Drew Ruana, #13 in the Combined World Championship, has done his first 8C+, Sleepwalker in Red Rocks, which was put up by Jimmy Webb one year ago, video. (c) Cameron Hörst "I just dialed all the moves perfectly before considering redpoint attempts. I did it on my 4th rp try today but I made sure over the last seven days before that I could do all the sections perfectly each session. I was going for "low points" and yesterday did it from the 2nd move to the top which gave me confidence." The boulder is like 50-55 degrees overhanging and with three pads stacked Drew was able to work all the hard moves. Drew has previously said that his focus is not the Olympics and he was not selected to participate in the Continental Championship. However, if a Canadian gets the spot, Drew is likely to get the Tripartite ticket, based on his WCH result.

Fanatic Climbing reports that hugo parmentier has done the first repeat of Adam Ondra's Eagle-4 9b in St-Léger du Ventoux. The 20-year-old, who has eight podiums in IFSC youth comps, has tried it regurarly the last six months. "THE battle came to an end. 5trips 23days on 5month. Incredible sequence on mini tufas. 2 hard boulder problems in a row making it spicy with the pump. Long and risky finish with only two hard jump moves. Not the line you're looking at first but finally the traverse line is mega. Thanks Elie" Fanatic Climbing has the full length interview where he among other things says; "I would say it’s 2 boulder sections with 2 goods holds between for clipping the draw and for taking a breathe. It’s more or less an 8B boulder into an 8A+. The route is very resistant. Around 18 moves for the hands and an extreme footwork too." (c) Aurèle Brémond

Adam Ondra has taken some days off from his hard Olympic training regime and onsigthed seven routes 8b and 8b+' in Croatia. He also did redpoint, All in, I'm out in Kompanj giving it a personal 8c+ upgrade, commenting, "I believe if this route is 8c, all Kompanj must be downgraded, amazing route." Adam is known for being the hardcore climber in the world giving most personal grades, although most are downgrades. In total, he has now onsighted 324 routes 8b to 9a, using his personal grades, meaning he is actually much more superior onsighting compared to redpoint. Ramon Julian Puigblanque is the potential #2 in this onsight category with 85 onsights 8b and harder.

Matt Fultz has done his sixth and hardest 8C, The Game in Boulder Canyon."V15/16 seems fair, especially for my height. So stoked!" (c) James Lucas It was put up ten years ago by Daniel Woods calling it 8C+. However, later he returned and thought it was 8C due to some holds seemed to have gotten bigger, due to brushing, creating a new sequence. Last week, the 183 cm tall flashed his second 8B, Iron Resolution 8B. Interesting is that Matt (28) has had his best year by far the last 12 months and he is #3 in the ranking game. The 28-year-old has had an almost continuous progress the last ten years and if this will continue, he just might be #1 before we turn 2021.

Hamish Mcarthur, #2 and #5 in the Youth World Boulder and Lead Championships last year, has done two 8c+/9a's in Siurana in just two sessions each; Jungle Speed and A Muerte. Amazingly, the previous best for the 17-year-old was 8a. "I never really get the chance to climb on rocks due to school, training and where I live, so I went into the trip with a big tick list but few expectations. I hadn't lead outdoors in over a year and my previous hardest grade was 8a due to lack of trying anything harder. So after an easy first day, to get on an infamous 8c+/9a "jungle speed" and send it within 2 sessions came as a bit of a surprise. Maybe it was just a fluke? After celebrating for new years I took a much needed rest day (a lot of climbing and dancing) before heading out to try "a muerte" as recommended to me by Will Bosi. Similarly to jungle speed, this too falls between 8c+ and 9a so a quick ascent of this (also with 2 sessions) solidified that it wasn't fluke and training on plastic really can get you strong for rock! I have some big goals for 2020, alongside A levels I plan to compete in junior and senior international competitions. I hope to make another podium at the Youth European and World Championships (preferably gold this time...) as well as make my first final at a senior world Cup. After the comp season I plan on getting back on some international rock to find a project and hopefully send some more classic, hard lines!"

Michi Wyser and Andres Lietha bolted the 400 m pitch in Rätikon 27 years ago. Now Fabian Buhl has made the FA of Déjà with 12 pitches up to 8c+. Having done 9a and an 8C boulder, the German is one of the most accomplished multi-discipline climber in the world.