Alessandro Larcher, who just turned 20, skips 8c+ and does his first 9a, Thunder Ribes in Arco. (c) Giampaolo Calzà "I wanted to try a hard route near my home and Thunder Ribes seemed the right one. I gave it two tries in June but it was too hot so I decided to leave it for Sendtember or Rocktober. Yesterday after 14 tries in total I was able to clip the chain! Incredible emotions and happiness were condensed in a big scream that summed up my first 6 years of climbing!"

Isabelle Faus reports on Insta that Dave Graham has done Daniel Woods' Hypnotized Minds in RMNP after projecting it for eight years. It was originally suggested as 8C but later Woods said that it should be upgraded to better reflect the difficulties in comparison to standard 8C's. Graham has been one of the leading climbers for the last twenty years and it is great to see him taking down his nemesis and still progress being almost 38 years old.

Reme Arenas, who did her first 8b+ this spring, has done her first 8c, Florida in Rodellar. (c) Javi Pec "I decided to try this route because aesthetically it is very striking, and it was a challenge for me, why not try? It has been a long process since I have combined it with work and with poor conditions. I already thought that I would have to leave it for next season, it happened. Very happy about that, but especially for all the valuable lessons on the road and the people I've had nearby. Now to enjoy the easier climbing... until new challenges appear.

Shawn Raboutou, who previously has done two 8C+', reports on Insta that he has done the second repeat of Nalle Hukkataival's Livin' Large in Rocklands, calling it 8C+. Nalle did the FA of the eight-meter highball, with the crux in the end, in 2009 saying it was his hardest ever, graded it 8C, having projected it for 12 days. Four years ago, Jimmy Webb did the first repeat and confirming 8C after worked it for more than ten days, also saying it was his hardest ever by far. It should be mentioned that both Nalle and Jimmy are known for their hard gradings and also that back then we had some boulder grade devaluation so Shawn just might be spot on.

Drew Ruana, #13 in the Combined World Championship, reports on Insta that he has had an amazing day in Joe's Valley having done three 8B's and James Litz's The Insurgency 8B+/C in Joe's Valley. (c) Brennan Robinson In one week, Drew is flying to Japan for the last two World Cups and he has a great chance making it to Toulouse. His answers on the subject are interesting showing he is walking on that fine line. - What is your next ambition and how will you reach it? - Climb more 8B+'s so I'll just train more. - Is not your main ambition the Olympics? - It is but I need to do some outdoors right now. Keep the psyche. The more I train inside the worse I feel because I get less psyched. So going outside is good. - How many Speed sessions before Japan? - A few more. - Good luck with both the 8B+' as well as the Olympics :)

Loic Zehani reports on Insta that he has done a harder exit to a 9a+ in Orgon he did two months ago calling it Obsession 9b. "I needed 25 more tries for sending a harder exit, quite more resistant. It was an “Obsession” after falling 12 times in a move where I was falling only one time when I climbed “Le Poisson pilot”. You need to climb all the integral version of “Le Poisson pilote” then you traverse on the right and you finish with the end of “Mollahs du mollard” in a very resistant effort. 37 hard moves and a nice 6c/7a for the end. After reflexion, I propose 9b for this one. It’s a 9a+ into an 8b+ with a bad rest between. I would like some climbers will come and try the line despite some of the holds that are drilled (less than 10 on 37 hard moves). It’s not bad compared to Orgon’s other sector, Canal.