24 boulders 8A and harder by Sergii Topishko

Sergii Topishko has during a four weeks trip to Switzerland done 24 boulders 8A to 8B included seven flashes. In 2021, the Ukrainian was #8 in the Combined World Champion. Since February 2022, he has been living in Europe with Germany as his base on a two-year asylum. Article with Team Ukraine from the Brixen World Cup last year. (c) Leonid Osadchyi

Can you tell us more about the trip?
The trip was really amazing, was not that cold, as when I usually used to go in winter, but almost no rain and cool enough. I was focused just on 2 8C projects this time, was pretty close on one, but I think +13*C was a bit hot. The only way to send something really hard, you had to wake up around 4 AM and climb till 8 AM, but I found this idea not really good, cause there are so many boulders in Ticino I wanted to try. Discovered by myself a new boulder place Val Calanca, that is pretty much nice, especially the Selma area, that looks exactly like Magic Wood. Need to go back there again to finish some unfinished lines. So hopefully Ticino again in Autumn or Fontainebleau, or both.

What kind of beta did you use for the seven 8A flashes?
Every time when I try something new, I am always really focused on my flash go. I just clean everything, put tick marks, and sometimes watch a video before the first try. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

What are your upcoming plans? I am thinking to try Bügeleisen sit (8C) in Maltatal this or next weekend. Summer- probably Gotardo, psyched to try finally Hanzel Grace. And Fontainebleau for sure this autumn, one 8C is waiting for a long time, since last February when I almost did it and couldn’t climb after 24.02 till the end of my trip, after the war started.