Camilla Moroni, who was #7 at the Euro Championship in 2019, has done her fourth 8A in 2020, Bogaboo rider and her first 8A+, L'avenir nous réserve rien de bon both in Val Daone. Amazingly, both got done during one session. (c) Pietro Biagini

"Sending my first boulder of this grade was really cool because this boulder is a beautiful crimpy line of Val Daone and because now I feel in a good shape. I usually try boulders and routes that I can send in two days at most because when I make a climbing trip I like to try as many boulders as possible. Maybe the next time I will try something harder 😉"

Francesco Castellano skips 9a and does Goldrake 9a+ in Cornalba in just five days. Adam Ondra did the FA in 2010 and it has six repeats in the 8a database. It should be mentioned that Ondra hesitated in between 9a and 9a+ and all but two have called it "soft" after having done it relatively quickly. In other words, it might just be a hard 9a? More info in Italian on PlanetMountain.

Dylan Chuat, who just released the Foundation Edge 8C video, has done his third 9a during the last three months, Amazonie in St Triphon. It was put up by Francois Nicole in 2009 and has previously been repeated just two times. "Really nice short route. Sooo beautiful moves."

Filip Schenk, who has won eleven Youth Cups/Championships, has done his third 9A in Arco the last five months, Biologico. (c) Felix Kiem "One of the best around Arco!! Two hard boulders on some crimps and tufas! I tried it the first time in spring and then the summer came and it was too hot. Now in the autumn I went to arco two weekends and send it during the second one." "In 2019 I had my last year of school so I had to skip some comps. The main goal is still the comps and I am looking forwards to do all the world cups next year. I have decided not to go to Moscow as we have to do ten days in quarantine if we go."

Mathieu Pauwels, who recently became a father, has done the FA of La traversée de K. making it the second 9a in Belgium.

"It's a variant of "Kraftio" which adds a travers (as its name suggests) and which makes me arrive at the beginning of "Kraftio". In my humble opinion "Kraftio" is 8C + and with the travers, it clearly adds a rating. I'm not here to argue but I'm sure the way Anak (Verhoeven) did the FA of "Kraftio" is clearly 8c+/9a. But, I have found other methods which make the original route easier. I find this variant really adds something special and makes the route unique in its kind for our flat country! I can't wait for the Belgian machines to come and do the next repetitions of this variant!"

Adam Ondra has taken a rest day from his 9b+ project and repeated Dani Andrada's Tierra de nadie 9a in Juncosa on his second go. "Suprisingly really good route, tensiony moves in a horizontal roof with legendary finish. Definitely kneepads make the route easier, probably soft 9a with kneepads. Props to Dani." More comments and pics on adamondra.com.

Dai Koyamada is a true boulder legend having done more than twenty 8C FAs, which is most in the world. The 165 cm tall has been making headlines since 1998 when he was #4 in a Lead World Cup. The 44-year-old did his first 8C in 2003 and he has now done more than 30. In 2005 he did Action Directe 9a. Interesting in the Mellow video is that he does not use chalk although he is up there well over three minutes including two minutes resting when he drops his knee pad.

Alex Johnson has done her eight 8A+, Muffler in Little Cottonwood Canyon. (c) Jimmy Webb "Real pleased. I haven't climbed V12 since 2015. Maybe half a dozen goes from the start? Never did the last move til the send! Hopefully the start of some big momentum."

Alex has won two World Cups, the latest in 2010 when she was #4 overall. She stopped competing in 2015 but was on it again last year when she tried to make the Olympics and her best result was #7 in Bouldering.

So how was it possible getting back from the comp scene and what is next?
I kept my baseline fitness from training for all the cancelled world cups for 2020 and honed in on specific arm degree strength and finger strength with Camp4 Human Performance. Scientific Quantifiable strength testing yields more precise training. (Testing out max finger strength with a hanging scale. 2 hands together, each hand separately, at different arm bends like 90° and 120°, and on different size edge. (c) Bree Robles). Therefore even someone like me climbing for years can still see big gains and not plateau! For me, the Olympics is not happening, so all my focus is going to go towards outside climbing.

Loic Zehani has done his 19th 9a, out of which ten FA's, L'irreverence extension in Orgon. "This route is the extension of an 8c "Irreverence" (resistance in overhang). At the finish of this 8c, there is a good rest with one knee. Last year I had equipped the extension, around twenty movements and less steep but harder than the first part with powerful movements, 8c+/9a or 9a I think. You have also the possibility of starting with "Macumba" (8c) or the "Connection" (8c +) and ending in this extension. This gives a great route and a nice resistance test because there is no more rest with the knee. Surely a future 9a+."

Carlo Traversi, who recently did the FA of Empath 9a+, has done the FA of Equanimity 8C in Kirkwood lake. In total, Carlo has now done ten boulders 8C and 8C+. Including also the first repeat of Meltdown 8c+ trad, the 32-year-old has one of the most impressive multi-discipline tick lists out there. (c) Mary Mecklenburg

"The seams project. A lot of effort into this one. Heinous power tech boulder with the worst footholds imaginable. Just barely pulled this one-off. Definitely the hardest moves I've done this year. Curious to see what other people think because the style is so specific. 2 days last year, 3 days this year. Got lucky though. Could have taken a lot longer. Barely sent it."