Yuji Hirayama, one of the true climbing legends, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Peaceful Mountain 9a in Mt Futago. The line starts with an old 8a followed by an 8A+ boulder and a 7b+ top out. (c) Yui Takahashi / Allopsidae LLC

Since 1986, when Yuji did Le Specialist 8b+, the now 52-year-old has been on the cutting edge. In 1991, he won his first World Cup and in 1998, as well as in 2000, he won overall. After his competition career, he made the FA of Flat Mountain 9a/+ in 2003 and the next year he onsighted White Zombie 8c. A few years later he did Cobra Crack 8c trad and the FA of an MP in Borneo including one 9a pitch. In his resume, being one of the best multi-discipline climbers in history, he has also made boulders up to 8B+, DWS up to 8b+, several big walls including also several times have had the Speed record up on El Cap. Since 2010, he runs Climb Park Base Camp which over the years have organized several competitions. He has also been active in the Japanese Federation and helping out IFSC getting climbing into the Olympics. Just over a year ago, he made the FA of Hanabi 8c+ also in Mt Futago.

William Bosi has done three 8B's in one day out of which, one was a flash, 4X+1 (8B) in Bowderstone. (c) Elle Duffield

How did you prepare for the flash and what kind of beta did you have?
I had one video which was of the first ascent, so I knew the sequence but couldn’t really tell the feet. Therefore to prepare for the flash I spent about twenty minutes looking from start to end for feet and exactly where the holds are. I also knew I would be too small for the knee bar used by the first ascent, so I spent most of the time looking for other foot options for that move. Then I warmed up and sent Filp Opera 8B before getting on it.

What are your 2022 comp and outdoor plans?
I decided to take a break from competition this year to climb outside more, so I’ve been focused just on training over the last couple months. Hopefully heading out to mainland Europe soon!

Alex Ventajas has done Biologico (9a) in Narango. "Incredible moves in an incredible place. Six days of projecting." (c) Andrea Ferrari

"This route caught my attention since the first time I went to Narango. I saw a friend trying it and it seemed a really powerful and esthetic route. When I came back to this amazing sector a couple of months ago I decided to put my hands on it. I started by sending the 8c that shares the upper part with “Biologico” and then I started to try the 9a.

The route is quite short, with an easy start, followed by the boulder sequence that gives the grade of the route: some very small crimps in an overhanging wall and then a dynamic move, where great coordination is essential. After a rest there is a second boulder problem and finally some endurance climbing to reach the top.

I think it’s a very futuristic route, because the hardest part is very short, but very demanding and the first boulder sequence reminds me a boulder of the present-day competitions! Furthermore, it’s the first time I actually noticed, in a sport climbing route, that size can make a little difference: the method used by other climbers weren’t good for me, because I was too short to reach some crimps with the good foothold in the first boulder and I needed to use some very bad intermediate holds in the second one too.

Finally, I managed to find my own way to the top and I really enjoyed the process. After three days trying it I felt close, but for a few more days I kept missing the hold after the dynamic move. Last Saturday, the day when I was supposed to rest because my hands where skinned, I actually felt like it was going to be the right day to send it. At 4 p.m., after a day spent belaying, I had the strange feeling that I was warmed up. So I decided to give the route a try, and it was the perfect attempt! I send the route after 7 days of attempts (and few days more for freeing the 8c “Bibita Biologica”) "
The 22-year-old did his first 9a some nine months ago and in total, he has now done five and one 9a+. As a matter of a fact, during 2018 and 2019 his max grade was 8c. His climbing has taken a leap since he moved to Italy where his girlfriend lives.

"Unfortunately I didn’t have the possibility to try new hard routes (in Spain). That’s because I had already done almost every route in the climbing sectors I could reach from my home, I didn’t have a car and I didn’t have the possibility to travel. That wasn’t a good period for me, I couldn’t improve and I couldn’t try something motivating. Since I moved to Italy things have changed, I have thousands of new routes around and I have progressively regained shape and motivation."

Eva Hammelmüller has onsighted Freed by the devil (8b) in . Including three 8b onsights over the last 12 months, the 21-year-old is #2 in the female onsight ranking game. "The route is very technical and there was hardly any chalk on the holds, so I didn‘t expect to onsight it - I just started climbing and everything worked out perfectly!" (c) Richard Felderer - Vibram

Alex Puccio reports on Insta with a video that she has done Hailstorm 8B (+) in Ogden and it was basically on her first session. In total, the 31-yar-old has now done almost 250 boulders 8A and harder which is most in the world among the females.

"We went up to the boulder the day before and I only tried the first few moves of the stand start “Firestorm” for a very short time because the entire top of the boulder was wet from the snow melting on the top. Maybe we climbed for like 30 min or so before the water came all the way down the boulder onto the lower holds. So we left.

We went back the next day and I was able to send the stand really quickly and then Michaela sent the sit. I didn’t have any intentions of really trying the sit but with some encouragement from them, I got on it, at least to see how some of the moves felt. I thought maybe I can come back to it. After a little work on it, and all of Michaela’s beta, I found myself climbing into the stand which already knew the moves and then climbed it to the top. For grading it, looks like some think V14 and some think V13, I honestly don’t know. Michaela sprayed me down with all her beta that she had to figure out for herself and it suited me really well!"

Carlo Traversi has done Magic Line (8c+) in Yosemite (CA). Ron Kauk did the "pinkpoint" (gear preplaced) FA in 1996, suggesting 8c. The first repeat was done by his son Lonnie in 2016. Two years later, he did the clean FA placing the gear on lead and upgrading it to 8c+. There are only three other 8c+ trad routes (excluding some contrived ones) in the world and a potential 9a (Tribe). With Meltdown, Traversi is the only one having done two. He has also done several 8C boulders and last year he repeated his first 9b.

Can you tell us a little bit about the process of taking down Magic Line?
It took some days to get beta and gear sorted. Fell once at the top, rested a week, then went back and climbed it. It was about 6 sessions this year, although I’d tried it some days in 2017 and a few days over the past few years.

What about the protection? Is it totally safe?
It’s pretty safe as far as hard trad goes. I never pulled a piece and never got close to hitting the ground.

What is next?
Headed to Switzerland next week to rage on the blocs.

Which discipline do you like the most?
I just love rock climbing in all its forms. Each discipline is special in its own way. Bouldering is the purest fun. Haven’t done much DWS. I’ve done a ton of multi-pitch climbing but haven’t really pushed my limit there. Definitely planning a Mallorca (DWS) trip for this year.

How do you keep warm during cold conditions?
To warm my hands up I would usually grab a nearby piece of rock on the ground until my hands started to go numb and then let go and the blood would slowly start flowing in. Then I would jump on the climb. I think it’s called “cold induced vasodilation”. Usually, once I do this my hands stay warm for a long time.