Maël Musson, who did his first 9a+ this spring, and Ørjan Vaage have repeated Ride of the Valkyries (9a) in Flatanger. It is actually a mixed route where you need two ropes, put up by Leo Böe last year, since you need three cams in the 10 meter link up. Since several years it is forbidden to put up more bolts in the enormous cave. Vaage comments.

”This went down surprisingly fast. It felt like the Valkyrie boulder would be impossible with that much climbing into it, but today it felt as good as in iso! Super fun to climb the Valkyrie from the ground! Hard for me to say anything about the grade, never having done anything harder than low end 8c+, but it feels like a good step up from those routes. I used too big blue cams, one purple cam, and some nuts for the trad section. Pre placed.

Later Musson also did the second ascent of Adam Ondra’s Art of Flight (8c+) and here is his story behind the ascents.
”The goal of this trip to Flatanger was to climb the first part of Change,[Change P1 (9a+)], with the idea of eventually starting to try the second part in the coming years. Last year I was already very close to doing P1, but during my final attempt I had an accident in Change. Since the route is basically at ground level, I fell on my back while clipping the fourth quickdraw.

This year I felt really good on all the hard climbing, but whenever I had to put in real attempts, I would tense up as soon as I had to clip a draw. I was going into the route with fear, and it quickly became unpleasant and not very motivating. I soon felt like trying something else. Ride of the Valkyrie was perfect for a quick project.

It consists of climbing The Valkyrie, a classic 8c in the cave — with the particularity of starting directly in the middle of a roof, so you have to ascend a static rope to reach the beginning — starting from Nordic Flower 8b+ then linking the two parts through a crack that you have to protect with cams. This crack section isn’t really hard, but the last move is a small dyno that’s pretty scary because it’s quite runout.

The real difficulty of the route is that The Valkyrie is an intense 8c, with a first crux around 7C/+ bloc, followed by several 7A+/B bloc sections. When I was climbing just the 8c, I didn’t need to be particularly precise or clean: if I was fresh, I could simply pull a bit harder and everything worked out. But adding 45 meters of 8b+/c to get there meant I couldn’t afford to climb those sections “however”. I had to be exact, efficient, and not waste anything.

Even though I didn’t spend a huge amount of time on the route, the process felt quite long because it was frustrating. I kept falling on the same move, feeling completely fresh, with the impression that I was just waiting for the attempt where my fingers and feet would land perfectly on the holds. Usually I like long routes because you feel real progress throughout the process. In Ride, I felt like I could have done it on my first try… or not done it at all before the end of the trip.

During the last days of the trip, I managed to climb Art of Flight, proposed at 8c+/9a by Adam Ondra in 2013 but never repeated. It took me two tries; with kneepads, 8c+ feels right. This variation is really cool and deserve to be climb. I think it could become a classic👍🏻”

Stefano Ghisolfi, who in 2026 previously has done five 8C’s and one 9b, has done the first ascent of P.I.G. (8C) in Gottardo / Gotthardpass. (c) Jorge Diaz-Rullo

Can you tell us more about your first ascent?
I started trying Quiet Storm which is an 8B+ already established from Francesco Berardino, then I climbed another 8A on the left of it. It seemed logical to connect the 2, starting from the left, connecting to the start of the 8B+ and also addind another 8A called Rosa Maialino on the right, but with a good kneebar rest before. It is a long traverse, so fit my style well, and very fun.

What does the name stand for?
The name comes from the last section, which is called Rosa Maialino (8A) which means pink pig, and so the project was named project Pig at the beginning, and then P.I.G.

Laura Rogora has onsighted Cosi Fan Tutte (8c+) and La reina de la Piscineta (8c) and sent Patanics (9a+), as well as, No pain no gain (9a+) in Rodellar. (c) Marco Marotta

The 25-year-old Italian, who is on a break from the competition circuit, extends her lead in the ranking game, well ahead of all men. When it comes to onsights, only Adam Ondra and Alex Megos have more impressive all-time tick lists. When it comes to the last 12 months, she is totally superior, with twelve onsights of 8b+ and beyond.

Can you tell us more about the trip and the redpoints?
Rodellar is amazing, both the climbing and the atmosphere, I really enjoyed climbing there and knowing new people.

I got quite close on No Pain No Gain on the second go but I tried a harder beta on the last boulder. On the third go, I was a bit more tired but I made it to the top.

The day after I did No Pain No Gain, I checked the moves of Patanics. On the second attempt, I got close, but I didn't remember all the betas and spent too much energy before the crux. The next day, I checked all the moves again, and everything went smoothly on the next try.

How was the onsights and the route reading?
So and so, in the first crux of Cosi Fan Tutte, I didn’t choose the best beta so I had to give everything. The route reading was not easy from the ground.

Yesterday I came back to Piscineta and climbed La Reina de la Piscineta which was a really amazing route in quite control.

Belén Villalón, with four 8b+’ under her belt, has completed La gioconda (8c) in Rodellar. ” It came together in a very unexpected way. It was my first time doing the move from the third bolt, and I had only managed the upper section after taking a fall before. Everything just clicked: I got through the lower part as if it were nothing, even though I did the "easy" section feeling really nervous, and then I sent the crux with a foot cut included. It feels so good to send it with those sensations—my heart is full! 😍 Onward!!” (c) Ori Breluru

Can you tell us more about sending your first 8c?
I started trying it a month ago and it fits a lot with my climbing style. It’s on a steep roof and requires a lot of knee technique and body tension. My best friend Marta Palou encouraged me to try it and helped me with all sorts of methods because figuring out these routes is a real puzzle. The route consists of a hard move (for me) on the third bolt, followed by an easier section of climbing until you reach a great knee rest halfway up. From there comes the crux of the route, which is about 15 moves of power endurance of similar intensity until you reach the anchor.

I want to thank everyone who encouraged me that day, especially Ori and Marta for supporting me throughout this whole process.

What is your climbing background?
I’m from Chile, I started climbing there in 2009, and I’ve been living and climbing in Spain since 2018. I’ve been working in Rodellar since 2019, and this is where I spend most of my time climbing. I’m so happy to have climbed my first 8c at this crag that I love so much and that has such great routes everywhere.

What is next?
Now I’d like to try Da Vinci Extension (8c) at El Museo and maybe go to Piscineta, where I have so much to do. There’s still plenty of time left in Rodellar!

Michaela Kiersch has during a 27 degrees afternoon in Smugglers' Notch flashed Mind Stream (8A+) and sent The Impossible Sit (8A) as well as May it Be SDS (8A).

How did you prepare for the flash?
Mindstream is basically 3 moves so it was not hard to know the beta and give a good flash attempt.

Are you going back to live in Innsbruck?
Let’s see. Back in the US for July and August!

Are you full time professional climber?
Full time rock climber! I quit my job in October before moving to Europe. I’m not back long enough to get another.