Isabelle Faus, who previously has done five 8B+, has send Shadow Walker 8B (+) in Swissco. Fausey has been one of the best female boulderers for many years and when it comes to FAs, she is #1 with at least six boulders 8B and harder.

How was the process taking it down?
Was a good process, took awhile to do it but I was okay with that. first really hard thing for me after I hurt my finger in January. very very technical tricky thing that feels impossible at first. It took prolly 4 days before I felt like it was maybe something I could actually do. Then another 5ish days to actually do it.. it was nice to throw my self into something that was gonna take a lot of work. I’ve kinda learned to like the suffering/failing part of projecting. it was so fun and I’m super grateful for the experience.

Tristan Chouvy, who previously has done 13 boulders 7C to 8A, reports with an Insta video that he has done the first repeat of Lacrima Low 8B in Fontainebleau. It was put up 20 years ago by Loïc Le Denmat and this was the first repeat. What is interesting is that there also exists a 7C+ high start of the problem that has only been climbed once, by Manuel Marquès, in 2002. Furthermore, the 11-year-old actually did a 7B+ finish instead of the original 7A+ top out. (c) Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy

"Needless to say, I'm unable to confirm the grade: no experience in that grade and very little experience in the 8a grade. All I can say is that it felt hard and painful. Hard all the way in fact, till the very top! 😁." It should be noted that by looking at his Bleau.info profile we can see that most of his sends are 7A's. In any case, Tristan is the second youngest climber to have done an 8B boulder after Ashima Shiraishi who did it a couple of weeks before she turned eleven.

What is the climbing background of your family and what is your level?
My wife and I (Pierre-Arnoud) are long-time climbers and both of our children grew up climbing since they could walk. Living in the Fontainebleau Forest helps of course. Tristan has a twin sister who just did her first 7A. I have climbed 7C but have been climbing much less since I spot them all the time. I don't want them to fall too much at such a young age.

How come your son started trying an unrepeated 8B in Font?
Well, after he climbed Duel 8A, Philippe Le Denmat, who did Duel's first ascent, advised him to try Lacrima, whose first and only ascent had been done by his son Loïc twenty years ago. It became Tristan’s somehow unrealistic project: when he first tried months ago it just felt impossible, especially the first move of the low start.

What do you think are the reasons Tristan has been able to climb so hard?
Tough question. He has always had a natural inclination towards climbing, even as a very young child. Climbing is just natural for him and he has an internal drive to progress and to push his limits. He doesn't doubt himself and is not deterred by a high grade. He clearly feels the moves and fine-tunes each step. So, altogether, I guess that makes a very good climber. In the end, he's lucky to have been exposed to the sport he was maybe made for. And living near the forest, he's lucky to be able to spend all his free time climbing. Which is not everybody's case.

Alex Megos reports on Insta that he after some ten days of projecting has done the first repeat of Will Bosi's King Capella (9b+) in Siurana. The German do neither confirm or suggest a grade but he says, "I also used slightly different beta than Will taking a very wide pinch, which felt a little easier to me than what Will did. He couldn't do the move the way I did it though, so I guess it's personal preference." (c) Esteban Lahoz

Analyzing what grade Alex might opt for, we have his comments from this spring when he tried it for the first time. "I tried two of his FA's there and they are hard! Both of them 9b for sure. The one he thought was easier I couldn't do one move. On "King Capella" I did all the moves, but linking then will be very hard. I'd be super psyched to go and try to repeat his routes at some point! 😁 Very strong lad 💪🏼."

Furthermore, putting ten days in a fictive Time Comparison Grading table for Alex, 9b would probably fit better rather than 9b+, although he has said the route fits him rather well. "The grade time comparison doesn't work as well though because the route is so short. It's much easier to try a short route multiple times a day than a long one."

In total, Megos has now done 100+ routes 8c+/9a and harder, out of which five are 9b or 9b+.

Colin Duffy, #7 in the Olympics, has done Flight of the Conchords (8c+), on his second go, and Life of Villains (9a) in Hurricave. "Amazing route! After not being able to finish it off on my first trip, I came back for more and got it done first redpoint burn of the trip after a quick review of the moves. Couldn't have picked a better route for my first 9a!"

How has the last week been and what is next?
It’s an amazing feeling to have accomplished both competition and outdoor goals in the span of a few days! It’s cool to see that my training throughout the year has payed off and it was the perfect way to end my competition season. I’m very psyched to have finished my first 9a!

I first tried life of villains last month on my first trip to the Hurricave. I got close on the route but my limited time plus low skin and energy stopped me from getting the send. This time around I came into the climb with a lot of psych and fresh skin and was able to take it down on my first redpoint burn of the trip. And to make the day even better I was able to snag a 2nd go send of flight of the conchords 8c+. It feels good to have finished my first 9a and I look forward to trying harder routes in the future! Up next I’m hoping to get outside more with no competitions in the near future.

Colin started the Olympics with a false start against Alberto Gines Lopez with 0.005 seconds. Without that false start, he would probably have gotten the gold and Alberto would have been #7.

Manon Hily has done La théorie des cordes (8c) in . In the picture by (c) Theo Cartier, the 27-year-old does Le sonnet croisé (8b+) in Buoux, on her second go. In Buoux she he has also lately done .

"La theorie des cordes is one of the most beautiful lines of Praniania the sector in Saint Leger. It is like 30-35 metres with 2 different parts with different rocks. The first part is very powerful with tufas in an overhang on yellow rock and the second part is black vertical rock with small holds and you need a lot of resistance. I choose this line because of its beauty and because it is famous. I tried it last year in less than 10 days but I wasn’t in a good shape and my balance between power and endurance was bad. The holds are somewhat painful so you have only like one go per day. So I trained this year for the world cup.

About the two 8b+', the two lines are like 100 % my style, a big overhang with mono or two-finger pockets and powerful moves and you need a lot of endurance but there is always rest in between the different sections. Very beautiful to climb. These two lines are in diagonal of the wall and they are crossing."

Hily has been an active competition climber since 2009, having won Euro Youth Cups in both Lead and Boulder. In 2018, she was #4 in the Overall World Cup and did Era Vella 8c+/9a but then she had a pulley injury. Last year she had another one working on Biographie. Her next project is possible, La ligne claire 8c+ in Saint-Leger.

Ale Zeni has made the first repeat of Maurizio Zanolla's Eternit in Baule and suggests an upgrade to 9a+. Interesting is that he did it twice after having tried it 23 times. The reason for the upgrade is that somebody has chopped some holds making it now possibly one of the hardest slabs in the world. In 2018, he put up Energia Cosmica as a 9a+ which Ale thinks is his hardest slab ever.

"There are routes that go beyond a simple success. Eternit was a dream for me since 2010 when I tried it for the first time, challenging myself on the route known to be the hardest ever climbed by Maurizio Zanolla. A few years later, however, this beautiful line, at first almost completely natural, has been irreparably ruined by removing some holds that I considered essential until a year ago. A shattered dream that I was able to bring back by accepting those changes. Eternit was not just a difficult route, it was a deep inner search where the impossible became possible and finally achievable, a dream that became reality despite all the obstacles I encountered along the way."

Last year you did Cryptography 9b. Is that not your hardest slab?
I chose 9b for Cryptography because I was influenced by the grade of the other two routes (Bain de sang and Bimba luna) already repeated from other strong climbers so in this case, I did the grade comparison to these routes. It's always difficult to give the correct grade on this style because there aren't many difficult slab routes around the world 😉. The only way is that some strong climbers try all of these routes and say a what think about the grade 🤔. For the attempts Energia cosmic for me was the hardest 🤷‍♂️.

Elias Iagnemma has done From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico. The Dave Graham classical was put up in 2005 and everyone who has star rated it has given it five stars. "Incredible historical line, I only needed 3 sessions (the first two last winter under terrible conditions) to climb this difficulty." (c) Simone Antuzzi

In 2018, the Italian won the national Cup and tried some WCs. The same year he did his first 8B+ and started to focus more on outdoors. In total, he has now done eight boulders 8C and harder.

What are your winter plans and what about comps?
My winter plan is to go to Ticino and Fontainebleau to climb all the projects I have in mind and to resume competitions at the beginning of February.