Alex Megos reports on Insta with a very impressive tick list from seven days climbing in St Léger: three 8c's, three 8c+'s and two 9a/+'s. He also did the FA of Et pour quelques dégaines de plus 9a+, bolted by Quentin Chastagnier. (c) Jenya Kazbekova

"On the first day, I went up one time in the sun, touched all the holds, didn't do any moves and came down again after 10 min. A few days later with more motivation, I tried it again twice. Came back the next day, went up once to check out one clip, then gave it a try half an hour later and did it."

How many tries did you need to take the others down?
Two 8c's second go after a close flash and the one 8c+ second go after a very close flash and the other routes second or third go. Some of the 8c and 8c+ I knew parts of. I did La Castagne 3rd try one day, 9a+ in the guidebook. I think 9a/+. Cadafist took 3 days, 9a in the guidebook. I think 9a/+.

In total, the 27-year-old has done some 95 routes 8c+/9a to 9c. Next up is the Bouldering World Cup in Meiringen in a month. Here is a short Olympic preparation interview from last month.

Moritz Welt has done his sixth 9a in the last 12 months, Martin Krpan in Osp/Misja Pec, uncut video. "Kind of a mental battle, after doing Konec mira quickly I thought it would be not that hard, but the first part got me more pumped than expected and the polished footholds made every try quite unpredictable - relieved to finally put it down today!"

During the last three weeks in Osp/Misja Pec, the 19-year-old has also onsighted five 7c+'s and 8a's. In the 8a ranking game, Moritz is #9. "I'm still in Slovenia and already checked out some more hard routes in Osp and Mišja Peč. So I'll go for those next."

Great discussion between the possible two most known climbers out there: Honnold with 2.2 million followers on Insta and Ondra with 664' on Insta. Interesting is that there are not so many similarities. As a sidenote, Alex Honnold this Saturday did Ghost Fire in Mt Potosi. "Ghost Meat (8b/+) into Hold Your Fire (8c), Andy's link up, not sure if other folks have done it? Maybe 8c? But tried it a bunch last year and didn't do it, who knows. I really enjoyed it either way."

Leah Dempsey has done her fourth 8A+, Bumpy Boys in Nowra, in just three sessions. Picture from Monkey Grip 7C at the same crag.

How has Covid affected the climbing scene in Australia and please say something about the boulder?
We're so fortunate here in Australia that covid really hasn't had much of an impact on us when it comes to access of climbing gyms and crags. Travel between states has been largely restricted until recent months, but luckily we have some amazing crags within a couple of hours drive here in NSW.

Nowra is most renowned for sport climbing, but it also houses some of Australia's most historically significant boulders. Bumpy Boys is an eliminate boulder with some burly moves between pockets and slopey holds, which is the epitome of Nowra!

Sébastien Berthe, one of the best big wall climbers in the world, reports on Insta that he has flashed Mind Control 8c (+) in Oliana. It was originally graded 8c+, but later more and more climbers have, just like Seb, considered it 8c. One year ago, the Masters in Physical Education's PB was 8c+ but now he has done a 9a+ and is working on Fight or Flight 9b. (c) Toni Mas Buchaca

"When I had my first trip to Oliana last year, I knew that 'Mind Control' would be a good candidate for a flash attempt... During this first trip, however, I decided not to try... I did not feel ready and strong enough (I was right because looking back today, I am sure I was not strong enough 😅).

Last Tuesday, I gave a go in my project of the moment, but it felt bad and got my ass kicked... The motivation was not there. Then I decided to totally change my goal for this day: that could be the day for an attempt in Mind Control. I spent the whole afternoon studying the betas with the local climber Arnau Terribas and went for it an hour before it got dark.

At the beginning of the route, I felt terrible and nervous and was not climbing at my best. Then I could put myself into the good warrior mode. Completely pumped, fighting at each section, I could find my way to the anchor. Was really happy and relieved!"