Anghelo Bernal has done Pal Norte 8c+/9a in Margalef after some 30 tries over ten weeks. The Colombian has lived in Margalef since 2016 (when 8a+ was his PB) and he works in the El Pont campsite. "The town is very small, but as a climbing park, it is huge, it gives many options to climb and not get bored. Going to each sector is like being in a different place, both for style, length and weather. This climbing season due to the covid issue there have been very few people, 80% fewer climbers compared to previous years, this has been very bad for the town since its economy is based on tourism." (c) Esteban Lahoz

"Yesterday, I didn't even feel like trying the route, I was very scared, but thanks to the positive words that Beto told me, I relaxed and tried one more time. On the send, I did everything perfectly, I just listened to my breathing and told myself that this time, I would chain. Without much thought, I am shaking and with tears in my eyes, plating the chain with inexplicable feelings of happiness."

What is your next project?
Era Vella and Victims of the future' are the two projects that I have been working. I want to be the first Colombian to do a route of the 9a level and it would be the 5th in South America. With my last send, I am already much closer to achieving my goal. (Era Vella did break and has now been confirmed to be 9a).

What about new routes in Margalef?
There are two people who equip constantly. I know that Vincent Palau and Joan Rivera have equipped about 100 routes each the last year. If we add the other climbers who equip sporadically, we could possibly add some 70 more routes. Although in a couple of years there will no longer be rock to equip. In the last climbing guide, there were 1429 routes in 82 sectors.

Please describe the Colombia climbing scene?
Colombia is a very large country and climbing in recent years has been growing and this has led to the beginning of exploring new places and equipping more routes, near the capital there are several climbing schools' Suesca 'is the oldest there is also' macheta 'and' choachi 'that are sport. towards the east of Colombia near Venezuela in the department of Santander we find the ‘Mojarra’ and ‘Florián’ and to the south close to Ecuador in Pasto we find small sectors that together there are between 300 and 400 routes. anghelobernalquintero's profile picture In all of Colombia there are only about 8 8b + routes approximately and there are several projects for that reason, in order to meet my goal of raising my level I decided to move to Spain since internationally it is known as the country of the rock and we know that it has the majority of the rough roads of the world.

Lukas Sager, who has been in Margalef with his father since December 26th, has done his second 8c, Mistic. During the last two weeks, he has also redpointed two 8b+'s and onsighted two 8a's. The 15-year-old has been alone since the end of February when his father travelled back to Austria.

"I'm in the Margalef Refugio. There is a communal kitchen. Once a week I go to Cafe Vernet, otherwise, I cook myself. I get to know so many nice people that I don't have time for loneliness. Of course, I sometimes miss my parents and my little sister. I go to the rock and talk to the climbers. Here they are all open, a community that holds together. I do school over the Internet, which is less fun. When I get homesick, I will come back. My parents are super tolerant in times like these.

I plan to leave Margalef on March 26th, if the Covid situation allows. hitchhiking to France if I will find some climbers who also go to France. Then I try to get to Vienna by train. When I get home I will continue to drill my project near Vienna. Several Multi pitches in the Wenden and Rätikon. Then there is the climbing competition, which is totally fun for me, depend the corona situation is developing. The Austrian State Championships take place at the beginning of May, so I definitely want to take part to defend my title. In mid-April, I hope to find a climbing gym where it is possible to train."

"I followed my gut feeling, and listened to what my body wanted to do in space..." Elijah Kiser finishing the crux dyno of Levity 8B+ with a helicopter move you haven't seen even on the modern parkour competition scene. The setters in the Olympics should aim for making a replica in Tokyo hoping the gold medal winner also star right in the camera! Fasten your seatbelt, it does not get any better than this!

Katherine Choong, who previously has done two 9a's, has done La ligne claire in after close to 30 days of projecting. The 28-year-old has been an active competition climber since 2006 and in 2018 she got her best WC result being #8 in Kranj. (c) Hugo Vincent

"At the end of December 2020, after the European Championships, I felt completely exhausted both physically and mentally. So I was just looking for a route to have fun on and get back in shape. But something hard of course ;-) I always loved St-Léger and because of the Covid-19 and the restrictions, France was the only possible destination. After seeing Nolwenn Berthier's (a very strong french climber) very inspiring video, I was psyched to try La Ligne Claire.

Without any expectation, I started this project thinking that I had no chance and that difficult routes were not doable for me for a long time. But my shape and especially the motivation came back slowly with the progress in the route. It took me quite a while to send the route but I really loved the whole process, feeling my body adapting to the moves that felt impossible at the beginning, regaining confidence and being back in the fight mode again (even when I fell 3x just a few move before the top ;-) Especially thanks to the great people with whom I shared good times there.

For the future projects: I'm very motivated to try other difficult routes, maybe in St-Léger or Mollans and also to try some multi pitch routes in the Gorges du Verdon and at home in Switzerland :-)"

Kim Marschner has done his fourth 8C, Roadkill in Valle Bavona. He just needed five sessions and actually, all his hardest ascents including his 9a, he has done rather quickly. The 23-year-old German has been focusing on comps since 2015 but only once made it a semi in the World Cup. In the first German selection comp 2021, the 167 cm tall won. (c) Vladek Zumr

"I guess on rocks my size doesn’t affect me that much. I‘m pretty small and at the comps, this is sometimes a disadvantage. On rocks, I just don’t climb the morpho boulders. But I feel like this season I‘m also pretty strong on comp boulders so let’s see how the season goes."

How much and how have you been training during Covid-19? What is next?
A lot. Nearly every day and two sessions a day two times a week. I‘m in the national team and my parents own two bouldering gyms so I can train whenever I want to.

What is next you seem to be in great shape? Next is the second selection comp in two weeks and then back to Ticino I think. Or maybe if we can open our gym I have to work. Don‘t know yet. Maybe not stronger than last year on rocks but in the gym for sure stronger.

Loic Zehani has done his second hardest route ever, Les affranchis 9a+/b in Orgon. The 19-year-old has previously done 27 routes 9a to 9b, out of which 15 FAs. (c) Julia Cassou

"It is effectively a connection between "Sachidananda" (9a+) and "Bronx" (8c+). I added a bolt in between the two to see if it went naturally (otherwise I would have taken it out because they are mythical routes and I especially did not want to modify them). Luckily it goes with a very hard crossing section (about 8A boulder over 3 movements).

To schematize: 6-moves 8a, then a 7C + boulder approximately followed by an 8A boulder to arrive in "Bronx". This gives 20 movements in 9a/a + followed by 18 moves, 8b+ in "Bronx"."

Jonathan Siegrist has done two 8c+'s and his twelfth 9a FA, Big Bursa in Texas. In total he has done 54 routes 9a to 9b, which makes him #6 on that list. "Thought it could be 9a+, but on the best condition day of the season after two days of rest, it sure felt a lot more like 9a. Stoked to actually climb it after such a crazy-ass February of weather! Mega grateful to Clayton for all of his hard work out here.

What was it about the weather?
It was below freezing for a week and many days in the single digits F. (10- and below). Central Texas had about a foot or more snow and had a record-breaking winter storm, it was actually lethal. The whole state has suffered really badly from loss of power and water. But then only 48 hr later it was up to 80 degrees F. (26 degrees). Totally crazy!"

Manu Cornu, who won a Boulder WC in 2019, reports on Insta that he has done Le Pilier du Désert assis in Fontainebleau. It adds an 8B+ start, including four moves with your hands and five with your feet, to the original 8A+ stand start. Manu says that he has been talking to four other guys who have tried it, and that they agree that it is probably 8C+. All in all, the bronze medalist in the World Championship of 2016 says that he needed three months to take it down.

"I start seated with a not very good left-hand sloper and a good right hand, a very high right heel, you have to go get a little pocket then join the down start and go straight for the top. You stay a long time with the pocket on your right hand. It’s hard to take it well and you keep it for five moves."

It should be noted that the FA occurred just three days earlier by a 187 cm tall climber who thought it was 8C. He wants to stay anonymous for the time being. Manu is 177 cm, with just a 170 cm arm span.

Michal Mikušínec skips 9a by doing the FA of Chiroptera 9a+ bolted by Milan Benian in the late '90s. "This short but intense route starts with 10 moves around 8b, followed by a boulder problem with 5 monos in a row. As I'm not very strong in pockets, I spent almost 20 sessions and 50 tries to make it."

Adam Ondra tried it twice in 2019, see this video. The second time it was harder as Michael had glued back a broken hold. "I broke a big part of mono and then I modelled it back. Now it's slightly smaller, so it's doable only with a thin middle finger or with the ring finger(as me)."

Could you please say something about your climbing background and how you train?
I started climbing at age 8. I climbed 8c being 16-years-old and then I started training. Not much, maybe three times per week. Now, I train every day, mostly on spray wall, hang board and core exercises. Sometimes, I do weight training, some weighted pull-ups and deadlifts.