David Firnenburg, who last week sent his second 8C, has done Monkey Wedding (8C) in Rocklands. David has been on the road for nine months with and plan to add another two in ZA. ”Cool fingery, technical and powerful climb with different betas throughout the boulder. Dropping three times on the last hard move in my second session. Today first go from the bottom. Happy to have this one in my send bag!”

Can you tell us more about the trip?
ZA is fun. Many strong people around and good weather🌞 We spent already almost 3 weeks here, time flies, staying in an apartment together with my partner Andrea Kümin, Michael Piccolruaz, Nicolai Užnik, Thilo Schröter, Sofya Yokoyama and some others. It’s good vibes climbing and cooking together. We’ve also been to the sea side at Lambert’s Bay for the well-known fish grill there. Beautiful sunset!

Climbingwise, I have some projects in mind, mainly in the 8B+ and 8C range, but also good side projects and just fun climbs. There is so much good climbs around here and since my last visit in 2015 ten years ago the area grew with many new sectors and gems I haven’t heard about before. And there is a bunch left to explore. Seems like too much for a single climber’s life. I know of some people who come here every season for the past 10-15 years and still scout for new boulders.

Bayes Wilder, who sent 8A+ and 8c+ at age 10, is on a trip to Rocklands and during the first week he has sent The Arch (8B) and flashed Awunda (8A) as well as Barracuda (8A). His father Matt Wilder, gives us the story of the start of their trip.

”We’re having a fun trip in Rocklands. Bayes has been having a good trip. He was really psyched to do the Arch, his first 8B. He had worked it once a couple days back and got all the moves and had one or two links to near the end. When he came back, he refreshed the moves and then gave an attempt from the start and fell on the last slopers above the lip. After a rest, he did it on his next go. He was very excited to top it out and celebrated with a jump into the creek pool just above the climb. On this trip, he’s also done two cool 8A+ climbs (CoCo and Law and Order). He also flashed Awunda and Barracuda and did a few other 8A’s. He doesn’t have his sights set on any specific problems for the rest of the trip, but he’s psyched to try more hard stuff in the week we have left.

He’s here with his friend Beckett Hsin also from Colorado and Beckett’s brother (and Bayes’ comp coach) Samuel Hsin. Both of them have been crushing as well with Beckett sending a few 8B’s and flashing a couple 8A+’s. Sam pulled off a flash of the Arch, a quick ascent of El Corazon among other sends.

Nathan Phillips and Simone Tentori, who both did their first 8C+ some months ago, have repeated Jimmy Webb’s Khoikhoi (8C) in Rocklands.

Phillips [pictured]: ”Possibly the best hard boulder I’ve ever done. Incredible trip. I can’t think of many hard boulders in this style. Ninja Skills is the closest and it’s for sure harder than that but feels a little easier than some of the other 8C’s I’ve done. Very hard 8B+ or low end 8C does seem right. I wish there were more hard blocs in this style! Thanks Jimmy for giving this gem to the world.”

Tentori: ”This one is so special. The line, the rock, the moves, just perfect. I found a new beta that makes the sequence a little bit easier and straightforward, imo, so upper-end 8B+ might be right this way?”

Autumn Lloyd has matched her mother [Ashley Lloyd] by sending Super Kind (8A+) in Emerald Lake.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Superkind was a line I very much wanted to climb partly because I greatly enjoy lowball traverses and partly because it had some familial history to it. Back in 2007, when I was 2, my family was living in Fort Collins and my parents were regularly climbing in Rocky. My mom also loves long traverses, and as a result got psyched on Superkind. She managed to snag the FFA and was one of the earliest ascents of the full traverse of the Kind boulder’s face.

I’ve watched the video of my mom doing Superkind many times, and as a result the climb was priority #1 when my sister Sierra and I took our first trip to RMNP last week. I managed to send the Kind Traverse on day 1, but had to come back on day 2 for Superkind. I really enjoyed the movement on this climb, and am so so psyched to have finally gotten out to Rocky to try it.

Lucia Dörffel, who was 16th in the Paris Olympics, has repeated Giuliano Cameroni’s Hazel Grace (8B+) in Gottardo. The 25-year-old German has previously climbed routes up to 8c and boulders up to 8B. (c) Elias Arriagada

”I had this boulder in my mind for quite some time. It’s a beautiful line in one of my favourite places, and it means a lot to me. Due to some health issues, I missed a lot of training and had to skip the entire World Cup season. But that also meant more time for rock climbing. I was really excited about this trip and spending time outside. From the very first session, checking out the moves, I knew I could climb it. By my fifth session, I was already really close, falling on the last hard move. So we decided to extend our trip by two more days. I had one rest-day and tried the next day again. The weather started to change, and it began to rain a little. But I kept trying and the conditions were actually good for me. Everything came together on my send go. It was perfect. Standing on top of this bloc, having climbed my first 8B+ was a great feeling and I’m so psyched for more.”

Jennifer Wood has done Adventure Time (8c) in Kilnsey. The 29-year-old finished her competition career in 2023 and works nowadays as a coach. (c) Mario Grabinski

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Honestly I only thought I’d try this one because I hadn’t got my last few quickdraws out of the top of epic adventures yet 😅 this route Adventure Time adds a 30m 8b to the epic adventures crux at the last 4 bolts. It’s really cool because you do a super techy crimpy 7c+, into a really burly 8b with big moves on undercuts , then blast out the crux of epic adventures straight through the roof making a really varied line with a lot more hard climbing than the original. I put the draws in and did it next go! Very surprised! I was screaming my way through the top crux but I think I just had it dialled in on muscle memory !

What is your next plan?
Hoping to keep working through the hard stuff at Kilnsey :) before heading back to Kalymnos in October.

Tyler Thompson, who has climbed ten routes graded 9a and above in the past two years, recently sent Moonshine (9a) at The Remuda. Just four days later, he followed it up with an ascent of Mutation (9a) at Wild Iris Main Wall.

Can you tell us more about your latest two 9a’s?
I had been climbing for a few weeks at Wolf point but, as the season got warmer, the decent days there have been harder to come by. Wild iris is over 1000 feet higher and good on warm days so I started trying Moonshine around two weeks ago. I made steady progress and on my fourth session I fell 5 times in a row on the crux dyno. The next climbing day I sent on my third try.

A few days later, after sending Sheep Eye at Wolf point, I went back to the rodeo wave to check out the ending section of Mutation, which climbs Genetic Drifter into an 8b+ route. I did the 8b+ right away after checking the moves and making sure I had good beta. I decided to try from the bottom, which is a bit complicated because it involves a rope and belay swap due to the huge traverse. My first try I fell in the last few moves of genetic and managed to get through that section on the second try. I rested well before the 8b+ and desperately pulled through the redpoint crux at the very end, much to the dismay of myself and my belayer(s)!

Chris Frick, who did his first 8b+ in 1992, has done the first ascent of Chaîne de Markov (8b+) in Gorges de Court. In total, the 57-year-old has done almost 500 first ascents. "Incredible roof with tufas and tufa-blobs on immaculate limestone. Quasi a taste of Spanish-style 3D power climbing in the Swiss Jura. It's a gem, completely natural! One hold less an it'd be impossible. A gift to discover this climb, bolting and sending! Found the line in 2014, realized it's beauty but thought it would be 8c+ or beyond and therefore left it. Came back in 2023, had some ideas how to solve the moves. In 2024 I've struggled with the two cruxes but found the beta. This year everything is different. Now, at 57 I'm somehow in an amazing shape power- and weightwise. I've put in a lot of work to get there. The send was still challenging, but I'm hesitating to give more than 8b+ (maybe slash c?). Time will tell. A heartfelt thank you for the amazing support by Tina, Vero, Marianne, Sabrina, Julo, Gaspard, Gregoire, Sven and Matias. You guys rock!" (c) Veronika Sossau

How can you explain the amazing shape power?
I am absolutely aware that it is not given to still have this energy and drive at my age. But it doesn't come naturally, it's the result of hard work. After 43 years, climbing is in my DNA - so it's intrinsic motivation. For me, there is no question of whether I want to keep climbing - especially at my personal limit - or not. Every day that I do something well in climbing is like a gift. And then the willingness to invest in climbing - and ultimately in yourself - comes naturally. I would hate to stand still and stop developing. So it remains exciting to see what I can (still!) continue to change. Of course, it takes a lot of effort to define goals and then work on yourself. But sometimes I wonder why some people of the same age (50 to 60) give up, even though they are not permanently injured or suffer from other ailments. I mean, most of us over 50 have a hard job in addition to climbing - I work four days a week myself. But it also gets easier, for example for those with families, when the children have grown up and become independent. As long as the biological limitation due to advanced age has not yet set in, I see no reason to give up. I’m pretty sure it’s just a question of mental state. If that’s the case for some of you, it might help to ask yourself: Why do I THINK I can't do it anymore?

For my personal climbing, I proceed as follows: I usually set myself a climbing goal that is actually (almost) too difficult. These are routes outside on rock. I refer to these mega-projects as my ‘lighthouses’, which I can use as a guide and ask myself questions such as: what do I need, how should I proceed, what circumstances must be given, etc.? Then I actually know how to go on. It's not simply a question of training harder now. I don't even think that works like that. First of all, there are clear basic requirements to be met, especially to stay injury-free over 55+ (and not just at this age!)! Sufficient sleep, stress reduction and good nutrition are the basis. By good nutrition, I mean a vegan diet - although I know that this may cause controversial debates. But my own experience is valid. Here, too, I choose what I eat carefully in order to get enough proteins and other essential nutrients. Since switching to vegan ten years ago, I have been completely free of inflammations and have more power than I did as a young man who first ate meat and later went vegetarian. Another aspect is time management. It wasn't easy to manage everything so that I could create a good training environment and only train at times of the day when I’m awake and present. I have also learned to listen to my body. I've now even got to the point where, if I start a training session and the first few moves feel miserable, I cancel it and postpone it for a day or two. I no longer train according to training plans, but have over the decades learned what I need. This can even still be technical training. I invest a lot in stretching every day. Agility is a key word here.

It may sound paradoxical, but the now climbed power roof ‘Chaîne de Markov’ - at least 8b+ and thus the second in the grade this year - is not the ‘lighthouse’ project I spoke of earlier. This is just waiting for the cooler conditions in fall. It's a long-term project and the most difficult piece of rock I've ever tackled and that I find it extremely interesting. Everything before is just the necessary round to this one goal. And if it doesn't work out - because of the often not ideal conditions or I don't get strong enough - then it was the benchmark that made all the other routes possible. So I know for myself that it's worth investing. I get so much in return. And these are fantastic experiences that I can draw on for the rest of my life. I hope this sounds inspiring to some of you older girls and boys who are still hesitant. Let's go! Climbing at 55+ at the personal limit is so interesting and still possible!