Lucien Martinez has removed all but two sika holds from Eric Siguier's unrepeated Chicken deluxe (9a+), from 2002, creating a hard 9a+, in Saint-Antonin. Previously the editor-in-chief of the French Magazine Grimper has done ten 9a's and one 9a+. Fanatic Climbing has the full story. (c) Arthur Delicque

"For me, the story started when I got it into my head to repeat this 8c+ which was one of the very last routes I hadn’t ticked at Supermanjoc. I broke two sika holds during my first go, just by pulling on them, and that’s when I and Fabrice (Landry) started thinking that it might be possible without sika. With the agreement of Éric Siguier, we then removed fifteen sika holds (perhaps 17) with a hammer (they came down very easily). There are two that we decided to keep despite everything because, unlike the others, the sika was actually reinforcing a natural hold, so breaking the sika would have meant also breaking the rock itself. For the first of the two holds, it would have made no difference to remove it. For the second, we are not 100% sure that the route would have been possible without. We hesitated a lot and finally told ourselves that we were going to play it smart and leave them on. So no, we can’t say that the route is completely natural (there are two sika holds left) but I don’t think we could have called it natural either if we had removed them too."

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has repeated two of Tom Bolger FAs in Margalef, Wild West (9a) and Mr. Big (9a). The latter he did second go and calls 8c+. More details on his Insta. (c) Eduardo Ruano Lin

In total, the 23-year-old has now done some 57 routes 9a and harder which means he is #8 on that exclusive list. In the 8a ranking game, he is #3.

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

It should be mentioned that Simon personally hesitated to give Soudain Seul 8C+ or 9A but as some of the others who tried it thought 9A, the Belgian concluded that 9A was probably the appropriate grade.

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."

So if you had failed on that attempt, it was over for that session?
Yes, if I had missed it, it was over for a few days because I was not convinced of my taping technique ahaha :)

What made the trick in the end for sending it?
The trick for me was finding all the good betas and for that, I needed to put tries from the start because when you're pumped from the beginning it's easier to say if the beta is good or not.

Any thoughts on the direct version of Alphane?
It looks like one of the hardest thing I've seen but I didn't try so I'll be back.

Any other projects that you are keen to do?
For sure, there are still 3 amazing looking 9a's to be repeated 😁 And many other 8C+ or 8C like Floatin, Grande illusion, United, Box therapy, Lucid dreaming,... At the moment there is no project that I know that I'm pretty psyched for in Font. But there is a ton of easiest stuff that I really want to do there.

What is next and what about Paris 2024?
From today, the next goal is to be selected for 2024. I'll go check the hard stuff that I want to do after 2024 for sure 🙂

Simon Lorenzi reports on Insta that he has done Alphane (9A) in Chironico. In August, we reported that he had done it in two parts after just five sessions. (c) Gilles Charlier

Including his FA of Soudain seul (9A), Lorenzi becomes the second boulderer in the world, after Shawn Raboutou, who has done two 9A boulders.

The Belgian has been an active competition climber since 2011. In 2016, he won the Youth Lead World Championship, and this year he won the Euro Boulder Cup in Brixen. The 25-year-old has previously also done four 8C+ meaning that he has the most impressive boulder tick list in the world together with Daniel Woods and Shawn Raboutou.

Solomon Kemball has done The Story Of 2 Worlds (8C) in Cresciano, after some six sessions.

"As far as boulders go, this has gotta be one of the best in the world with two of the coolest blocs on it. I personally can't think of one better and the reason I decided to try The Story Of 2 Worlds (8C) first is down to the brutal nature of it. I wanted a fight and I got a fight. You could climb it as well as you want and you will still have to have a true fight to send it. I also think the 3D climbing with more heel and toe hooks than toes are cool. This boulder may have cost me my degree but was definitely worth it. Ended up taking me 6 sessions and was not expecting to get up it this session but somehow I found myself on the top of the bloc with numb fingers, biceps that were about to explode, and truly speechless."

How many weeks have you skipped from school?
Ahah yeah hopefully my parents don't see it lol. Been here the last two weeks and got another week left. Two assignments due in tomorrow 😬

What are you studying and what is the status of the assignments?
Computer games design and development. Had to get one extended cause I haven't done any and the other I'm almost finished but the quality is probably not up to the usual standard Ahah.

What will your focus be the last week?
Probably Dreamtime as my mate is trying it but came out with the goal of doing Story and usually float about trying to get mileage in after I complete my trip goals usually.

Great! Let's please your parents and teachers by not disturbing you more. It is time to finish that assignment in order to be able to focus on Dreamtime.
Ahah no problem thanks for the interest 🙏

Joe Kinder has repeated Jonathan Siegrist’s Smoke Wagon (9a) in . The 42-year-old did his first, out of 19, 9a or 9a+ graded climbs back in 2008. (c) Nico Savoia

"Between working and tending to life I put in tries and somehow caught the window of opportunity with the sun. It was COLD as f-k but found myself dropping the guard and meeting the moment perfectly. I LOVE ROCK CLIMBING!"

How did you manage to keep warm?
The first part of the climb is a 7a+ and has a kneebar at the top so that warmed me up just enough plus the sun was out so that saved the day.

What is next?
Next is a return trip to Mollans and St Leger in Jan and Feb as it’s been a WHILE since 2018.

Stefano Ghisolfi has done the first repeat of Adam Ondra's Bombardino (9a+) in Arco. As can be seen in the picture by Sara Grippo, it was freezing conditions including icicles on the neighbor route Liftscheisser (8b).

"It was an epic day, Gio Placci was really close to sending too. We warmed up in my garage and went directly there. The route is perfect for cold conditions because it has three kneebars so we could climb and warm our hands on the kneebars. The temperature was 0, with a lot of ice. Fortunately not on the route, only at the end slab a bit. We arrived and immediately climbed on a send attempt. While belaying it was cold and quite uncomfortable as you cannot move because you have to be tied to a ledge. Climbing was good, we had to wear shorts to feel the kneebars better. It was a crazy experience. Gio climbed first and he had to punch away some icicles. .

On his youtube channel he just published a video where he tries to do 100+ boulders in an hour.

In August, we reported that Florian Wientjes had flashed Amandla (8B+) in Rocklands and now the video is out. “I was playing with the (flash) idea since a month or so. I went up early to the crag and started my warm-up routine including some Hangboarding. After 40min I decided to give it a try. My mind was free, cuz I know it totally fits my style and it worked. But, all in all, I just did the same stuff like everyday when I climb😅.