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.

Ryohei Kameyama has repeated Ryuichi Murai’s Floatin (8C+) in Mizugaki, which Florian Wientjes did the second ascent of last week.

Jana Svecova has sent Claim Perfection (8A+) and Wild Thing (8A) in Saalachtal - St. Martin bei Lofer. The 26-year-old has over the last 12 months done 14 boulders 8A to 8B+ and she is #2 in the female ranking game.

Can you tell us more about those ascents?
We planned to spend the whole of October in Switzerland in Chironico which we half succeeded. The first half of October we were actually in Switzerland trying out the projects we had on our wish list. I had tried Shadowfax (8B) and supertussi (8B) in Brione. In both boulders, I would have needed one or two more climbing days to finish them, but unfortunately, everything went against me. The conditions were bad as the temperatures didn't drop below 20 degrees and when they did it was 15 degrees at most. I also struggled with headaches and stomach pains for the first two weeks of the trip and was somehow unable to acclimatise. Combined with all this, it was really hard to climb anything.

Later on, the rain drove us out of Switzerland and we had to cross over to Austria, where we climbed in the Lofer and had some success. I managed to climb the 8A+ and 8A and Martin, who had probably the best climbing day of his life, climbed 8B and then 8A+ on a flash go. This was the end of our month-long trip, because even from Austria the rain pushed us back home.
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Bella Jariel has done Raison d'Etre Sit (8A+) at Black Mountain (CA). (c) Stephen Grasz

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I worked the stand start to Raison [8A] in 2021 as a long-term project over the course of my fall semester at school in California. I was able to finish the climb after 8+ sessions in November at the end of the season. After a long time away from the climb, this year I finally came back to try the sit for the first time feeling much stronger. I surprised myself by sticking all moves my first session on it, and finished it my second session!

What are your winter plans?
My goal is to finish up as many boulders in my local areas as I can at Black Mountain, Tramway, and Joshua Tree before I graduate in the spring. There aren't many V13s around here, but that's always been a big goal of mine. Plus I should probably start picking harder climbs since I finished this one way quicker than I expected haha.

Paige Claassen, who this summer did her fifth 9a, has sent Everything is Karate (8c+) at Pine Creek.

”Mental battle to get in try hard mode on this trip. Finally gave up, ripped off all my tape, sanded all my fingertips down and gave one last go so that I wouldn’t regret not trying again. Last try last day after a trip extension.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried Karate around 10 days. It felt like an unusual process because it was quite warm so I spent a lot of time just rehearsing beta without trying to send, which I think made it hard to get into try-hard mode at the end of the trip. The route is definitely my style - short and bouldery with a good rest, and lots of pinches. I fell a lot on the last big move and was frustrated because I knew I wasn’t clicking into the mental state to try my hardest, even though I felt very capable physically. On the last day, I tried once and felt very tired and we almost just left to drive home. But I decided I would regret not giving one more go. When I got to the rest, I finally felt the fire that I’d been needing and knew I could do it.

Babsi Zangerl has made the third repeat of Beth Rodden’s Meltdown (8c+) in Yosemite (CA). The 20m almost vertical line that starts with laybacking a thin crack on poor feet, was put up in 2008 as the first 8c+ trad climb in the world. Carlo Traversi did the first repeat in 2018 and then Babsi's partner Jacopo Larcher sent it last year and commented.

"I would like to highlight once more what Beth did in 2008, which was way ahead of the times, both in women and mens climbing history! I honestly believe the shorter you are, the harder this route gets...and yes: fingers size doesn’t matter!"

Zangerl, who's 162 cm tall and has a -2 cm in ape-index, is one of the best all-around climbers in the world, having already additionally completed 8B boulder problems, 9a routes and several big walls, including three of the hardest in Yosemite, up to 8b+.

“I am so happy that I finally sent this route!! Such an amazing line. I think it was the hardest trad line I have done so far. It felt hard for the grade. For me it was a real mental battle. I had to reduce my gear to a minimum to save some power, because to get through the crux was always a low percentage. It was not even close to 50/50 that my foot stuck on the tiny mini-edge. My foot slipped so many times. When I got past this hard sequence today I knew that it was my chance; I had to keep it together. It is still not over there. The upper part of the route was still very hard, and very tricky to place the final micro-nut. I almost fell off on the last two hard moves. Such an iconic line and big thanks to Beth Rodden for the inspiration, you are a legend!” (c) Ben Neilson / Black Diamond