Esteban Daligault has done Bio sharma graphie L1+2 (9a) in Rocher de Beverau. "So right after the world championships in Bern, Mejdi [Schalck] and I were motivated to climb outside and we really wanted to try this line first ascended by Mathieu Bouyoud. It is an amazing line on a big physical roof. The crux of the route is on the top part and it’s hard until de chain. It was cool to climb with my friend Mejdi, and make the first repetitions together!"

What is your climbing background?
I have been climbing since I was 10 years old. I did my first 9a in 2019 with Takamine, and since then I have done a few routes in the ninth degree. I’m a climbing coach, so I don’t have much time to climb outside, but as soon as it’s the holidays I go and have fun with my friends on the rocks.

So how many 9a's have you done under the radar?
I did three 9a and two 8c+/9a. I have an 8a.nu account but I haven’t filled it out. I have to do it🙄😂.

Evan Hau, who previously has FA’ed three 9a’s, has done the FA of John Doe's Space Adventure (9a) in Planet X. “An extension to John Doe (7b) that I bolted in 2020 but didn't try much until this year as a fun side project. I knew it would be hard when I first bolted it and now I think it's the hardest current route at Planet X.”

Can you tell us more about the FA?
I tried it a little bit back then but there were 2 cruxes that seemed really hard and I couldn't do it at the time. I had other projects to work on as well so I left John Doe's Space Adventure alone for a while. In 2023 I ended up spending some time at Planet X again and I felt much stronger after 2 years of training and working on Fight Club. I got inspired to work on John Doe's Space Adventure as a side project. It took me about a month to work out the beta I couldn't do in 2020 and then still another 2 months to send. Super happy with how it turned out, one of my favourites on the wall!

Matilda Söderlund, who sent The Elder Statesman (9a) in 2019, reports on Instagram that she has done the first repeat of Hannes Puman's Niemisis (9a) in Niemisel. In total, the Swede projected it for some 50 days not including specific indoor training. (c) Bill Hamilton

"The route is about 25 m in total. Starting with two crimpy moderately hard boulders. After that, the crux starts where you climb two hard, technical boulders on top of each other. After that, you have a little rest in a crack/sloper and then continue to the top. I got WAY more pumped than I expected climbing through the crux so it was a big fight to the very end 😊

I built a replica of the route at my gym. I set the two start boulders on the boulder wall and the crux on the moon board (divided into 3 boulders). I also did intervals on the moon board on boulders close to my max level. I’m satisfied with the results of the training 😊 I also feel much stronger in general now than when I first tried the route in 2021."

In 2012, the now 31-year-old was #6 in the World Championship. The same year she also onsighted three 8b's and flashed two 8b+'. Lately, her focus has also included bigwalls up to 8c (b+) and doing an 8B boulder. She is also a co-founder of a big gym in Stockholm, Moumo, and holds a Master's degree in BA from the highest-ranked university in Sweden.