Lucy Mitchell has been on a trip to Aix-en-Provence where she managed to send Darwin dans la cave (8c).

”This year was a bit of a comeback trip for me. Last December I had a nasty fall and broke my kneecap quite badly so it was my first time back outside. It was just the best being back on rock and getting moving again!

I wanted to try some routes that I had been on last year before the accident. La rose et le vampire (8b), in the picture, and Sur les épaules de Darwin (8b+) were my two main projects. After a ‘small’ battle just after the last draw of La rose (7 drops!) it finally gave in 😊

Sur les épaules de Darwin (8b+) was much more my style (long and pumpy) but with a really hard boulder at the start that I struggled with. After a few days of trying the boulder and getting very pumped on the upper section, I finally got through it and luckily had built up enough fitness and did not fall off the top!

Darwin dans la cave (8c) is a cave extension to the above. 6 bolts in a horizontal roof and then into the pumpy shared top. Luck was on my side again and the first time I made it through the roof I did not drop the top! This was my favourite ascent, fighting all the way! The perfect way to finish the trip!”

Hard is Easy has published an interesting video that compares various scenarios and techniques for ensuring soft catches.

Solveig Korherr has sent Esclatamasters (9a) in Perles & Canelles. ” Probably one of the best lines I have climbed on limestone so far! Having two completely different climbing styles combined in one route on such high-quality rock makes it very unique. Grade-wise, it felt more on the 8c+ side to me. 8 tries over five days. Thanks Dan for sharing all the beta and kneebar wizardry, and the sending belay! It’s a lot of beta to remember ^^” (c) Emile Pino

Over the last two weeks, the 25-year-old has also redpointed two 8c's and onsighted Humildes pa Casa (8b+) and she comments on Instagram. "It feels so surreal at the moment that I must be in one of the best shapes of my life. I guess, I’ve been adapting very well to the rock in recent weeks, and my psych seems endless right now🔥"

Interestingly, right in the start, Alex Puccio gives beta to Toby Roberts on how to let go of the left-hand hold and instead swing (pogo) the arm downwards, to succeed in making a dyno.

Owen Whaley repeated Trieste (8B+) last autumn. "Third session this trip. A really good couple of days out with good friends. Random try when I sent, the last one of the day, felt not so good on the lower moves but my mind was turned off, remember sticking the knob and thinking about how quiet it was. Great to climb from the true bottom to the top."

Enrique Beltrán Blasco, who over the last two years has done five 9a's, has made the FA of Mavericks (9a) in Alquézar. The very next day, the 23-year-old repeated Desafiando a Noa (8c+).

Can you tell us more about Maveriks?
I am very happy with the ascent because it can be the hardest of my life. It was bolted Dani Fuertes three years ago. The route is about 30/35 metres on a roof and the most difficult part is to take the kneebar rest. This part is about hard 8c+ or 9a, small crimps, two finger pockets, very small feet and very physical.

You can relax a bit in the knee bar but it is bad. Then you continue with a helicopter move and the real crux is when you go on climbing, it's about a 7B boulder and then two quickdraws very easy with jugs. The finish is not very hard but when you do the small crimps in a more vertical wall [from the ground] , it is difficult to be calm and climb well.

Jernej Kruder sent Martin Krpan (9a) in December without using kneepads to respect the first ascensionist and commented, “I would like to expose something here: I spent many tries on this one, because my endurance is pretty bad, but I chose not to use kneepads since I respect the first ascent. Using kneepads would help me rest just before the crux. This would make grading equal to Konec Mira (8c/c+). Kneepad would also make me rest after the crux, where I was mostly falling. This would make the route even easier. So people, if you decide to disrespect the first ascensionist by using kneepads, then at least be true to yourself by not calling it 9a!” In this article he elaborated a bit more.

Jernej received a lot of credit for his thoughts and it created an interesting debate in the forum. Tobi Corr made a long statement which is one of the most "venga/liked" comments ever recorded on 8a:

"My few cents on the topic: Some people underestimate and under-appreciate kneebaring as a skill. Why do you think Dave Graham or other kneebar-expert pro climbers use kneepads on basically every climb that they do on climbs where nobody else does? Why are we not seeing more repeats of First Round First Minute if the kneebar beta is such a game changer? Is it because most people want to do it the way it was FAd or because they can't utilize the kneebar beta?

Another question for this scenario then is whether the kneebar-expert should downgrade the climb because it was an easier solution for him/her or recognize that for the average kneebar-leveled climber this does not make the climb any easier. Some people assume kneepads and kneebars are a "necessary evil" in order to get to the top of climbs in easier ways. Speaking for myself, I enjoy technical kneebar climbing a lot and think it, contrary to what some suggest, increases the complexity of climbing by opening up a larger set of available techniques. I think having kneepads as an available tool makes climbing more fun for me.

We all have different views on climbing. If you don't want to climb with kneepads, then don't. If you want to repeat a climb the same way it was FAd, then do. If you don't want to use a fan, then don't. If you want to use a full-body rubber suite, then do. If you want to have a crew of people holding a fan on the crux hold of your route, then do. If you think it is silly, then don't. As long as you don't mess with the experience for other's I think you should be allowed to climb in whichever style you want.

What is important is that if you are playing the "tick-hard-routes-to-get-cred" game, then I think you need to be honest about how you did it. After all, grades are subjective (as we all know) and may be different depending on what material is being used (as we all know), and giving a good grade suggestions may be challenging even for experienced climbers.

I think the "problem" here is that some people, Jernej in this case, are frustrated because they don't want to climb with kneepads, yet the difficulty of their ascents are compared apples-to-apples with the one is using kneepads, which in some cases are not an apple-to-apples comparison and may not give the appropriate level of credit to some ascents. Jernej seems to suggest that the solution to this is to have some sort of standard of how a route should be climbed. I think this is not the best solution because this discussion would then go on forever on what this "standard" should be. He seems to suggest that the standard should be to do it the way it was FAd, which also comes with problems since kneepads are not the only equipment that has been and is continuously improving as well as the routes themselves changing due to polish, new beta, broken holds.

Therefore I think the best option is to just accept that it is very hard to make apple-to-apple comparisons of ascents and there is no such thing as a "true" grade of a route and that the best option may be to ask for transparency from climbers regarding how they ascended it in order to tell what type of apple it is (new beta, kneepads, specific shoes, fans, going left at fifth bolt, finding new hold, hold broke, supercharged physivantage collagen, etc.). I wish you a lovely new climbing year at the crags or the gyms."

"We talked about his two most epic solos that nobody heard about, near misses, lessons from other climbing legends like Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist, and Peter Croft, pooping while free soloing stories, how the film Free Solo exceeded his hopes and dreams, the commitment to excellence, and much more!"

Lasse von Freier reports on Instagram that he has sent Off the Wagon Sit (8C+) in Valle Bavona. The 21-year-old German is a competitive climber and his best result thus far has been #13 in a European Cup last year.

"After many sessions over the last 4 years with ups and downs and filled with great memories this day has arrived. I am really proud to finish this lifetime goal."

The boulder, which includes a one-meter-cross over move where you face outwards, has been well known since Dave Graham and Chris Sharma tried it in the Dosage videos. Nalle Hukkataival made the FA of the stand start in 2012 as an 8C but later 8B+ has been the consensus. In 2018, Shawn Raboutou made the low start sitting from the wagon calling it 8C+ and it has also been projected sitting from the ground. Lasse says that he broke a foothold meaning one move became "slightly harder".

Manon Hily has done Rêve de poutre (8c) in . Last year, the 29-year-old was #3 in the Briancon World Cup and now her goal is to qualify for the Olympics and later the European Championship. After this, her focus will be outdoors. The picture by Théo Cartier is from L'idéal chimérique (8c+) which is still a project.

Can you tell us more about Rêve?
The route is located on the most beautiful roof of Praniania (for me). It’s a long beautiful power 8c with 2 very different parts. The first one is easy with a vertical part at the beginning and a long crossing part horizontally. It’s about 7b+ grade I think. So the difficulty of the route is on the last five quickdraws. Two very hard movements with low feet for tall people but for small people there is no foot so it’s campus-style. I quite quickly did all the moves but still, after five working attempts I didn’t manage to campus the second movement after the first one. I was close to giving up but I found a new foothold just to push better.

After these two moves, there are still ten very crimpy moves in a resistance section (the same section as the end of Le Cadafist (9a). You can fall so many times on different moves. But lucky me, the first time I managed to do the campus movements, I could also do the last sequences.