Alex Garriga, who the last three months has done four 9a+' and four 9a's, has done yet another two 9a's; La Parada de los Monstruos and El Gran Bellanco both in Montanejos. The first one was set up by Ramon Julian Puigblanque in 2013 and has never been repeated and Alex comments, "With kneepads, I think it is an easy 9a. How Ramón did it is another level."

In the picture, El Gran Bellanco FA Petro Pons in 2003. "Very cool power-endurance route. I think 8c+/9a."

Vadim Timonov has done Nalle Hukkataival's The Finnish Line in Rocklands. "I tried it two years ago. I did it with rope but was too scared to climb it with pads. 1st session for this year 😉" (c) Juliet Lenova

How long do you plan to stay and do you have any specific plans?
I have a lot of high and hard boulders to do 😅. I’m here until the 26 of July.

Matt Fultz has repeated Daniel Woods’ Creature from the black lagoon 8C+ in RMNP. "It took 15-20 days spread out over 4 years. However, I discovered I was using pretty terrible beta, and after working out a different sequence I was able to send it in a couple more sessions. Creature is one of the most repeated 8C+s in the world, but in my opinion, it is definitely a step above all other 8Cs I’ve done, so the grade seems fair."

Amazingly, the 30-year-old did his first 8C just over two years ago and now he has done 17 and four 8C+, all during the last year. He is a superior #1 in the 8a ranking game and getting close to the highest score ever achieved. The 183 cm tall and 74 kg powerhouse has previously explained that nutrition is a major factor to his latest progress.

Moritz Welt did the FA of Star Shopping 9a in Frankenjura three weeks ago and the video shows it is an amazing route.

How is it possible that this old Werner Thon bolted project has not been done before?
Well this one was a long-standing project that has only been tried by a few people over the last ten years. The wall is quite hidden so most of the people didn't really know about the line.

Does it exist any other projects like this?
I actually know only about a few, maybe like 5 big lines some of them are crazy hard. But as many people won't expect, there's still some future stuff around here.

Is this the most overhanging route in Frankenjura?
There are at least some climbs here that have a similar roof length but not so many, so it is definitely outstanding.

It seems to be at least 30 meters long and 15 meters overhang?
Yeah but maybe a little bit less, something like 25m long and 12m overhang.

Based on the number of bolts you are clipping, this must be more than 25m to the top?
Well, probably you are right, the wall is more than 20m tall and with the roof, it must be really long then :D.

Christof Rauch, who until 2020 had done some 750 boulders 8A and harder including eleven 8C's, has switched to routes in 2021. Earlier he has done two 9a's and now he did his seventh 8c+ by the FA of The Redirection 8c+ in Salzburger Land.

"Suprised myself with a send of this great linkup. Couldn’t finish it last year, seems like my endurance improved a lot. All the hard part of „Direction Big Babalas“ into the final crux of „Das Geschenk“ connected with a hard traverse on perfect crimps. Thanks to Norbert for the vision and the support."

How come this change focusing on routes in 2021?
Basically I switched because we were not allowed to travel and I have not so many cool boulders left around home. The route climbing in Tyrol is even better than the boulders and haven’t done many of these cool routes, so it was time for a change.

Janja Garnbret won again topping out in ease like she also did in the semifinal. In total, the Slovenian has now won four out of the five Lead and Boulder World Cups she has done in 2021. In the fifth, she was #2. Laura Rogora fought like one minute on the second last hold before committing for a dyno to the top hold, clipping the anchor with just a few seconds left. However, the Italian was placed second due to countback from the semi. Third was boulder specialist Natalia Grossman who missed the last dyno.

Sean Bailey, who five weeks ago won his first Boulder World Cup, got his first Lead WC victory by winning in Villars. During 2019, he was on average #30 based on 14 Lead and Boulder World Cup. Anyhow, as regards the Olympics, he failed in Toulouse by using one too many attempts to the zone! Runner-up was Alex Megos followed by Colin Duffy who both are going to the Olympics. Overall, the USA with one gold and two bronzes had their best Lead WC for many many years.

Overall, a very good competition with great route setting. During the finals, Stefano Ghisolfi and Oriane Bertone helped out with the commentary and they did an excellent job. Noteworthy is also 16-year-old Alex Totkova making her first final and ending #6 after a good fight. It should also be mentioned that Slovenia had four girls in the Top-8 final and six among the Top-14 and Japan had five male Top-14.

1. Sean Bailey USA 38 - Janja Garnbret SLO Top
2. Alex Megos GER 35+ Laura Rogora ITA TOP
3. Colin Duffy (17) USA 31+ Natalia Grossman USA 42+
4. Sebastian Halenke GER 26.5 - Momoko Abe JPN 40+
5. Alberto Gines Lopez ESP 26.5 - Vita Lukan SLO 40+
Complete results (c) Vladek Zumr

Andy Lamb has done his third 8C, Delirium in Mt Evans which is a harder exit to Wheel of Wolvo, a former 8C, he did three weeks ago.

"The second day dedicated to Delirium I got further than I expected, a few moves from the top my foot popped, and I didn’t feel that tired. I did a few laps on Dismantling the Enemy (second half of Delirium) and it felt pretty dialed by the end of the session. The next session I did Delirium the first time I got through the first crux moves. This one has always been a Colorado testpiece in my mind, psyched to get it done!"

What is next?
I’ve got a few more projects in Colorado I’m psyched on this summer, then hopefully some trips in the US and internationally after that.