Rebecca Stephens, who did her first 8A+ last November, has completed Lady of the Forest (8A+) in Kentmere. (c) Bradley Bushell

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
After summer, I was looking for something relatively local to get stuck into as a bit of a long-term project. Since then I've had 7(?) sessions in that little cave, going through the throes of projecting.

The go felt scrappy, a proper fight, which at the time felt frustrating, anticlimactic, this boulder always felt like you needed to climb it perfectly, all the links were so clean. A battle through saved dry fires and foot slips was not how I'd expected the process to end. On reflection, shows the margin I'd built on the boulder and the try-hard I could conjure up from somewhere. Pretty cool.

What are your 2026 plans?
More volume and a bit of project hunting, but no trips planned. I've had a brief look at Diesel Power (Cromlech, Llanberis Pass), but other than that, nothing outstanding

Sean Bailey reports on Instagram that he has done the first ascent of Duality of Man (9c) in Dry Canyon. ” After four total years and three seasons of climbing, I was able to climb Duality. Dry Canyon did not offer easy tactics. With only an hour or two of shade per day and sporadic weather windows, I had to find a level of patience unlike any other route I’ve climbed. This was by far the longest I’ve spent on a project, the most obsessed I’ve been with a project, and the hardest thing I’ve climbed.” (c) Ben Neilson

The 29-year-old was an active competition climber until 2023 and had his best year in 2021, winning two Lead events and one Boulder event. In 2021, the 163 cm tall climber also repeated Bibliographie (9b+) and, during the last 14 months, he has sent three 9A boulders. In short, Sean boasts one of the strongest sport climbing tick lists in the world. Focusing on just the past five years, he ranks among the very best after Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert and Alex Megos.

William Bosi made the first ascent of Pôr do Sol (8C+) two weeks ago. ”This boulder has to be one of my top three all-time favourites! Firstly, the boulder looks so big and blank. The fact that there is just the perfect amount of features to make it work is really surprising. Then, the sequence is just insane... lots of unique moves leading to the crazy ‘comp-style’ double clutch crux move.”

Lorenzo Bogliacino, with six 9a+’ under his belt, has during a trip to Santa Linya sent Direct into your Fabelita (9a) and Fabela pa la enmienda (9a). (c) Marta Palou

Can you tell us more about the the trip and the 9a’s?
I usually prefer to use the winter season for training. I’ve always struggled with climbing in winter—way too hot! Jokes aside, I really have a hard time climbing in the sun, and the extreme day-to-day changes in conditions have never made me love this season.

This year, I took advantage of the fact that I worked during the December holidays and therefore had a few days off in January (free time is more important than money!) and decided to challenge myself!

Even though the rock at Santa Linya isn’t among the best around, the routes are really fun and the kind of effort they require is one of my favorites. I obviously jumped straight onto the famous “Fabela pa la enmienda”, and after struggling a bit with the first pitch, I found myself battling through the entire route in a long 1 hour and 15 minute attempt, like I usually do.

Afterwards, I decided to try something shorter, and with a few tricky kneebars I managed to unlock the hard entry of “Direct into your fabelita”, which isn’t exactly my style! Unfortunately, bad weather arrived, the crag truly turned into a waterfall and we weren’t able to finish the final projects we had started. Still, I’m super happy to have climbed routes of this level in this season and right at the beginning of the year!

Stefan Hochbaum, who last year did an 8C+ FA, has opened Mind Flayer (8C) in Scharfenstein.

Can you tell us more about the first ascent?
Two years ago, when I was working on my main project Obsidian (8C+), I checked out the cave after my session. Back then, there was only Zugzwang (7C+) and the lower start of it, called The Cypher (8B+). I wanted to try The Cypher because I needed a break from my main project.

Two sessions later, I was able to send it and noticed that there was another possible line, still undone, going directly through the roof. It shares the first three moves of The Cypher (which are around 8B) but then goes right instead of into the V10 Zugzwang. At that time, I only had Obsidian on my mind, so I never got back to the cave and somehow forgot about this project. Two years later, after sending Obsidian, I remembered there was still a line waiting for a first ascent. So I decided to give this climb a chance. After some intense beta searching, I solved all the moves and started trying it from the ground. Three sessions later, I sent the new project and named it "Mind Flayer."

Overall, it’s a V13 starting sequence into a tricky and hard V12, making it a V15 boulder to me. The first three moves are really powerful with lots of compression. The middle and upper parts focus more on body tension and keeping everything together. You can still fall on the last move to the jug if the heel slips, so it’s quite an interesting boulder.

What is your climbing background and what’s next?
I climb and train 4–5 times a week and have been climbing for 16 years. I started with competitions many years ago but decided that I enjoy rock climbing more, so I shifted my full focus to climbing outdoors. Besides repeating problems, I really enjoy making first ascents and searching for new lines—it’s very inspiring to me.

My next plan is to go back to Ticino in the spring to look for a new project or try some lines I’ve never attempted before.

Sophia Hoermann, who last year sent her first seven 8A’s and two 8A+’, has done A Maze of Death (8A+) in Bishop (CA). The 21-year-old competed actively until two years ago being ”properly burnt out” and has since focused mainly on outdoors.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I grew up climbing at least once a year in Bishop so this place is nostalgically beautiful to me. I didn’t actually hear about A Maze of Death until relatively recently, as I never considered trying anything that hard until the last year or so. I ended up having a pretty quick process on Maze beginning with a solo sesh where I tried out some beta. It felt to me that I just needed a stiffer shoe for the glassy edge feet to help me bring some weight off my hands. Sure enough, I came back the next weekend with new shoes, which helped a lot with the crux moves that were feeling really finicky last sesh.

After doing all the moves in isolation, I took a break in the sun with my friends. When I started trying again, things were feeling off and I was regressing. I sat in front of a fan for a while and decided that I would just put my heart into the next attempt. That go felt much better in every way and I was able to get through my redpoint crux and not struggle too much on the rest. Topped out through a little snow and summited all the way up the spine to get an awesome view of the mountains. Epiced a little postholing through snow on the down climb which made it an overall very special experience. Thank you to James, Jack, and Ryan for all the support and psych!