Piotr Oleszczuk, who two weeks ago flashed two 8B’s in Rocklands, has done Spray of Light (8C). ”My first 8C, still can’t believe it happened. I had to come up with a completely new technical beta for the second part since I struggled with the toe hook switch and releasing the toe with my foot in my face, being almost 190 cm tall. It took me 5 sessions.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
First of all, I'm soo happy to finally achieve a goal I've been working towards for the past year. Over the last two years, I've built a solid pyramid, sending eight 8B+ problems, so topping it off with an 8C feels like a perfect reward :). I'm particularly proud that it took me less than four years to progress from my first 8A to sending my first 8C.

I arrived in Rocklands with a plan to try an 8C boulder, feeling pretty strong despite some finger issues just before the trip. My initial goal was to try Monkey Wedding, which Piotrek Schab sent last year. Unfortunately, I found it particularly difficult because it was very bunchy and small-box oriented, and I'm not exactly the smallest climber o ut there. I gave up on that pretty quickly and decided to focus on Spray, which seemed more suited to my style.

As for the boulder itself, it took me five sessions to complete. I managed to do all the individual moves in the first session, but I had to figure out my own beta for almost every move, as I might be a bit too tall for the original close-toehook switch beta and the final cutloose with a foot in my face. During the next two sessions, I started linking the moves together and completed the whole climb without the first three moves. The third move, involving a very painful finger lock, was especially challenging and left me with open wounds on the tops of my fingers after about ten tries.

Fortunately, everything changed during the fourth session, when I was climbing with Zach and Nathaniel. Having them on the same bloc somehow motivated me to pull harder on the painful crack, which helped me unlock the third move. At that point, I knew the whole boulder was doable and I just had to keep it together and send it with only two climbing days left on the trip.

On the second-to-last day, after two hours of fighting and one fall from a 7A ending, I finally managed to link everything together and send it!

Jonathan Siegrist, with 79 routes 9a to 9b under his belt, has repeated BJ Tilden’s Pneuma (9a) in The Temple. The 38-year-old is #4 in the Vertical-Life ranking game having done eight routes 9a to 9b during the last year. "Absolutely brilliant route! Strength enduro nightmare on bad holds.. Loved every minute of it." (c) Nate Liles

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
The crux comes without any rest before, and you have 6 really hard moves on bad holds, still no rest whatsoever you go directly into another 6 move boulder problem ending with a really fun big move to a jug. Still, a small exit crux guards the chains. I started trying right after climbing its neighbour - The Ritual. I had been thinking of coming to try Pneuma for years and my good friend BJ Tilden opened the route and said it was amazing - he was right! Last year he also did The Ritual so finally with two hard ones I knew it was time to make the trip up North.

Vojta Trojan, with eleven 9a’s under his belt, has completed La moustache qui fâche (9a+) in Entraygues.

Can you tell us more about doing your first 9a+?
The route is pure power endurance with just a few places to shake. You basically start and never stop until the anchor. There’re some cruxy sequences, but overall it’s quite consistent eventho the last few meters are slightly easier. In total there is around 40 moves.

I still managed to fall in the last “easy part” 3 times. Somehow it’s not so easy after the whole route haha! I’ve been trying the route already last summer and felt quite close to send. This year I felt the same, but still I couldn’t succeed. In the end I felt I wouldn’t do it even this year. On the last day of 3 weeks trip and on the last try I managed to send the route. It’s crazy how the pressure helps sometimes. In total it took me something around 25 days to finish this route, but honestly I stopped counting a long time ago :D

I’ve been chasing this grade for a long time and it’s huge relief to know that I got what it takes. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, lots of doubts and failures. But yeah.. in the end I managed to send an amazing route in amazing place and I experienced so much and that’s what matters!

Also Huge shoutout to my friend Jáchym Cink who sent the route just few days before me! I would like to thanks to my sponsors and all the people who supported me on the journey and shared the process with me. Jáchym and Adrian for syke and betas in the route. And most of all to my girlfriend Lucie for believing in me and her endless support! Without you it wouldn’t be possible!

Eva Hammelmüller has onsighted Le sommelier (8a+) and redpointed her fourth 8c during the last two weeks, Produit de la saume (8c), all in the Briançon region. ”Physical power endurance line (20 moves) on quite bad holds, far moves and delicate heel hooks. Really cool line which optically stands a bit in the shade of the other 8c’s, but feels just as good to climb!" (c) Felix Mast

Can you tell us more about the onsight and how close you were to fall?
I was saving this 8a+ for an onsight for a few days, but somehow I always felt too tired after some attemps in harder routes to give it a try. Yesterday, I decided to give it a go even though I had already done quite some routes before. I was lucky to get nearly all sequences right and could fight my way up!

In the first crux, I could not find good footholds for one move, so I decided to jump for the next hold. I didn‘t hit it perfectly, and it was everything but a jug, so that was pretty close😅

It took almost 90 minutes until we saw a top in the Boulder semifinal in Paris. In total, there were only seven tops, out of which, four were on the final slab problem. Sorato Anraku was the only one making two tops including a flash on the second problem which no other topped. The wildest celebration was done by Adam Ondra creating a special moment for the 7 000 spectators. As there were so few tops at the same time almost all high ranked athletes made the second 10 point zone on most of the four boulders, all the Top-8 final spots are still very open. Complete results.

Monday, 5 August (UTC+2:00): 10:00 – Men's semifinal Boulder: Results
Tuesday, 6 August: 10:00 – Women's semifinal Boulder
Wednesday, 7 August: 10:00 – Men's semifinal Lead
Thursday, 8 August: 10:00 – Women's semifinal Lead

Friday, 9 August: 10:15 – Men's final Boulder & 12.35 Lead
Saturday, 10 August: 10:15 – Women's final Boulder & 12:35 Lead

Sorato Anraku is the big favorite to win with 40 % of the votes in the Vertical-Life prediction. Complete Schedule including Speed. IFSC has published a conversation with Brooke Raboutou and there are many more interesting articles on IFSC, like a presentation of all Boulder & Lead athletes (from page 34).