Molly Thompson-Smith has done Sideshow (8B) and Fat Lady (8A+), suggesting a personal 8A grade, in The Bowderstone. (c) Sam Pratt

In this year's Lead World Cup, out of six events, she hasn't placed lower than #17 which she did last weekend in Edinburgh. This upcoming weekend she will compete in the Jakarta WC.

"I felt mentally (& physically) drained after the Edinburgh WC, so a short trip to the Lakes with Sam was the perfect solution and break I needed to get myself psyched to go away again for another comp. I’d been told the back of the Bowderstone wouldn’t suit me so well so when I heard about Sideshow I was interested to see if it would be a possible goal for our 2 days there. I tried it for 5 mins when we arrived but realised I was still feeling super tired from the comp so we left. I came back the next day and felt so much better, and the boulder went down 1st try from the ground after working out the beta for the upper section.

After Jakarta I’ll stay in Indonesia for small a holiday with my mum! And after that, I have lead nationals, but my main focus will be getting back on Hubble in the U.K., and a trip to Switzerland for the second half of October!"

Noah Wheeler has done Delirium (8C) at Mount Blue Sky. The 20-year-old started bouldering outdoors only in 2020 as until then focused on competition.

"After doing Wheel of Wolvo in about 4 days the next obvious progression was Delirium. It took me about 2 sessions to send, the first of which I spent dialing the stand moves and the second of which I began giving bottom goes. I sent pretty surprising, as I was tired, after about 5 tries in that day. This send in general was fairly surprising as my fingers were injured for most of the summer and I took quite a lot of time off but I’m glad to be back pulling hard.

Psyched to have finished this off before the road to Lincoln closes. Hard 13 into hard 12 going from a power sequence to a techy and thus finicky top. Really glad to have done something so hard that’s not in my style."

Hamish McArthur has repeated Malcom Smith’s Hunger 9a at The Anvil. Last year, he was the Youth World Champion in both Lead and Boulder. In 2022, he has twice made the final in Lead and in Boulder, and he has placed in the top 20 on three occasions.

“For me, this trip to the Anvil was a marker that the very long competition season was finally coming to an end. I was tired of having to perform and felt the need to disappear into the woods for a few days. Both the place we camped and the route itself were beyond beautiful. The Anvil is this perfect 60-degree overhanging sheet of rock hiding itself in the forest by loch Goil. It's hard not to be inspired when looking up, especially as Hunger follows the perfect line straight up the middle of the overhang.

We arrived late afternoon on day 1, and climbed into the night with head torches. After a questionable night sleep suspended from tree, and a hearty bowl of Scottish oats I was ready to start redpointing. 3 times that morning I climbed through the first crux smoothly, and each time I dropped the 2nd crux by a hair. I unwillingly made myself rest for a good few hours, then in the early afternoon did some star-jumps and prepared for the send.

I set off much more relaxed this time, smiling on the rests and enjoying the anticipation of one again arriving at the 2nd crux. I told myself to squeeze harder, and thankfully I wanted it enough to scream my way through the hardest moves on the 4th redpoint attempt. The route was a joy to climb, and most importantly I feel refreshed and ready to put my head down to get strong over winter.”

How do you manage to combine comp climbing with rock climbing?
With where I'm at in my career, training and competing occupy the overwhelming majority of my time. Despite this, I am absolutely in love with outdoor climbing and definitely hear the rocks calling throughout the year. For the time being I use outdoor climbing as an escape from the intensity of competing. It reminds me there is so much more to climbing than just topping routes.

Stefano Ghisolfi has made the first repeat of Adam Ondra's Move Hard (9b) in Flatanger. It starts as Move and continues into the second crux of Silence (9c) which is his big project. (c) Diego Borello

On Insta he comments: "On these last days I focused more on Move Hard, and as always happens in these trips, last day is the best day, and I managed to grab the second ascent of my side project Move Hard."

Adam Ondra started a trend by commenting his climbing videos but now Stefano Ghisolfi takes it to a new detailed level. The holds and sequences on Silence (9c) just look amazing. If somebody could pull me up and I could try to hang-dog some of the easier sequences high up in the cave, it could turn out to be the most epic moment in my climbing life :)

Daniel Woods reports on Insta that he has repeated Drew Ruana's Insomniac 8C+ at Lincoln Lake. It starts by doing eight moves of The Wheel of Wolvo followed by a good rest and then continuous through We Can Build You (8B). (c) Wes Walker

"The original way of doing “We Can Build You” (2nd part) was way more powerful and low percentage. The new heel hook beta makes the crux high(er) percentage, thus making the full connection seem probable. We originally thought “we can build you” was hard V14 (8B+) but now it feels more like hard V13 (8B) . Insomniac is on the cusp of V15/16 (8C/8C+), but (I) do feel like it is harder than most V15s I’ve done in this style. Insomniac is a daunting task to take on."

The 33-year-old has been on the cutting edge since age 15 when he did his first 8c+ route and first 8B+ boulder. Starting in 2005, he won the American Nationals for ten years in a row and he has also won one World Cup. In total, he has done 40+ 8Cs and harder, including the FA of Return of the Sleepwalker (9A).

Jakob Bizjak has repeated Domen Skofic’s five star line Umetnost (9a) in Ter. ”Such cool moves on this amazing line! I am also really happy to do it on that day because it was raining a lot and I almost did not go to the crag, but then in the late afternoon I and my girlfriend decided to go check it out just in case… and to my surprise, it dried out just fast enough to make the ascent possible in the evening. 🙂”

How many tries and sessions did it take?
I needed around 20 tries during some eight sessions. I am really happy that it did not turn into an epic episode with years of work but went down rather quickly (for my projecting standards at least that is). 🙂

What is your climbing background?
I have been climbing for something like 16 years, always focusing on outdoor climbing. I really enjoy spending time at the crag, don't mind boulders, long or short routes, and also have a bit of a taste for some more obscure lines and local connections 😃

Alex Puccio has done the Dave Graham's classic We Can Build You (8B) at Mount Blue Sky, Insta video. In total, the runner-up in the 2014 World Championship has done 250+ boulders 8A and harder including nine 8B+'. In effect, Alex has, by far, the most impressive women's career boulder tick list. (c) Robin O'Leary

"I started trying We can build you this summer for the first time and tried not to get too wrapped up in it. I took my time by doing other things as well. I kind of naturally built up to it and then the last 2 sessions before I sent I climbed it from 3 moves into the end. But each session I never went to it fresh, I would get on boulders before it, 7C+ up to 8A+. The last session was the first time I got on it right after warming up and what do you know, it worked! :)

After sending it I rested about 15 min and then decided to re-climb it in sections so I could make a better little video of it. I pulled onto the start so I could do the first part first and then I ended up just repeating the whole climb again. It’s funny when you take the pressure away from your mind how much different things can feel."

How has the summer been and what are your autumn plans?
It has been a good balance of training inside quite a bit and getting outside a couple of days a week this summer.

Now all I’m doing is just more of the same. Trying some harder boulders mixed with some not as hard as well as training inside. Trying to have fun, keep my mind free when I’m climbing at least, and enjoy the good weather! :)