William Bosi has done the FA of Beautiful Mind (8C) in Peak District. "The obvious link of the Trance start into Dandelion mind, I found this harder than Trance." (c) Sam Blackwell

On Insta he says, "This is my 10th and maybe hardest 8C boulder I’ve done this year, although it’s more of a link I think it still climbs really well 😊". The Brit has taken one year off from the comp circuit and he is #1 in the 8a ranking game.

In the male Lead event at the World Games in USA, the medalists were the three last qualified to the finals. Sasha Lehmann and Masahiro Higuchi were tied #8 and last qualified to the finals. They started first in the finals and Lehmann topped the route and Higuchi got very high up and scored 32+. Then it was Mejdi Schalck’s turn to climb, as he was #7 in the qually. He got 24+ which was good enough for the bronze as five of the remaining finalists got 22+ and one 18+. In the end, Jesse Grupper was #4, on countback, as he had won the qualification.

Among the females, Jessica Pilz, #2 in the qualification, got seven holds above Natsuki Tanii, who won the first stage. Lana Skusek got the bronze ahead of Ignacia Quinteros.

It should be mentioned that several of the best did not participate as the World Games were scheduled right in between two World Cups in France.

Alfons Dornauer reports on Insta that he has done Stefan Fürst’s 1996 test-piece in Geisterschmiedwand. Stefan first graded it 8c+ but as nobody could repeat it, it become a 9a. Then Adam Ondra made the first repeat suggesting 9a+ which was confirmed by Roland Hemetzberger who did the third ascent. (c) Misha P

” I started to work on the route in the autumn 2021. Already on my first sessions on the route I made some good progress. The crux section definitely suits my style so I continued to work on the route this spring season. However I broke a tiny and a crucial intermediate hold in the crux section. I was still able to do the crux quite solid but didn’t made good progress from the ground. Since the little rest before the crux is not as comfortable as expected it was crucial to climb the first part of the route which is around 8c/+ as efficient as possible. Somehow I lost a bit of motivation and decided take a few weeks off from trying it…So after 2 to 3 weeks I came back with full motivation and was able to send it within a few sessions.

One of my greatest weakness is definitely to be persistent when it comes down to finish off a project. Before I wasn’t really impressed by someone sending a route or boulder by projecting it for such a long time. But it’s definitely an ability not really easy to learn when you are impatient. Moreover it was great to see how little adjustments can be decisive to finish it off. Personally it’s an ascent I am definitely pretty proud of.”

Sebastien BOUIN reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Adam Ondra’s Thor's Hammer 2 (9a+) in Flatanger. It starts by jumaring to the anchor of Thor’s Hammer (9a), bolted by Magnus Midtbö.

The big plan is to do it from the ground creating a potential 9b+ but there are also easier and harder link-up possibilities. Seb is also talking about the possibility to bolt and continue another 50 meters to the top above the amazing cave. However, as it stands, bolting new routes is not currently allowed. Marco Müller

Matteo Soule has done the FA of Sonawolf (9a) in La verrière. The 15-year-old did his first 9a this spring. At age 13, he did the FA of Dieu Merci in Gorges du Tarn. It is still unrepeated and nowadays listed as an 8c+/9a. (c) Sam Bié