Nico Pelorson reports with Insta videos that he has done From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico and Squalo Bianco (8B+) in Valle Bavona.

Can you tell us more about the 8C ascent?
it's a magnificent boulder opened around twenty years ago by Dave Graham. I've always dreamed of trying this boulder. It is broken down into two sections. A very fingertip first and a very physical second where you have to do a mantle. I will say that section 1 is worth 8A and the second 8B. Fun fact, I only managed to do the second section once, when I tried to do the red point from the ground 😅. I needed 3 sessions to redpoint this one.

The 25-year-old is known for his stiff grades and actually, for most of the hardest climbs he has done, he has given personal grades, like Soudain seul (9A) and No Kpote Only (9A). Including also three 9a+, he has one of the most impressive Combined tick lists out there, during the last few years.

Michaela Kiersch has had a great day in Magic Wood, sending The bizarre Ride (8A+), Octopussy (8A) and The bomb is explosion (8A). (c) Susannah Anders

”Bizarre Ride and Octopussy were on my 2023 revenge list because they were super challenging for me last year, I couldn’t do all of the moves. So excited to put them to rest! Just wanted to finish up the day with one more! Hadn’t tried it [The Bomb] before and managed to do it in a few tries.

Which has been the most fun you have done in Ticino in 2023?
Frank's wild years (8A+) is my favorite so far because I was climbing just out of pure joy. It was an impromptu trip to Ticino from Spain and such a fun experience to find myself bouldering with my heels above my head doing big moves on pinchy holds. I would also have to say that it’s been really rewarding to see progress in a climbing style that has historically been challenging for me (big powerful moves) - especially on boulders I couldn’t do in the past!

As it stands, the 28-year-old and Dr. in Hand Therapy is a contender for having the All-Time High best Combined route and boulder tick list. She started 2023 by doing La Rambla (9a+) and in the last 15 months she has done around 35 boulders 8A to 8B+. In previous years, she was more of a route climber having completed a dozen routes 8c+ and harder. Here is an interview from last year.

Dani Moreno has repeated Ali Hulk sit start extension total (9a+) in , giving it a personal 9a grade. "On the verge of multi-organ failure. The sit start adds difficulty but I don't think it changes the grade, for me a good reference 9a in this style."

Moreno did the stand start last year calling it a "soft" 9a after having found several no-hands rests where he stayed up to several minutes. Dani Andrada did the FA of a shorter variation in 2007 and including the full "total" line, it has become the most repeated 9b in the world. Enrique Beltran Blaco sent the stand start last year and commented Andrada's FAs. "His FA was absolute performance and much more difficult compared to using knee pads and resting no hands every other ten moves."

Allison Vest, who last year did her first 8B+, has sent Pagan Poetry Low (8B) in Joe's Valley (UT), after trying it for some ten sessions. ”I really battled with this one! Has a lot of aspects that are my anti-style. Big moves, steep, powerful, underclings at the end… but also nice incut crimps that I love. I did the stand fast so I thought the low would just go but BOY was I wrong. Those three extra moves are hard and add a lot.” (c) Elias Murcko

Can you also say something about Green in the face (8B) in Castle Rocks (ID), you did the day after?
It felt like it had been a while since I had been able to tick something off my list but sometimes when one goes down the others follow suit. The day after I did Pagan, the temperatures in Idaho looked good and I knew that people would be up there with pads so I drove up for the day to try to take Green in the Face down and I’m very stoked it worked out!