Camilla Moroni has sent The Traphouse / Gourmandise (direct) (8B+) in Fontainebleau, after trying it for three sessions. (c) Pietro Vidi

How does this line differ from the 8A+ variation you did last week?
There are two more moves on underclings to reach the start holds of Traphouse raccourci. It’s like a low start. I climbed the boulder with the Brooke’s beta which consists of jamming one finger in a little crack, I chose my middle finger.

What are your winter plans?
Just training. I’m mainly focused on Olympic qualification and I will train all winter for this.

Michaela Kiersch, who over the last ten days has done an 8b+, 8c, 8c+ and 9a, has added to that list with a redpoint of Victimes del futur (9a) in Margalef. (c) Jan Novak

“I tried Futur for the first time the same day I sent zipayorik ez!! (8c). It was one try just to check out the moves — I did them all fairly quickly so I added it to my list! I had 5 climbing days left and wanted to try and manage this one and also try Coma Sant Pere (8c+). Luckily CSP went down quickly because turns out I needed a few extra days on Futur to solidify my beta in the crux which kept changing with conditions. In the end it took 5 days and I sent on my 4th try of my final day in Margalef — pretty magical!”

Melina Costanza🦇 has done After Hours (8B) in . (c) Zoe Herwitz

“I was feeling strong coming off of Nationals last month [where she won both Lead and Boulder] and I knew I wanted to try something hard outside.

Right now, there’s a decent chunk of time before US Team Trials in March, so I was able to get outside between training days! I saw a video of a friend who put up the FA of After Hours and knew immediately this was the boulder I wanted to try! I’d never been on something of the grade before, but it went down quickly and I’m motivated to try some harder things in the near future.”

Is it correct that your previous hardest boulder was which you called 7C+? How much do you normally climb outdoors?
That is correct! I have hardly climbed outdoors at all haha. I’m just getting into it! This is the only 8B I’ve ever tried.

I know a lot of people still give Lethal 8A/+ but I did other 7C’s and 7C+’s that trip that felt way harder.

Simon Lorenzi, who made the FA of Soudain seul (9A) in 2021 after some 25 sessions, needed some 20 sessions to send Alphane (9A) last year. "Soudain Seul was harder to send for me. But as you know climbing is a matter of style."

The sending process of Alphane could probably have been quicker as he also had to tackle injury and skin problems as well as bad conditions. After he did it in two parts in August after just five sessions, he got a shoulder injury that made it impossible to fully extend his arm for a month. Then he injured his left index finger meaning that he only focused on the second half while working on it in November. Then in December, he made one more trip and was close to sending but got skin problems.

"It was a roller coaster because I opened my right index finger at my first attempt of the day. I had this problem 10 days ago and didn't find a solution to try with tape. Finally, I put one piece of tape in a strange way and I sent it on my first try with the tape. I went from being depressed about my skin to sending in like 5 min."

Kelly Birch joins the exclusive 8B+ club by repeating Daniel Woods’ Muscle Car (8B+) in Coal Creek.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
At approximately 17 moves long, it links together multiple other hard sections of the whole boulder, ending on a heartbreaking “redpoint crux” of a punchy V11.

I’d done many of the other climbs on this boulder, BUT Muscle Car continued to elude me. Still, I kept returning to the boulder with friends occasionally, trying to keep a relaxed mindset about it. I recently returned to it after a few months away, feeling stronger after a very productive summer alpine season. Finally, after probably at least 25 attempts where I’d fallen at the final crux, I finally stuck it and took it to the top! Incredibly proud of myself for reaching the V14/8b+ milestone.

What is your climbing background?
I’ve been climbing on and off for about 18 years. I was a youth competitor for many years, but took a 5-year hiatus during my late teens and early 20s. During this time, I became passionate about powerlifting and strength training. A few years ago, I returned to climbing with renewed psyche, and have since been focused predominantly on hard bouldering outside. I sent my first V13/8B in 2022, followed by three others this year. Hope there’s more to come for me!

Grimper reports that Charles Albert has made the FA of L'Ombre du Voyageur (9A) at Unknown. In this Instagram video Charles utilizes 360 rotations, feet first climbing, and toe-hooks and knee bars without the aid of shoes or knee pads. Charles says he thinks it is closer to 9A+ in this style, but imagines it is probably 9A otherwise. (c) Arthur Delicque

In 2018, Charles put up No Kpote only as a 9A but later both 8C+ and 8C have been suggested by climbers using climbing shoes. He has now completed roughly ten boulders 8C and harder out of which most are FAs.

Babsi Zangerl did the third repeat of Beth Rodden’s Meltdown (8c+) in Yosemite (CA) last month. Rodden put it up in 2008 and it is considered to be the first 8c+ trad in the world. Carlo Traversi did the first repeat in 2018 and then Babsi's partner Jacopo Larcher sent it last year.

Adam Ondra has done the FA of El Maquinista in Montanejos. ”9a+/b. Amazing longstanding project by Pedro Pons. Tried it once after [he onsighted] El Gran Bellanco (9a), then two days of work. At first I thought it might be even 9b+, but I found better betas and with every try it got easier. Really uncertain with the grade.” (c) Petr Chodura

Three days earlier, he sent La Parada de los Monstruos (9a), second go.”Unfortunately broke a tiny edge under my kneepad and got tangled into the rope while I was holding the swing on my onsight try. Kneepads make the route much easier, definitely easy 9a. Ramon's way with no kneebaring is pretty hard. Kneebaring it without kneepads would be the worst thing ever though.”

Michaela Kiersch has done Coma Sant Pere (8c+) in Margalef. Including her send of Era Vella (9a), she has capped off a solid week of 8b+ to 9a redpoints. “As an American it’s cool because I climbed 14a, 14b, 14c and 14d [every grade of 14 on the YDS scale] in basically a week!” (c) Kevin McNally

So, is it fair to say this has been your most productive week sport climbing? How did this all come together?
Maybe! Rather than focusing on one major project like La Rambla I’m just having fun running around and discovering a new area and not necessarily breaking into a new limit. Would be a shame to only try one thing, so I’m trying everything within a broad grade range :)

Noah Wheeler has completed Defying Gravity (8C) at the South Platte. This was the 21st 8B+ and beyond for the 21-year-old.

”With campus-board beta because my span is slightly too short to keep good tension on the low feet. Amazing how there's so many different ways to do the boulder dependant on one's body type, each providing similar difficulty and top-tier nuanced movement. Proudest send so far.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and that “campus-board” beta?
Ever since I began going to school at Colorado College 3 years ago, Defying Gravity has assumed this place in my mind as a sort of evasive boogeyman of the South Platte. This is owed both to its closer proximity to the city I live in and in its ambiguously grand difficulty. Despite knowing that the climb fits my style (dynamic upper-body generated throws to edges), I still had this idea that I could not possibly send such a historically elusive climb. Earlier this year, however, I decided I would at least check the climb out as I had been feeling a particular lack of luck in my other projects.

In my first session I was aware of 2 betas for the crux move: a direct throw beta with a low slippery foot and a throw from a heel with a tensiony establishment. I tried both betas for a few minutes, but upon pulling on the start holds without feet, I realized that my box best fit a direct campus throw. The second session consisted of finding a lot of micro-beta for this throw, primarily concerning how I grab the start holds, the direction of the swing, and the orientation of my arm as I hit the hold. Ultimately, however, it largely a matter of brute forcing the same beta and making slight progression in comfortability with the move and the holds that made the difference. I was actually unsure as to whether the move went with a campus throw before I stuck it, as the swing felt near-impossible to keep most tries. Altogether, it feels as though my process on this climb was a good guideline for how I want to approach difficult problems in the future - both in mediation of mindset and in progressive analysis of intricacies and comfortability.