Stefano Ghisolfi, #2 in the World Cup 2018, has done his sixth 9b, Stoking the Fire in Santa Linya. "Wet holds and poor conditions, no excuses! Super happy, and motivated for the Direct version." (c) Sara Grippo Chris Sharma put it up in 2013 and later Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert and Sachi Amma have repeated it. Including Ghisolfi's ascent it is the second most repeated 9b after Fight or Flight with six ascents, FA also Chris Sharma. "I tried the route as soon as I came here.The first four days the weather was amazing and I tried the sections very well and I felt immediately comfortable. After the fourth day I realized that I could do it very fast and wanted to give some tries in the next days. It rained a lot, but I thought in the cave it should be possible to climb anyway but I was wrong, water poured and when it stopped raining outside it started to rain inside and it was very very wet. Most of the holds later dried but some of them were still pouring, so I dried them first and then protected them with aluminum paper."

Zander Waller, #8 in the Lead Youth WCH, has done Dancing Queen 8B in Dayton pocket. In the 17-year-old ranking game, he is #3. (c) Lohan Lizin What do you like the most in your climbing life? I love high intensity comps, and hard outdoor days. The comp pressure makes me perform either at my worst or best, which i think is a good challenge, and nothing beats bouldering/sport climbing with friends and family.

Vadim Timonov, #3 in the European Ch. this summer, is about to set a new standard having done six boulders originally graded 8C in just two weeks. Yesterday he did, The Story Of 2 Worlds 8C in Cresciano. (c) Leo Zhukov Please explain your peak performance? Any secrets you can share? I was preparing a little different scheme for this trip although nothing special, just different exercises. I do not have a training plan. I don’t have any secrets. I have it on Insta ;)

Vadim Timonov, who the last week has done two 8C's and two 8B+', has done a very quick repeat of Fred Nicole's Arzak in Murgtal suggesting it to be 8B+. "I did fall in the middle on my first attempt. After I did all moves on the second part with one attempt. Then it was second go from the start." The Russian has posted a video on his Insta. "Now I’m in Ticino and I will try all hard boulders. I hope after a rest day you can see a lot of news ;)"

Stefano Carnati, who previously in December has done two 8C boulders, has changed arena by doing Chris Sharma's Demencia senil 9a+ in Margalef. (c) Marco Zanone "So immensely happy to climb this line that had always been stuck in my mind since the day I saw it years ago and watched Chris’ video on Progression! Did its right version “llamps i trons” two years ago in 5 tries and spent another couple of days trying the upper part but felt too week. Tried again for three days on a mini trip two weeks ago and came close. Back today and... it happened!!!"

Seb Bouin, who previously in 2019 has done seven routes 9a+ to 9b/+, has made the FA of The Dream 9b in Brar in Albania, which Adam Ondra bolted. (c) Tchalo Productions "We spent one month here to develop the place. We bolted 11 new lines on this wall. The route is around 50meters, and it's pure endurance with a Crux on pinches. There is one crimpy move where I fell. This is a dream route for the 9b climbers for sure :)" As it stands Seb Bouin is the male rock climber of 2019. His 2020 plans starts with Spain in the winter and then Jumbo Love 9b in the spring.