Pierre Marzullo has done Supercrackinette (9a+) in . The last week of October, the 16-year-old spent in Albarracín, sending nine boulders 8A to 8B, including a flash of Esperanza sit (8A+).

"A dream came true today 🥹 Didn’t have the words for what I’m feeling right now. I just know that I want to try harder stuff, spend more time on it, and repeat that all my life." (c) Timothée Nitschke

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I started to try it last year and at first, it just fell really far [away]. But I was confident that with good training and muscle memory, it would be doable. I arrived at that point where every try could be the one and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. It finally became too hot and I had to leave the project empty-handed. This year I came back with no pressure for one week not especially for sending at first but just taking some good time at St Léger and it worked! I finally sent the route on the last try of the 3rd day of climbing in a row. I was exhausted but I did it with the mental focus.

What are your winter plans?
Just train a lot for the comps and hopefully send Biographie if it’s not too wet. I’m living one hour from the crag so I can go whenever I want. If there’s good weather the conditions are the best! Burden of Dreams is a really long-term project so I’m not planning to invest a lot this year but I will start to check it and I’ll dedicate more time to it next year.

Michaela Kirsch has repeated Chris Sharma’s classic five-star climb, Era Vella (9a) at Margalef, after trying it for roughly seven sessions. It was put up 2010 and it quickly became the most popular 9a in the world until it was downgraded in 2016. More recently a foot hold broke, which has caused its valuation to climb back to 9a .


Michaela was #22 in her Boulder World Cup debut in 2010 at age 15 and the following year she was #18 in a Lead World Cup. From there, she put competitions to the side, and chose to focus on rock and studies. Michaela did her first 8c and 8c+ at age 21. Last year, she got her doctorate and over the last eighteen months she has completed more than 16 boulders 8A+ to 8B+ and one 9a and one 9a+.

Can you tell us more about climbing Era Vella?
It’s my first time here! I’ve been in Margalef for a couple weeks checking out lots of routes in the style and building my endurance after a long and chill summer break. First few tries felt really impossible to link the sections — a friend told me “it’s all jugs” so you can imagine my surprise when I was fighting for my life on two finger pockets haha!! I didn’t only climb on this route, I’ve also been climbing lots of 8a-8b+ so I think this approach helped me stay relaxed and have fun.

Sera Gearhart, who last summer did her first 8B, has sent Marked for Death (8A+) at 221. In the 8a ranking game, the 26-year-old is #6.

”Tay [McNeill] put up this boulder by doing a huge move. Since then, it's been done a few times in different ways. I was able to find a way that centered around using a really small sharp right-hand edge. It was hard to get good conditions for this boulder since it was so skin intensive, but I was able to do it with heavy use of the Makita fan. Really psyched to be climbing so many cool boulders this fall in the southeast!”

Nicholas Milburn, who previously has sent four 9a’s, has repeated Tommy Caldwell’s Flex Luthor (9a+) in The Fortress of Solitude. Last year he projected it for a month and in the end it took him 25 sessions to send it. (c) Jon Cardwell

”This one felt hard the whole time. Figuring out the beta took a lot of work. I never watched the video, but a few days into projecting I had a phone call with Matty and we discussed the beta. Going in blind is such a fun way to go work a route. Especially something hard and complicated as Flex. I climbed this with almost the same beta as Matty, but I used the hand jam method for the final boulder. Sometimes routes just flow and feel easy by the time you actually send them. This one did not feel that way. I had to fight hard on the send go and that felt cool.

Stefano Ghisolfi has, on his way back from Flatanger, made a quick stop in Frankenjura and sent Action Directe (9a). (c) Sara Grippo

”I was quite close to do it already in 2017 but I didn't come back before this trip. I almost did it on the second day with a new heel beta, that is a bit easier but more low percentage. So in the third day of this trip I went with the regular beta and did it.”

Can you describe the new heal beta? Did you find it yourself?
Yes. It is by the last quickdraw, the one that is skipped. I use a right heel from a left undercling to go right hand to a two finger pocket. As single move it's easier because I can skip two hard moves but it's sketchy and you can easily slip.

What are your upcoming plans?
I have few projects in Arco for this winter and then I'll start training for the Olympic qualification series.

Martina Demmel has had two great days in Schleier Wasserfall, sending two hard classical routes, out of which, Least Resistance (8c), second go. "Perfect dry grip today, the beta-support by the crew & a free mindset let me battle up this gem within 2 tries!! Totally loved the far shoulder move with its high feet:) but for the athletic midpart, I had to unleash some proper 'try hard'! Danke Simon fürs Seil halten und Felix für de Send-Buidl:) more on Insta!" (c) Felix Bub

The following day she did, Wassermusik 8b+ (c). "Die ALLERBESTE! No words for how much this kingline means to me regarding several aspects but mainly because I broke my wrist in it last December... I kept visualising the details the whole year but to finish it 2nd try today by dominating most of the bouldery parts felt surreal!! While lowering I was far away from reality by enjoying the stunning view with its fall light... thank you Vera for the final belay! Danke an de ganze Schleier-family, dass ma si da oben so wohlfühlt:)) and I couldn't use the knee-bar due to my short leg, so I would go with the "c"... 8 tries in total."

What are your winter plans?
The phase of the year when it's mainly about police school and training (first 2 weeks of season break now) still continues till the end of January📚🏋‍♀️ but then I'm already planning to go back to Catalunya for a month with a few friends😁💃...

In 2021, Martina became the first-ever female to have won the 8a annual onsight ranking game. In total, she onsighted 18 routes 8a+ and harder that year. Amazingly, in 2019 she did her first 7c onsight when she had only climbed for 1.5 years.

Camilla Moroni, who last weekend was #8 in the Laval Olympic qualifier, has quickly done C'Était Demain (8A) in Fontainebleau. A couple of days later she sent The Traphouse (raccourci) (8A+), "with Brooke’s [Raboutou] method". That is using the mono undercling seen in the picture.

”After Laval I came to Font. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best but I still managed to send “C’etait demain” very quickly and “Traphouse raccourci”. Tomorrow I will take part in a comp in Paris and after that, I hope the weather will be better so I can try to finish my projects in the forest. I’d like to send The Traphouse / Gourmandise (direct) (8B+), [the lower original Paul Robinson start] and Partage (8A+).”

Gonzalo Larrocha has made the FA of Paparajote (9a) in Alquézar. The route is 30m long and overhangs with 30 degrees. The sector in the background of the picture is Colegiata. During the last ten weeks, the 39-year-old has done nine routes 8c+ or 9a.

”I bolted this route two years ago. It is always good to make every part of the process. I think that this sector has some really good routes and I hope that in the future they will see more traffic. The route has one very resistance 8c+ part and after a really hard sequence with a good rest in between.”

Chuck Odette sent his hardest route, T-Rex 8b+ (c) three years ago. The 67-year-old started climbing at age 23 back in 1978. Turning 35, he decided to try to start pushing his limits, reaching his first 7c+ at 37 and first 8b+ at 44.