Isabelle Faus, with a dozen 8B+' under her belt, has sent Mirta (8B+) at Topside. (c) Yaqub Dollie

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
First tried it in 2016, got close, but didn’t really get a good chance to try again till this trip. Took three sessions this time. Really psyched to have done this iconic line!

”Not my hardest…” you said on Instagram. What were the other harder boulders you did during your six weeks trip?
I did this boulder Violater sit that Nalle [Hukkataival] said was 8A.. but the crux is harder than Mirta crux, haha. Doesn’t have the same endurance factor tho. I said it was v12 [8A+], but idk grades get confusing the more things I do. It was hard for me and took as many sessions as Mirta did.

I put up a couple v10 first ascents, possibly harder but I go low end for grades, cause it doesn’t really matter. One is called Daisy Domergue and the other is Twins of Ares. The latter is very cool, both have videos on my Insta. I also did a bunch of classics in the v10/v11 range. Barracuda, Mask Off, Eye of Sauron, War and Peace, Extraterrestrial, and Cytokine. I think that’s it!

Strangely, Violater is not in the database or on internet?
Possibly I did the first repetition.

So silly, some climbers seem to opt for grades rather than quality?
Climbers just don’t know who to use their eyes, over the guide book. It’s learned skill maybe tho. I just walked up to it and was psyched… I had no idea what it was or what the grade was.

I went home and then looked the area up to see what it was, turned out it was Nalle’s. I’m not sure when he did. I think like 2017 ish, I could be wrong tho.

Alizee Dufraisse has ticked Ikarus (8B) in Sustenpass. This was the second 8B in 2024 for the 37-year-old who previously also has done three 9a routes.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Well, I'm working on the extension [Highlander (8B+)] that goes to the left, which is my main project this season. Still super motivated to try to make the ascent of this one haha. The wall of “Traumland” suits me pretty well, long boulders with a lot of tricks. It's also pretty rewarding as you can see improvement in resistance that shows progression during the process.

What is next?
Back to route climbing 🤓🌟 I am very motivated to get back on some projects I have left in Rodellar and Siurana!

Nicolas Cioffi has done the FA of Trap House (9a) in Bismantova. The route starts with an 8A+ boulder and a 7B+ link into an 8a+ route.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
An idea to try this route appeared in my mind 2 years ago, after sending the first part, 8A+ boulder itself. Anyway, I didn’t focus on the whole line because I used to think that it was too difficult.

In the late spring 2024, after a winter of consistent training, I went back to the route. During the first session I sent the first boulder again and it gave me the confidence to focus on the project. After 3/4 session I figured out the middle 7B+ boulder and I made some good links, I started to try the route from the ground. In few sessions I found myself fallling during the last hard move of the second boulder. On the send day thanks also to a psyched crew, very good shape and pretty good conditions everything went perfectly and I found myself clipping the anchor. In total I spent on the route around 12 session.

How come it has been almost a year since you sent any harder routes or boulders.
I had a surgery on last October, cause I broke my bicep during a training. After this I just focused on back in shape and trained a lot till march. I went back to rock and I sent fast an 8b+ and 8c. 2 session each one.

Diego Cameroni, younger brother to Giuliano, has been three weeks in Rocklands where he managed to flash Hipster Whale (8B) and Moon shadow (8B). In total, the 22-year-old who had 8A as his flash personal best prior to Rocklands, flashed six boulders 8A and beyond.

Can you tell us more about your trip and how you were able to raise your flash game?
For the first Rocklands trip my idea was to try many different good boulder problems in the font 8 grade, not focusing on projecting something very hard that can take multiple sessions with the possibility of a failure.

After one week of our 3 weeks trip I got sick and could not climb hard for 5 days. However, it turned out that this had one positive aspect: after recovery my skin was really good! In the last part of our stay I was able to do the hardest ascents of the trip, many of them in my flash attempt.

The flash game has never been a central part of my climbing. The reason is that over the last years my climbing days were mostly based on discovering and projecting problems as well as developing new sectors: I like those things a lot.

Visiting a new place was of course something special and gave me the possibility to give a proper flash attempt to almost every boulder I wanted to try. This by collecting informations from the ground such as: video betas, touching holds, finding what I feel it is the right spot to grab holds and footholds. This way I felt able to try hard on the first attempt as if I already knew the boulder! Luckily many first attempts have been the good one.

Solveig Korherr, with 34 routes 8c to 9a under her belt, has completed One Piece (8c) in Frankenjura. (c) Stephan Vogt

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I didn’t go to the Frankenjura with a specific goal, nor did I think I would try something hard in summer conditions. I mainly came here to have a good time with friends. This send came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Since I’ve been trying to take it a bit easier before coming here, dealing with some shoulder pain, I also wanted to relieve some of the pressure I sometimes put on myself. I couldn’t really tell in what shape I was at the moment. With the heat, I was already struggling on 7c+‘s, so that wasn’t a good indicator of my current shape either.

„One piece“ was recommended to me, and I thought I’d check it out, perhaps for a future trip. Actually, I didn’t feel very good the two days I checked it out, and a send felt far away. On the third day, we were lucky to have some cooler and drier conditions, which definitely was a game changer. After a promising second attempt and adjusting my beta, I could send it on the third try.

Alex Megos reports on Instagram that after a disappointing performance at the Olympics, he traveled to Flatanger and in just five sessions he was able to complete Adam Ondra's Change (9b+). "I used one kneepad on my right knee, which does make the crux of the first pitch a little easier than the original beta from @adam.ondra. The top doesn't change too much with a kneepad, when you have really bad kneebar skills like mine. The rests feel more comfortable though."

The German has previously done the FAs of and Bibliographie (9b+), besides being the first to onsight 9a, Estado Critico in 2012.

Great to see that all the hard Olympic training paid off. How was the process and how long time took the ascent?
I was definitely in good shape after the training for the Olympics. I could feel that. Unfortunately I couldn't show it at the comp...

The process was simple. We arrived to Norway on Thursday and on the afternoon I did Purgatory (9a) in Hell. On Friday and Saturday I started working on Change. Sunday we went bouldering and I flashed an 8A and did an 8A+. Monday and Tuesday I worked on Change again. Wednesday was rest day and Thursday was sending day.

The ascent took something between 45min and one hour and I was super nervous all the way up. I hadn't done either of the parts separately, so I wasn't super confident in all sections yet. I think I'll have a look at some more routes in the cave. A lot has changed since I was here 9 years ago.

Ainhize Belar Barrutia, who was #4 in her last Euro Youth Cup, has onsighted Txirrin txirran (8b+) and redpointed Bongo X in Egino, La Leze. The 18-year-old, who onsighted her first 8a at age 14, is #2 in the female ranking game.

Can you tell us more about those two ascents?
Well, I chained Bongo X and the truth is that I was not sure what to do. I looked at ‘txirrin txirran’ which looked like an amazing line and decided to try it. The idea was to look at it a bit to try to do it the next day, but as there is only one attempt onsight, I went with everything. I felt very good climbing and was very focused on task goals (without giving importance to the result), so little by little I managed to clip the chain on this 8b+.