Nicholas Allan, who did his first 8C last summer at age 17, has done the first ascent of Whiplash (8C) in Topside. ”This is undoubtedly my proudest send to date and by far the hardest boulder I’ve ever done. So happy to have gotten the first ascent of this king line. What a crazy journey!” (c) Brendan Kuhnert

Can you give us more details about the ”crazy journey”?
I first tried this boulder in December 2023 and was blown away by how perfect it was. It had been a known project for a while and was definitely the next level for Cape Town bouldering and was (and still is) the hardest boulder I had ever tried. It’s a 12 move power endurance beast, with each move harder than the previous, that can be split into a 8A+ and a 8B+ with a low percentage dyno as the last move.

I spent the beginning of 2024 just trying to piece all the moves together but it was seeming out of my range at the time and I had to put the dream on hold to train for youth worlds and rocklands season.

The next time I went back to it at the end of 2024 I was feeling better than ever and was finally able to piece together all the moves. Season then came to an end and I was only able to get back to it at the beginning of this year were I was making promising links and started to give bottom rips. But then a fire came along and I wasn’t able to try it for a month.

On my first session back after the fire, while I was linking the crux to the top, I jumped to the lip but it broke and I landed head first on a rock, having to get stitches and take a little break from falling. After my head healed I then injured my toe and wasn’t able to put climbing shoes on for a couple of weeks. But as soon as I could fit my feet into my shoes I was back on the project and that session I managed to have a breakthrough and dropped the final move.

The next session all the pieces were finally able to align. As I pulled on for my first send burn of the day, I blinked and the next thing I knew I was standing on top of the boulder, exactly one and a half years, to the day, from when I first tried it.

Did you do any special training during the process and what about the landing?
I had to train lots of power endurance to get fit enough for the boulder, as you don’t get a good rest and I couldn’t imagine doing the last move from the ground. I didn’t build a better landing after the incident, just took more pads up for the next few sessions to be extra safe.

Jonathan Siegrist has made the first repeat of BJ Tilden’s The Hunted (9a) at Wolf Point. The 39-year-old has now logged 88 routes 9a to 9b and he is #3 in the annual ranking game. ”So much hard climbing on this thing. I fell in the top a number of times - Even in the end when I felt 99% at the final rest, the huge pulls in the last boulder still felt hard. 9a/+”

It seems you are having great time at Wolf Point having done six route 8c+ to 9a+ the last four weeks including The Hunted?
June has been so fun. I love the community and the vibes here around Lander - BJ is also one of the strongest climbers in the US and so there are always more hard routes from him to try. This season in particular there has been a lot of hard sends!

I finished ‘The Hunted’ a few days ago - it’s a long, slightly overhanging route with a very difficult opening boulder problem and another one guarding the end. Wolf Point is a great challenge for me because the moves are usually huge on the hard routes, with nothing in-between. It really forces me to be powerful.

What is next?
I have one more hard one I would love to finish before the season ends (too hot) next week. It’s called Show Your Teeth (9a) and for me the difficulty all comes down to one enormous accurate move to a pocket. I’ve tried it 3 days. Hoping I have the time and strength to finish!

Martina Cufar Potard, Lead World Champion in 2001, has done Parasite (8b+) in Foron, commenting it is probably 8b. The 48-year-old was the first Slovenian to win an IFSC senior competition, and since then, the country—with 2 million inhabitants—has won another 100 such golds.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
It is a line that traverses the cliff of Foron from right to left, crossing six routes—about 120 moves—but none of them are extremely hard. You just need to deal with pumped forearms. There is definitely a crux just before joining the last route, but it's on crimps, and that suits me. I did it on my third day. I had to put much more effort into Bouffadou, a roughly 20-move-long 8b that I did last year—it took me more than 20 attempts, I think :-)

How is your daily climbing life nowadays?
I’m still really motivated, and I try to find time for climbing between the kids (who don’t really like climbing), my work as a massage therapist, and also as a climbing instructor. I manage to climb three to four times a week. I still have some 8b’s to do around Chamonix, but it’s often complicated with the conditions. First it’s wet, then it’s too hot... but in general, I prefer when it’s too hot rather than too cold—I have problems with cold fingers. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of easy multipitch climbing with friends. I enjoy it, and we’re often surprised by the grades from the ’80s... a 6a can be hard!

What is the biggest change on the comp scene since you were active?
Haha... it's much more dynamic now! I found a videotape of my victory in Chamonix in 2001. It’s so boring to watch—I was going up and down I don’t know how many times before deciding how to continue. I had 12 minutes for the route and almost ran out of time. You can’t do that nowadays on the huge slopers! And there were no coordination moves or jumps. I’m happy I competed 20 years ago and didn’t have to do risky jumps in the middle of a route!

Stefano Ghisolfi, one of the best route climbers both outdoors and in competitions over the last ten years, has sent Anam cara low (8C) in Silvretta and L'oppio dei climbers (8B+) in Val Daone. Next up for the Italian is the World Cup in Chamonix.
Can you tell us more about your late bouldering focus and doing your first 8C?
With the heat it is easier to find some bouldering in cold places than routes, I spent few days in Valdaone close to home and then we went to Silvretta.

I was surprised my shape was quite good on bouldering, I could climb Anam Cara (8B+) in few attempts and the low on my second day, quite fast considering it is my first 8C.