Nico Pelorson, #2 in the Youth World Championship this year, has done his second 9a FA in St Pancrasse, La 9ème centenaire. - It is a perfect route, totally natural that was bolted by Quentin Chastagnier There are two sections. The first is really hard and short (drop-knee, heal-hooks above the head...) This section is about 8B boulder I think. Then, you have done the harder part but there is again an 8b crimpy which finishes with an horrible slab. It took my seven sessions for redpointing it.

CTeam.si comes with the amazing news that Janja Garnbret has done Miza za šest 8c+ at Kotecnik, which is a link up of an 8b and 8b+ that she has done before. The 16-year-old has competed in the Lead WC twice in 2015 and both times she was #2. She has also won the Youth World Championship in both bouldering and lead this year. The next weekend, she is competing in front of her home crowd in Kranj and what a sweet story it could be if she handled the pressure and won. (c) Luka Fonda

POINT BREAK - Rock Climbing Featurette from Rock & Ice on Vimeo.

Jorg Verhoeven, one of the leading multi discipline climbers in the world, who won the Lead World Cup in 2008, reports on Facebook, "YEAH!! I climbed the Wheel of Life, one of my all time dream problems! After working the 60+ moves into perfection I gave it one good go a day and ended up on top on day 5. I took the full experience topping out at the highest point and thus adding a little spice to the end. I can't agree to a route grade, since it doesn't gain much height, nor needs rope or draws, and comparing it to other (only slightly) similar boulders it seems 8C would be fitting. Don't get me wrong, but similar to freeclimbing the Nose, I almost feel a little sad it's over..." (c) Jon Glassberg The FA was done in 2004 by Dai Koyamada, who gave it 8C+ grade but what Jorg did was a harder direct finish that James Kassay did the FA of, giving this harder variation also 8C+. Altogether, it has seen some ten repeats that also have been graded up to a 9a+ route grade.

The Whippet 8A+ from David Mason on Vimeo.

Adam Ondra has prepared for the last WC in Kranj by doing Modified 9a+ in Frankenjura and making the FA of C.R.S. 9b in Mollans. Screenshot from Bernardo Gimenez "What a moment! Extremely satisfying ascent, nice to feel the progression on the real rock. This route bolted from Seb Bouin is just ultimate power endurance testpiece, combining desperately physical overhang with extremely thin holds on the very top. Last try, last day, 3 days in total and 1 try two years ago. Never did the "real" 9b so fast, not even close:-) This cliff (close to St Leger) is the future, ranked number 2 after Flatanger for me in terms of 9b's and more...and it is not secret spot any more..." In total, this was Adam's 13th 9b which can be compared to the runner-up Chris Sharma with 8 routes of this grade. Then there are seven climbers who have done one.

Stefano Ghisolfi, who has done three 9a+'s to date, has made the FA of Lapsus 9b in Andonno which is a link up of Noia 8c+ into Anaconda, 8c, and he comments on Facebook, "Finally after long time and a lot of tries, I sent the hardest project I ever tried. I spent many days on it, falling many times at the last section. Today the conditions were perfect, we came in Andonno just in the afternoon and after a quick warm up I climbed the route on the second go of today. I propose a new grade for me and for Italy, I think this is much harder than Biographie and Demencia. I'd like someone will come to try it soon to confirm the grade, maybe Italian history has been made!" (c) Enrico Veronese In total, there are only eight climbers who have done a 9b. Last year Stefano won one World Cup and this year he has been in Top-10 in all but one event. Next weekend, the Italian will compete in Kranj.