Noah Wheeler, who previously has done nine 8B+', started off his trip to Joe's Valley (UT) by doing Sound of Violence (8C). "7th try or so on first day at Joe’s. I’m really bad at grading and I additionally used the left hand gaston throw beta which suited my style better (though the whole climb is mostly my style), but 14/15 feels about right. Taking the 15 side of this cause first 15 has to be soft per the norm. Super fun with either betas regardless."

A few hours later he flashed . "Surprise flash after I slightly split my finger on the Sound of Violence. Aside from the first hold this is a perfect boulder in movement and holds. Great first day at Joe’s."

What is your climbing background?
I started competing when I was eight but only started climbing outdoors two years ago due to the pandemic. I’ve fallen in love with outdoor bouldering and it is by far what I’m most passionate about now. I also trained lots of tension boards before I started climbing outside so it definitely translated well and naturally, especially for SOV and Slasher due to their styles.

What are your best comp results?
I’ve gotten second in youth nationals twice. Definitely feel like outdoor bouldering is more my style than comps.

Tristan Chen, who last week did in just one session, has flashed in Fontainebleau. The beta he got from having watched several videos.

”The climb is totally bodacious, I tried to climb it the day before but it was still wet after a rainstorm so I could only feel the grips and not give rips (tires). Luckily this one also doesn’t require too much micro beta so there are fewer opportunities to mess up the sequence through the bottom. And then I just held to dream and pulled through the mantle.”

Having done Dreamtime last month. How can you explain being in your best shape ever?
I’ve dedicated my entire being to this sport for the last fifteen years, spending all of my free time engrossed in every possible microcosm it has to offer. And I’m glad to see that it’s finally paying some dividends. I also quit my job recently so I’m finally able to travel a bit.

Are you following any specific training regime?
I don’t like to climb in gyms right now since it eats too much precious skin, but I do some daily calisthenics around the house (100 push ups, 100 pulls ups, 100 sit ups).

How long will you stay in Font and when do you plan to start working?Today is my last day in Europe, but I plan on road tripping around the US a bit when I get back (fingers crossed Hueco is cold enough on Monday to finish off Desperanza). And I’ll start working again whenever I run out of money, so in about six-nine months.

Camille Coudert sent Soudain seul (9A) in Fontainebleau, one month ago, after 80+ sessions during two years.

So did you enjoy some nice rest days once you had sent it and what have you been up to the last month?
I went climbing the next day with friends. I have tried some less hard 8C boulders that I'm not far from succeeding; Le pied à coulisse and Le pilier du desert assis. And I've started working on a new very hard project, maybe harder than "Soudain Seul. It is an old project in Fontainebleau, "Imothep assis".

Andy Lamb has done The Story Of 2 Worlds (8C) in Cresciano. This is the third classical 8C he has done in 2022 after Dreamtime (8C) and The Big Island (8C). In the 8a ranking game, Andy is #3.

"I did the Dagger pretty fast, and then figured out the moves on The Story... so I thought I'd be able to send it. It became a bit of a battle for me though; I think I was going into each session impatient to send, which meant I wasn't focused on learning to flow through the moves and probably didn't rest enough between attempts/sessions.

We went to France for a few weeks, and it was good to climb on some other problems and regain psych. I felt close on Story though, and really wanted to finish it, so returned to Swizzy for a bit. I definitely felt better mentally and stronger in my upper body on it when I returned, but my left knee was pretty sore from all the heel hooking in Font. In my first session back there were some moves that I couldn't do consistently because it was hard to really engage the hooks, which was frustrating. The next days I warmed up my legs a lot and even brought a massage gun to the boulder, and it got my knees feeling good enough to do the moves well."

Niky Ceria reports on Insta that he has done La Revolutionnaire 8C+ in Fontainebleau. It was put up in 2017 by Charles Alber barefoot and it is a sit start to an 8C he established the year before. Niky says he had trouble, due to his size, managing to start properly without touching all the rocks around.

Niky has previously repeated a handful 8C's and one 8C+. He has also established many FAs but without proposing any grades.

Audrey Miller, who did her first 8c last year, has done in Photos. With some 100 ascents in the 8a database it is one of the most repeated 8A+ in the USA. Some guys have called it 8A and Adam Ondra, who flashed it, actually said it might be 7C+.

"I first saw Lethal about a year ago and was way too intimidated by the tiny crimps, and the number of moves to give it any tries. Another year later I found myself back at the boulder, and got convinced to try it. After sussing the moves, I almost bailed on ever trying again because those holds are sharp as knives, but something about it drew me in. I came back a month later for spring break, and knew I wanted to try and take it down. I spent a couple days trying the moves and making links, and had a really close go that ended in a dry fire. After that, I knew I could do it. I only had one day left in my trip, so I felt a bit of pressure to do it, knowing I wouldn’t be back for maybe a year. Thankfully, the combination of a cool breeze and some great energy from my friends gave me the psych to fire off the boulder first try of the day!"

Adam Ondra has onsighted Prospettiva Nevski (8c), "Nice pumpy line, really proud to onsight this one! given 8c+, hard 8c is a good grade in my opinion." and Solitary Souls (8c+) in Arco. "Perfect flow on all of its 35 meters, unique line, unique to climb!"

In total, the 29-year-old has now 23 8c+ onsights recorded on his scorecard but it would be close to 30 without all his personal grades. His superiority is just amazing as no other has onsighted more than two. He was also the first to onsight a 9a but he lost that title as he downgraded it. Overall, Adam has been pretty much the best onsight climber in the world since 2005, when he at age 12, onsighted 19 8a+ and 8 8b's.