William Bosi, who previously has flashed six 8B or 8B+, has made an amazing flash of Graceland (8B+) in Allgäu. ”First pull on rock in Germany so very surprised and happy to get the flash of this amazing bloc. Super cool shoulder move. Grades are impossible to know when you flash but I reckon it’s more on the 8B side than the +? Hopefully more people will go and try it soon :)” (c) Band of Birds

How did you prepare for the flash?
Was a fairly unprepared day as I was only free from 2pm and don’t know the area so we looking up what seemed like a cool and steep crag and headed to just have a look. As it had been snowing so much I didn’t think anything would be dry and we didn’t have pads. So I was very surprised to arrive at a really cool looking wall which was dry and had two stashed pads under it! I wasn’t really able to tell exactly where the lines went so I messaged Dominik Bösch who is local and luckily he was free and then popped over. He showed me the lines and his beta once he got there. So after going through the moves in my head a good few times I sat down and went for Graceland first! As it has a weird shoulder move I really wasn’t expecting to flash it, but somehow I was able to do the move well and just stay on.

How did you warm up and just how cold was it?
It was around -5 to 0 I believe and I warmed up by pretty much just doing arm swings and then feeling some of the holds around, my first pull of the floor was on Graceland.

What is next?
I’m back in the UK now but just training to hopefully return to Arco for Excalibur (9b+) in the coming weeks!

Michaela Kiersch, who just last week did the 35m endurance test piece La Rambla (9a+), reports with Insta videos that during her first two days in Brione she has done Fake Pamplemousse (8A), entwash (8A) and Frogger (8A). (c) Tina Johnson Hafsaas

In the La Rambla interview, the Doctor of hand therapy, explained how she had prepared for her Euro trip. "I did a really regimented training block of about 6 weeks following my trip to the RRG (Red River Gorge). It included moonboard, kilterboard, circuits, and hangboarding. And, sauna every day!"

How long did it take to get into the groove of bouldering after having focused on endurance in Siurana?
On my first day I did Entwasch and Fake pamplemousse, so it didn’t take long at all! I had one gym session in Barcelona, it's close to the airport. It’s a nice surprise to be here and having fun in the forest. And less windy ;)

As it stands, the 28-year-old is a contender for having the All-Time High best Combined route and boulder tick list. In just the last year, she has done around 30 boulders 8A to 8B+. In previous years, she was more of a route climber having completed a dozen routes 8c+ and harder.

Michaela was #22 in her Boulder World Cup debut in 2010 at age 15 and the next year she was #18 in a Lead World Cup. From there, she put competitions to the side, and chose to focus on rock and University. Michaela did her first 8c and 8c+ at age 21. Interview from last summer.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Mejorando la Samfaina in Margalef. (c) Adri Martinez

The route is a connection that links Mejorando Imagen 9a+/b and Samfaina 9a+ which, according to Jorge, is his most difficult route to date. The 23-year-old has previously done nine 9b's.

As Jorge suggested 9b+ for it, could possibly mean that his big project, Cafe Columbia, to the right on the same wall, might be 9c. The Spaniard has logged 130 days on his mega-project and commented last week to 8a, "I am sure it is the hardest route that I ever tried."

Ryuichi Murai, who already has five 8C+ ascents to his name, reports on Insta that he has done in Red Rock (NV), after projecting it for eight days. (c) Momoka Oda

Sleepwalker was opened by Jimmy Webb and later Daniel Woods added a sitstart, calling it Return of the Sleepwalker (9A).

Did you give the 9A sit start a go? Did you do any special training in order to get in shape for this trip?
Tomorrow is the last day. So the sit start is for the next time. I made some sloper and fat pinch problems at the spray wall and trained sometimes with the Beast Maker 2000. Additionally, I also did full span training from an undercling to sloper hold. (Sleepwalker requires wingspan).
My basic climbing style is training on the gym's spray wall 2-3 times a week. The amount will increase a little more one month before a trip. The content includes max power training with problems of V12 (8A+) and above, and circuit training with problems of V7-9. And I often do finger pull-ups using the Beast Maker 2000. I sometimes do plank training at home on days when I don't climb.

When and where do you plan to travel next ?
Maybe Alphane or South Africa in June-July.

Cameron Hörst has done Smoke Wagon (9a) in Mt Potosi. (c) John Kasaian

Can you give us the lowdown?
I started trying “Smoke Wagon” (9a) in the winter of 2021 but never came back to it until the end of December 2022. Since December, I have taken a couple one week trips to Vegas (from Salt Lake City) to try the climb between training. I haven’t kept track of the number of sessions but I put a good bit of work into it. I chose to work this route, in particular, because it is a pure resistance route (which has historically been my anti-style). The goal being… that trying this route, in between training, will hopefully help equip me for harder projects in the future!

What's next for you this year?
I have some lingering projects here in the states I want to finish off throughout the year and will be travelling to France this summer to climb in Céüse!

Cameron made his first 8a news in 2012 when he did his first three 8b+. In addition to excelling at climbing, Cameron excelled at American football in high school.

Stefano Ghisolfi has done the FA of Excalibur (9b+) in Arco. It was bolted by Christian Dorigatti and Morris Fontanari who invited Stefano to try it two years ago. Over the last year, Stefano has been trying it with Jacob Schubert, Will Bosi and Adam Ondra. (c) Diego Borello

Can you tell us more about the ascent? Did you do any specific training and did you benefit from trying it with others?
It is a short route but there are 18 moves and the rest in the middle is very important, a huge amount of strength is needed but it is not enough, power endurance is crucial for the last crux. I think it took me from 20 to 30 sessions. I didn't do any specific training but I focus my training more on power and power endurance in the past months. Trying the route with other climbers speeded up the process of finding the perfect beta and helped with motivation in the long term.

With more time, do you think you can go beyond the difficulty that something like Excalibur presents?
Yes, sure! Actually, there is a possible low start of Excalibur 😅😉 I don't know if it is possible but seems hard. We start from a rock, it is possible to start further down. There are 3 or 4 moves under probably but we never tried. I'll try it for sure, with some crash pads.

The 29-year-old has previously done three 9b+'. On the competition scene, the Italian has been one of the best performers over the last ten years having won six World Cups and being Top-8, in 39 such events.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has dropped into Santa Linya, and onsighted La Mare del Tano 8b and El Koala Extension 8b+. The 23-year-old has onsighted 29 routes 8b to 8c, out of which, ten he's sent in the last year and he is #2 in the onsight ranking game. The Spaniard has logged 130 days on his mega-project, in Margalef, where he has once has fallen on the final crux move.

Are you training specifically for your project?
My specific training is just to try the route. Doing laps on sections, repeating the crux, doing tries with weight... The rest is training that helps me but it is also for improvement for other projects

Do you think it could be a 9c contender?
I really don't know about the grade because I don't have any reference, I never tried one route for so long like Café Colombia. But definitely, I am sure it is the hardest route that I ever tried. l always thought that the grade is just a symbol, the story that I am living to try to send this route is something really (more) amazing.