Stefano Ghisolfi, who this spring has done five boulders 8C and beyond, has completed The Ratstaman Vibrations (9b) in Céüse.

Can we have your story behind the ascent?
I tried the route for two days back in 2022 when it was still a project, then I haven't been back to Céüse until this year. With a good bouldering training the two cruxes felt OK, and I started doing some attempts on the fifth day of this year, and sent it yesterday on my 8th session in total.

What is next and when are you going to Flatanger?
Flatanger in August and September. Now a bit of training and bouldering again!

Caroline Minvielle, with eight 8b+’ under her harness, skips 8c and does Cosi Fan Tutte (8c+) in Rodellar. Over the years, the 36-year-old has given onsight climbing a lot of focus and in total, she has onsighted some 50 routes 7c+ and beyond.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
I tried the route for 3 years and this season it went down in just 2 tries 🤯 I trained specifically for 2 months this year in order to achieve it and it seems the training payed off ! I am super happy and surprised of all the emotions I could experienced during the send. What a moment !

What about that successful training?
I worked with Andrea Cartas and we focused on finger strength, arm strength and core as well as climbing hard boulder with tiredness. Globally I was physically stronger than before and that helped me to handle the first boulder of the route. I kept my climbing continuity by climbing on routes, no specific training. Same for kneebar technique.

Pepa Šindel has completed Clash of the Titans (9b) in Götterwandl. ”FA’dby Alex Megos in 2017 as a 9a+. Upgraded by Jakob Schubert in 2023 to 9b. Same start as Jaturna but in the rest turns left. Could 8b/8b+ into a bad rest into a 8B/8B+ boulder. But I am not a boulderer. So I could be wrong. My First 9b!!!! 5 trips, 2 seasons… I fell on the last move which was for me the hardest by far around 50 times.” (c) Marco Zanone

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your mental struggle falling 50 times on the last move?
It was very frustrating but for me… It was all just about that one move. For me the last hard move from the undercling was by far the hardest from the crux unlike for Jakob for example. I could do with 0 effort separately. But from the ground it was completely different story. But I knew once I pass it I am not going to fall on the last jump. Luckily I didn’t 😆

The first time I tried the route was last summer, when it was a candidate to become my first 9b. I couldn’t do most of the moves in the crux, but I knew I would come back. And I did — three more times that year. With every trip, I got closer to sending, but the last hard move from an undercling stopped me every single time.

Going into my final trip in November 2025, I already felt that something was wrong with my finger, but I ignored it and convinced myself that I just needed to train harder. That ended with multiple fatigue fractures that became displaced around the finger. It meant a two-and-a-half-month break from climbing.

This year, I really didn’t know what to expect. Could I recover before it got too hot? Could I get back into good enough shape for the route? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until autumn?

When the trip finally came, I felt in decent shape and already had two good attempts on my first day. Then, on my second day of climbing, I did it — on my second try of the day.

Laura Rogora has had an amazing weekend up in the Dolomites at 1700 m altitude in Passo Fedaia, creating a ticklist worthy of several months for any elite climber.

Redpoint: Affinità elettive (9a+), Absinthium (9a) 2nd Go, and Attraverso lo specchio (8c) 2nd Go
Flash: Wrangler (8b/+)
Onsight: Tinnitus (8c)

The 25-year-old Italian extends her number one position in the annual ranking game, ahead of all males. When it comes to onsight, only Adam Ondra has a more impressive annual all time onsight ticklist. During the last year, Laura has onsighted ten routes 8b+ to 8c+.

Can you tell us more about the most memorable ascents during the weekend?
I first discovered this crag through Andrea’s [Milani] film, which was presented at the Trento Film Festival. I was immediately fascinated by both the place and the route, so last weekend, with the heat in the valley, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go and visit it.

All the routes I climbed were beautiful, but the two ascents that gave me the greatest satisfaction were Absinthium 2nd go and the 8c onsight. Absinthium because it is very long and, with so few chalk marks, I couldn’t really remember the moves om my second go sot It turned into a long mental battle.

The 8c onsight was also very special because the rock is not easy to read, so finding the right sequence and making the right decisions on the go was a challenge. 😄

The first ascentionist of all routes Laura did, Andrea Milani, pictured on the 9a+, describes the routes and her ascents. (c) outThere Collective

”Watching her climb there was truly something else. Knowing the routes and remembering how much effort it took me to climb them myself (just a poor ordinary climber, haha), seeing her ascent was quite extraordinary.

The routes Laura climbed were all first ascended by me, and she made the first repeats of them. They are all extensions of, or link-ups between, existing routes that were originally bolted and climbed by Mario Prinoth, who, together with his brother Luca, discovered the crag and established the first routes there.

The most iconic route is The Search (8c+). It was first climbed by Mario in 2009 and was then repeated only by the strong climber Luca Zardini. For many years afterwards, the wall was largely forgotten until I repeated The Search and began bringing the crag back to life together with a group of friends.

Absinthium is the extension of the search and Affinità elettive is the link between Wrangler and Absinthium. All routes are around 50 meters beside Wrangler which is 15 meters.”