Jonathan Siegrist, who has previously completed four 9b’s, has repeated Chris Sharma’s Stoking the Fire (9b) in Santa Linya. ”A spectacularly hard route - and one that pushed me physically and even more so, mentally. Many big lessons to take away from this wild experience! Immensely, almost immeasurably stoked... My hardest. Now onward! -I used one left kneebar to clip before the first crux.” (c) Victoria Kohner

How long did you work it, and was there any small or subtle thing that got you to the anchor?
I tried the route for 6 weeks, I started feeling close a few weeks ago but no matter how hard I fought, it felt impossible to get all of the stars to align (conditions, skin, psyche, body, mind, etc). Because it's an intense mental battle - the most intense of my life, the trick was only to keep showing up and trying even when my ego, confidence, and hope was near to zero. I just kept fighting and got lucky with the last day, last try.

What’s your next plan and further 2023 plans?
I fly back to the states to get Married :) and then the plan is to return to Europe for the rest of the year. Just climbing "A muerte". We plan to live in France. Fingers crossed that I get the Visa...

Alex Ventajas, who previously has done two 9a+'s, has sent Halupca 1979 (9a) in Mišja Peč.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Halupca is a 30 meters endurance test, but at the same time, it’s very cruxy. That’s why I think that doing some bouldering in Switzerland on the Easter holidays helped me clip the chain sooner than expected. I first tried this line last November, when I recently had my ankle sprain, so I gave it two or three tries but I couldn’t do the hardest boulder entirely. This time I didn’t imagine sending the route so fast! On the first try, I managed to do all the moves dividing the route into sections. I felt very good on the holds and I finally sent the route on my second go! Everything went just perfectly! This style of “roof climb” fits me, and such as some other climbers before me, I think it’s not a solid 9a, but still, I’m very happy about the result!

Eva Hammelmüller has had two great trips to Arco where she first flashed Pappataci (8b), ”So happy to have flashed this KINGLINE! Felt pretty unsure about giving it a try because it was my 4th climbing day in a row, but it worked out perfectly well!”.

Later, she redpointed Gaucho (8c), Prospettiva Nevski (8c) and Dedi fredi (8b+).

Can you tell us more about your trips to Arco?
Arco is amazing for escaping cold and bad weather in Innsbruck; additionally, it offers many great climbing areas and cool routes! During the last month, I spent two weekends in Arco and, in a total of 5 climbing days, I sent three 8c’s, two 8b’s, one 8a+ and two 8a’s!

David Bermudez Carbonell, who started climbing less than three years ago, has done Potemkin (8c+) in . In total, the 13-year-old and 145 cm tall has now done more than 50 routes 8a and harder including two onsights. We spoke to David's mom, Isabel recently. (c) Javi Pec

What does a normal climbing week look like?
David normally trains in a climbing wall 3 times a week. He loves to do infinite movement traverses, although he trains in a self-taught way. The climbing wall where we train has nothing to do with the current climbing walls, it is a climbing wall set up by a group of climbers with density walls very focused on the transfer to the rock. Nobody tells David what he has to do and he decides what he will do each day. Without a trainer, nutritionists or psychologists .... He is also passionate about watching videos of climbers of all times and loves to climb everywhere in the house (including the living room table 😂). His talent, motivation and passion for climbing make him achieve the accomplishments he is making with his small stature and young age (13 years old). Best of all, he always enjoys the process.

David climbs every weekend and is a climber who always gives his all, he climbs at the top of his game on every pitch. He has a lot of endurance and self-confidence. So as soon as he finds the right method to solve the hardest pitches on the routes, he never fails.

He loves to onsight climb, and although we usually climb on weekends on a regular basis in Cuenca, he usually tries some onsight climbing (below his grade) before trying his project. Also when we go on a climbing trip on holidays, he always climbs onsight.

Mathieu Bouyoud has done La novena enmienda (9a/+) in Santa Linya.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
When I saw Adam do it in 2008, I wanted to do it too. I did the first part in 2010 and the second part in 2022. But all the time the third part was wet and not possible to climb. This year is very dry, nothing wet in the cave. La novena enmienda is the straight line in the middel of the cave ! Perfect for endurance 😊