Sean Bailey, runner-up in the World Cup, reports on Insta that he has done the second repeat of Alex Megos' Bibliographie 9b+ in Céüse. Megos originally graded it 9c but then Stefano Ghisolfi found some better beta and gave it a personal 9b+ grade, which later Megos agreed upon. (c) Ben Neilson

"Easily the hardest battle I’ve waged with myself. I’ve never been so obsessed. I woke up thinking about the route. I fell asleep thinking about the route. It was nonstop."

The 163 cm tall has previously done one 9a and two 9a+'. In 2021, he has won two Lead World Cups and one in Bouldering. Last year, he was close to having made it to the Olympics in the Continental Championships.

Joe Kinder has done the FA of Kinder Cakes 9a+ in Rifle and below is his full report on how he took it down. This was the 41-year-old's third 9a+, all of them FAs. (c) Ross Fulkerson

"I bolted Kinder Cakes in the fall of 2018 after I sent Diarrhea Mouth, 9a. The whole time I was trying DM I saw the hold, the line and the obvious pathway out the bulge in the roof. Literally, I was just as excited to finally bolt that line as I was when I sent DM.

In 2020 started making short trips to Rifle to sort out the line. Moving bolts, cleaning the loose rock and playing with the moves. I put a mid-way anchor in as it made sense and started to focus on that initially which became Cupcake, 8c. After that was complete I fixed a line at the mid anchor and started to focus on the second part. I remember asking Jonathan Seigrist if the line could be yielding 9b, as it simply felt like something improbable to me. He suggested just trying and trying and it will reveal itself eventually and really that's what I did. First ascents take so much time and vision and patience. There's so much more doubt and confusion with what you're doing. After some time sorting the second half of the route I worked on redpointing from the anchor (midway anchor) to anchor (top of the climb) which felt around 8c/+ in total. Next was to start piecing the whole thing together which just seemed loco. 8c is hard for me... like takes SERIOUS effort and to think of having to repeat Cupcake over and over sounded absurd. 2020's season ended with my best efforts falling at the last hold of the crux.

This season I prepared. I trained for 2 months prior which almost felt like too much time. 6 weeks would have been plenty. I did a strength cycle followed by a strength-endurance cycle. I followed a plan I made inspired by the Horst family and the tidbits I've learned along the way. My wife Lindsey supported the whole effort as she wanted to see me succeed as well. When the training was over we headed over this way to Rifle and I got to work. The conditions weren't right, but I still put in the effort and within 3 days I was back to falling at the last hold of the 5 move crux. It was wild. This continued for a month actually, I never fell in the 8c first portion, confidence was in a good place and all I needed was some tiny variable to work in my favour (conditions, mental state, luck, whatever).

Last Sunday, Sept 26th, which was an ordinary day really. The conditions weren't great or bad and my mind state was the same as any other day. I stood at the base, did some visualizing, left the ground, got to the knee-bar, calmed down and recovered, left the rest, climbed to the crux and executed the 5 moves in total. It was the first time I stuck the last move from the ground. I remember shaking at the horizontal and freaking out internally. There's still another V8 exit and all I could think about was how fuct it would be to actually blow it at that point. HA! What a moment. I left the rest and felt connected, fresh enough and very exhilarated. I swear, pulling onto the slab and putting my cheek to the wall and realizing where I was in the world was one of the best feelings I've ever had. I clipped the anchor, sat back into my harness in a state of disbelief and pure bliss. I had just climbed my baby, my hardest, my biggest goal.

I'm still happy of course, but now I want some more haha! It's never ending, isn't it??? I'd really like to thank my wife Lindsey for her support and belief in me... she gives me so much of herself and her time and I'm so grateful. Cheers to everyone for reading and all the support. I appreciate you."

David Firnenburg, who previoulsy has done three 9a+, has done his 15th 9a, Schwarz Mönch in Gimmelwald. "Happy to send this route before the season comes to an end here. Great endurance climb with two bouldery sections. Harder than Alpenbitter and Jungfraumarathon. Felt like 9a for me. Needed 3 sessions to send it."

What is next?
Maybe I go for “Inferno” which is the last 9a up there and check out one of the projects. Afterwards, I am not sure yet. There is still a lot to do. Sooner or later I’ll try a project in Soyhieres which is at least 9a. Maybe harder. Temps are getting colder again which is nice 👍

Are you a full-time climber now?
Nope, still a student 🤓; Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology. Climbing as much as possible aside. There are two years left but I plan to take a break in one year together with my girlfriend Andrea (Kümin), if she isn’t too busy with comp climbing. The break will be around half a year. Maybe an EU rock trip.

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Nicholas Milburn, who three weeks ago did his third 9a, has done the second ascent of Pneuma 9a in the Temple. (c) Jessica Appelbaum

"Hot damn this thing is mega! The bulk of the route is about a 24 move ~V13 (except I normally do power endurance V13 faster than this thing) with no stopping. I skipped about every other draw and could barely even clip that many. I only chalked my right hand once and never my left. It even has an outro ~V8 boulder with a mono. One of the best power endurance routes anywhere.

Kyle O'Meara showed me this route in 2019. At this point, it was a project and I don't think anyone had put any work into it. I went up to it a couple of times to check it out. It was really dirty, but the rock was solid and the movement felt really good. I thought it felt around the 8c range. The next year, after I sent Algorithm, I spent a month trying the Temple Project. Still, nobody had tried the route, so I cleaned it up and started figuring out the beta. I started making links and I was feeling good about my progress, but I never managed to stick the middle crux move from the bottom. As time went on I started to wonder if it was harder. Maybe 8c+? I was trying it by myself, so I wasn't really sure how hard it was, but it definitely felt hard. I think I only two pieced it once that entire trip.

This year I was stronger and very excited to get back on it. I told Ben Spannuth about it and he told BJ Tilden about it and we all got psyched and tried it together. It was really fun to try it with other people after sessions by myself for so long. It was also reassuring that they both agreed it was definitely a proper hard route. I was busy with school and work, so I couldn't get up to Ten Sleep as much as I wanted, but I was feeling really good nonetheless. BJ ended up getting the first ascent after a few weeks of work and called the route Pneuma. I sent the route my next trip up. This is one of my proudest sport sends."

"I got beta from a local, (Roland Wagner) who climbed the route some years ago. He went up, brushed the holds and gave me very detailed beta. 👌🏼"


How was the flash? Robot mode with full control?
Oh yes. Total robot mode. You'll see the video in a few days 😉 Pretty much full control. Two moves were a little sketchy.

Irmgard Braun has set a new standard for 69-year-old women by doing Open Box 7c+ in Gorges du Tarn. The German author started climbing in the 80'ies and was later part of the German national team.

"Don't believe you are too old to improve! It took me six days to check out the moves and I sent it on day seven. I am not ascetic and not a training beast. But I am an enthusiastic climber and like testing my limits. And I am very grateful my body doesn't grumble when I am trying hard. I want to motivate other senior climbers to project routes - they will discover they can do a lot more than they ever believed. Even if there is no send, the process is fascinating: what seemed impossible in the beginning becomes climbable after several tries - and makes you stronger. For old climbers with bad knees or other niggles, bouldering with a rope is better than bouldering and jumping down. Come on, it’s fun!"

How much and how do you train?
When not on a climbing trip, I climb 2-3 times a weak, do stretching 2 times/weak and 1/weak core/ antagonists (about 1 hour). In winter I usually have 8 weeks of training for raw power (fingers and upper body) and do not climb. It seems to help, I can hang on the smallest crimp of the Lopez training board.

What are the hardest routes you have done before?
I have climbed 7c/7c+ when I was about 50. After I had several injuries and was busy with my job - journalist and author of crime stories about climbing. In those days I climbed max 7a (sometimes onsight). When I was 65, I had a broken wrist, a complicated operation and after this, I could not even lift a pan. But I did not want to become a sometimes a 6a-slab-climber, so I set the goal to climb 7c again and started to do projects. I was successful: One year later, when I was 66, I did two 7c's.

What about going for an 8a?
8a seems very far away – but if I discover a very beautiful looking climb that fits my strengths, I might have a look at it next year.

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who has stayed in Europe since February, becomes the first Australian woman to send a 9a by Victimas del Futur in Margalef. She did her first 8c at age 11 when she had a three months homeschooling trip with her non-climbing parents in Spain. From that old interview we have some interesting quotes. "I don’t have a trainer, I tried for a couple of months having an online trainer but it didn’t work out, so I just went back to training myself. I write my own programs and have done this since I was 8. I find that this really works for me." (c) Jan Novak

How was the process taking it down?
Well it started last season here in Margalef. I started to break it down bit by bit. Victimas has a crux section right at the top which cost me so much endurance. My body and especially my mind needed time to adapt to having to pull hard right after 8c+ climbing into the final crux. I’m happy to have sent it finally at the beginning of this season and I hope to try another 9a project 😃.

How long have you stayed in Margalef, what about homeschooling and when will you return to Australia?
I stayed last season and I will stay again and maybe travel around! At the moment I have no plans for returning to Australia because of the COVID restrictions! I have finished my homeschooling 🙏😃

Daniel Woods has repeated Andy Raether's Manphibian 9a and Spyfiction 8c+ in Mt Charleston. "I did Spyfiction my first day in three tries. It ends halfway up the wall and to the right. Two days later I came back for the extension which is Manphibian and that took three tries." (c) Eric Fallecker

What is next?
Mm only have two more days left here. There is a left entrance into Manphibian that starts with an 8A+ boulder. Gonna see what happens with that then back to CO. I will start getting ready for this boulder project I have in Eldorado canyon that is the same difficulty as ROTSW (9A).