part of "La Connection", 30 moves of resistance (around 8b+). This route is almost natural and deserves a few "curious" climbers to come and climb it. I propose 9b for this route. It took me around 15 days of work." 💪😍

What's next?
I have some projects in France between 9b and 9b+ (maybe more). In Margalef I would like to succeed in « Artaburu » (9b) by Iker Pou and try routes by Jorge Diaz-Rullo. In Santa Linya some routes between 9a and 9b interest me. So we will have to make choices.🙃

Everett Sloane has repeated Griffin Whiteside’s Traffic (8C) in The Scoop. "So many mind games. Far from the best line but this one is important to me."

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Absolutely. The climb is around 20 moves start to finish. It starts with really powerful climbing on underclings and finishes with a hard tension sequence on terrible crimps. I came painfully close last season and finally finished it up on my first session of the season. Oh, I also want to shoutout all the WOAH homies who went out there with me.

Luke Dawson, who previously has sent seven 8c+ graded routes and one 9a, has done Esclatamasters (9a) in Perles. ”Perfect route, think it’s harder than any 8c+ I have done felt insanely pumpy to begin with but the endurance comes with sessions on it.” (c) Patxi Usobiaga

François Legrand was dominant on the competition scene between 1990 and 1995. He won all three World Championships and 15 out of the 27 World Cups that he competed in during that period. He's the son of mountain guides, but it was not until the age of 18, that he began sport climbing when he moved to a cave in Buoux and at the same time started to compete. Later he moved into an apartment with Yuji Hirayama and the rest is history. In 2000, he made the FA of Roby in the Sky (9a).

How do you live climbing nowadays?
I'm still highly passionate about climbing... differently but as much as 30 years ago 😊 Of course, I'm not a "pro climber" anymore so I have to deal with a full-time job and family occupations, but I try to save as much time as I can for my passion. I also have to deal more and more with my body limits since I had an accident in Kalymnos 5 years ago, and 2 consecutive surgery operations on my shoulders! So my training regime and my level is not always as high as I would like but when everything is alright I manage to climb 4 times/week, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays evening indoors, and at our favourite crags at the weekends. I said "our" ‘cause I'm really happy and lucky to share all these great sessions and emotions with my younger son Erwan 😊 Erwan is 14 and seems to love climbing as much as his father, so it's amazing to spend so much time together thus it's becoming harder and harder to follow him!

It’s particularly difficult that he’s progressing, and that "small injuries" are frequent for me! But following him at such amazing places as Buoux or Saint Léger keep my motivation always high! When I'm not able to climb, I enjoy being at the crags with friends; I belay and encourage Erwan, and I use the time he's resting to find new lines, I also love that... I've bolted more than 100 routes mostly in Buoux within the last 2 years! It's such a great achievement to discover lines of holds on the rock; sure, it's sometimes quite tough work to place the bolts and to clean the route, but what a satisfaction to see the result, to try to free climb it (when I can do it before Erwan!), and then to see others enjoy these new climbs 😊

What are the biggest changes in the comp and rock scene since you were active?
So many things have changed since the beginning of sport climbing competitions! Yes, I was quite young at those times, but I started comps in 1986... then it was almost the very first climbing competitions ever, we made a few outdoor events on the real rock: What a disaster! First, it was lead climbing only, and all "on sight"; no preview, so each climber had as much time he wanted in his 10 minutes allowed to read and climb the route! I think I had a real impact on the format change as I was spending more time reading the route on the floor than performing on the wall... the rhythm of the comps was so slow, and the qualifications on 1 single route was so long for everyone, and the isolation waiting time was crazy for the last climbers of the start list!!! Then came real indoor comps and world cup circuits every season, first the World Championships in 1991 (Frankfurt), 1993 (Innsbruck), 1995 (Genève)... my golden years 😊 (Francois won three consecutive golds.)

At the beginning of the millennium appeared the Bouldering Series, with several modifications of the formats and the rule applications (also in Lead), and finally in 2007 the IFSC speed circuit on the official "record route" created by Jacky (Godoffe) and which is actually still exactly the same nowadays! These last years the biggest changes came from the artificial climbing structures, and especially the "extra use" (overuse?) of the volumes and the micro and macro holds. These evolutions influenced radically the route setting, the climbing style and the skills required for the competitors... and in the end the results! That's a big change and the older athletes had to adapt themselves and many had trouble dealing with it, while the younger generation grew up with it naturally.

Personally, I like every kind of climbing as far as it is not dangerous. I'm not good at modern coordination moves like run and jumps or big dynos, but I have fun trying them when needed (which is not so frequent as I'm mostly rope climbing). But concerning competitions, as an observer and spectator, I think competitions are often too stereotyped in this modern style and should propose more diversity in terms of skills for the climbers, and maybe a little less risk; risk is fun for the show, but not always for the athlete who invested a lot to present himself in his best shape for a Championship!

How do you see the future and what is your advice to the youngsters pushing hard?
The future is great for our sport: climbing events are great, competition circuits are now really well organized, we are at the Olympics since Tokyo (finally!), there will be 2 more medals at Paris2024 and hoping for 2 per discipline for LA2028 (?) Media and sponsors are putting more focus on our sport, which is good for us TV spectators and for athletes who aim to be professionals. Gyms are opening every month in large cities, and the number of new climbers is growing respectively with the quality of the offer of these new facilities... but not only!

The future is wide for our "Vertical World": Outdoor rock climbing never has been promoted so well by films since Patrick Edlinger, with climbing legends such as Tommy Caldwell or Alex Honnold. Sport climbing limits also have been pushed hard and filmed in high quality to share these achievements and to show all the "behind the scenes" of the success (which is the most interesting part to me). Chris Sharma, Adam Ondra or Alex Megos are not just pure monsters; they are real role models in their climbing careers and also for their spirit and humanity on our fragile planet. This is so inspiring... We are lucky to have such mentors in our sport, especially for the new generations, but not only; personally I've learned a lot from these heroes even though they are much younger than me! If we follow the same way, respecting Nature and Life, "Planet Rock" is a magical playground that deserves to be preserved.

The community of climbers is particular, far from most sports: we interact, support and push each other; we all speak the same language, and we are like a "Big Family" 😊

My advice to the youngsters, in between others, would be to always keep some fun in their sessions: meet some friends or someone you'd like to talk to, not always push hard or be highly focused from the beginning to the end of the session, and of course, learn to find little satisfactions when failing to the challenge: being positive, keeping the smile... makes you and who you are climbing with happy, and keep the motivation high! Love Climbing & Buoux for ever 😊