Jorge Diaz-Rullo continues to blur the line between routes and boulders. The Spanish ace has now climbed Adularia (8C) in Ticino, bringing his tally of 8C and harder boulders to ten. Better known for his sport climbing exploits, the 27-year-old has completed roughly 90 ascents between 9a and 9c, making him one of the most accomplished all-round climbers of his generation. (c) Mariana Fierro

”One of the best Boulders I ever climb! Close on the second session falling a few times on the last move and on my third session with perfect conditions I did in my first try.”

Annie Sanders, who won gold in the Lead World Cup last month, claimed her third Boulder World Cup victory in Prague. The 18-year-old narrowly made it into the final by a margin of just 0.1 points, and then took the lead in the final as the only competitor to complete the first boulder.

”The first one really suited me, like super well. When I went out to observation I thought ‘oh yeah, I’m going to do this boulder’ and I went out and executed.

Jennifer Wood, who sent four 8c’s last year, has completed Climb For Life (9a) in Custonaci and Ice King (8c) in Kilnsey.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
I first tried the route back in 2024 to see if I would enjoy a harder project and to be honest while I was having fun I was no where near the level and realised I’d have to get a lot stronger and fitter for the route. I spent 2025 addressing this in the UK, focusing my efforts on the steepest climbs at Kilnsey and went back Oct 2025 and felt much more worthy of being on a route of that grade. Another short trip in March and I’d managed the route in 2 halves despite some tricky conditions. So back in May for a week to try and dispatch but I kinda buckled under the pressure I’d put on myself, I was a nervous wreck. I left having got very close but also just mentally drained. We snuck away for a 4 day trip at the end of May and I think this just took the pressure off just enough to get it done.

So how many sessions did it take in total and what about the 8c you just sent?
Hmm didn’t keep track aha because I dread to think how expensive it was as a project 🤣 But I think 6 trips of 6-10 days + the final 4 day one. Some of the trips I had to climb other stuff as well just to stay sane. Climb for life is in Custonaci about 20 mins from San Vito lo Capo. I really liked it for a project spot as it was super peaceful so it felt easy to switch off once the climbing was done for the day.

The 8c I did was kinda my early season goal to get back acclimatised to the Kilnsey roof ready for the big goal of the season :) happy to get it done in 3 sessions. Just gotta patiently wait for the roof to dry out now !

Sorato Anraku, who has goten the gold in the first three Boulder World Cups in 2026, won all rounds in Prague and set a new male record winning four straight Boulder World Cups.
“I can’t really say anything. I don’t really understand how to feel, but it’s good to relieve some pressure. The final round was a bit coordination on the slab, and this is not my style. I know the record, but I don’t care so much. I just love competing.”

Stefano Ghisolfi, who this spring has done five boulders 8C and beyond, has completed The Ratstaman Vibrations (9b) in Céüse.

Can we have your story behind the ascent?
I tried the route for two days back in 2022 when it was still a project, then I haven't been back to Céüse until this year. With a good bouldering training the two cruxes felt OK, and I started doing some attempts on the fifth day of this year, and sent it yesterday on my 8th session in total.

What is next and when are you going to Flatanger?
Flatanger in August and September. Now a bit of training and bouldering again!

Caroline Minvielle, with eight 8b+’ under her harness, skips 8c and does Cosi Fan Tutte (8c+) in Rodellar. Over the years, the 36-year-old has given onsight climbing a lot of focus and in total, she has onsighted some 50 routes 7c+ and beyond.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
I tried the route for 3 years and this season it went down in just 2 tries 🤯 I trained specifically for 2 months this year in order to achieve it and it seems the training payed off ! I am super happy and surprised of all the emotions I could experienced during the send. What a moment !

What about that successful training?
I worked with Andrea Cartas and we focused on finger strength, arm strength and core as well as climbing hard boulder with tiredness. Globally I was physically stronger than before and that helped me to handle the first boulder of the route. I kept my climbing continuity by climbing on routes, no specific training. Same for kneebar technique.

Pepa Šindel has completed Clash of the Titans (9b) in Götterwandl. ”FA’dby Alex Megos in 2017 as a 9a+. Upgraded by Jakob Schubert in 2023 to 9b. Same start as Jaturna but in the rest turns left. Could 8b/8b+ into a bad rest into a 8B/8B+ boulder. But I am not a boulderer. So I could be wrong. My First 9b!!!! 5 trips, 2 seasons… I fell on the last move which was for me the hardest by far around 50 times.” (c) Marco Zanone

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your mental struggle falling 50 times on the last move?
It was very frustrating but for me… It was all just about that one move. For me the last hard move from the undercling was by far the hardest from the crux unlike for Jakob for example. I could do with 0 effort separately. But from the ground it was completely different story. But I knew once I pass it I am not going to fall on the last jump. Luckily I didn’t 😆

The first time I tried the route was last summer, when it was a candidate to become my first 9b. I couldn’t do most of the moves in the crux, but I knew I would come back. And I did — three more times that year. With every trip, I got closer to sending, but the last hard move from an undercling stopped me every single time.

Going into my final trip in November 2025, I already felt that something was wrong with my finger, but I ignored it and convinced myself that I just needed to train harder. That ended with multiple fatigue fractures that became displaced around the finger. It meant a two-and-a-half-month break from climbing.

This year, I really didn’t know what to expect. Could I recover before it got too hot? Could I get back into good enough shape for the route? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until autumn?

When the trip finally came, I felt in decent shape and already had two good attempts on my first day. Then, on my second day of climbing, I did it — on my second try of the day.

Laura Rogora has had an amazing weekend up in the Dolomites at 1700 m altitude in Passo Fedaia, creating a ticklist worthy of several months for any elite climber.

Redpoint: Affinità elettive (9a+), Absinthium (9a) 2nd Go, and Attraverso lo specchio (8c) 2nd Go
Flash: Wrangler (8b/+)
Onsight: Tinnitus (8c)

The 25-year-old Italian extends her number one position in the annual ranking game, ahead of all males. When it comes to onsight, only Adam Ondra has a more impressive annual all time onsight ticklist. During the last year, Laura has onsighted ten routes 8b+ to 8c+.

Can you tell us more about the most memorable ascents during the weekend?
I first discovered this crag through Andrea’s [Milani] film, which was presented at the Trento Film Festival. I was immediately fascinated by both the place and the route, so last weekend, with the heat in the valley, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go and visit it.

All the routes I climbed were beautiful, but the two ascents that gave me the greatest satisfaction were Absinthium 2nd go and the 8c onsight. Absinthium because it is very long and, with so few chalk marks, I couldn’t really remember the moves om my second go sot It turned into a long mental battle.

The 8c onsight was also very special because the rock is not easy to read, so finding the right sequence and making the right decisions on the go was a challenge. 😄

The first ascentionist of all routes Laura did, Andrea Milani, pictured on the 9a+, describes the routes and her ascents. (c) outThere Collective

”Watching her climb there was truly something else. Knowing the routes and remembering how much effort it took me to climb them myself (just a poor ordinary climber, haha), seeing her ascent was quite extraordinary.

The routes Laura climbed were all first ascended by me, and she made the first repeats of them. They are all extensions of, or link-ups between, existing routes that were originally bolted and climbed by Mario Prinoth, who, together with his brother Luca, discovered the crag and established the first routes there.

The most iconic route is The Search (8c+). It was first climbed by Mario in 2009 and was then repeated only by the strong climber Luca Zardini. For many years afterwards, the wall was largely forgotten until I repeated The Search and began bringing the crag back to life together with a group of friends.

Absinthium is the extension of the search and Affinità elettive is the link between Wrangler and Absinthium. All routes are around 50 meters beside Wrangler which is 15 meters.”

Katherine Choong, one of the best female multi-pitch climbers in the world, has done the first female ascent of Ravage (8b+/c) in Basler Jura. It was put up by Marc Le Menestrel in 1986 as the first 8c in the world.

”Ravage is a route I had been wanting to climb for years. First, for the legend: it was the first 8c in climbing history, and at the time, considered the hardest route in the world. Even though it was later downgraded to 8b+/c, which I think is fair, even though it still demanded a lot from me, it remains iconic. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the first ascent, achieved in 1986 by Antoine Le Menestrel, who “won the race” to the first ascent at the time against the route’s bolter, Wenzel Vodicka, who went on to make the second ascent.

It was also important to me personally to climb it because the third ascent, three years later, was done by Philippe Steulet, a pioneer of professional climbing from my region, whom I personnaly knew before his passing at the Eiger. And, well, the route is just 30 minutes from my home, at Chuensiberg in northern Switzerland, so I really had no excuse not to try it.

Ravage is a very short route, about ten meters, brutal, with extremely polished footholds. The first time I tried it, I honestly didn’t like it at all, mostly because I could barely execute any moves: everything felt too reachy, and thus impossible for me. But after spending quite some time figuring out the solutions, adapting the techniques to my height, and falling again and again on the same dynamic move (well, “dynamic” if you’re under 1.60m tall with short reach ;-) ), I finally clipped the anchors on May 2. Without kneepad of course ;-)

And I think that the moment I reached the anchors, I truly understood the meaning behind the name Ravage that Antoine had given his route: "After climbing, there are no more thoughts left. No overthinking. At the top, I felt destroyed and happy. No thoughts remained. I felt free."

As a little anecdote, I went back later to film some footage and ended up climbing the route again. It just goes to show that once a move is fully integrated into both body and mind, everything feels easier.”

Cameron Hörst, with 14 routes 9a and beyond under his harness, has done the first ascent of Big Bone (9a+) in Utah Hills, which was equipped by Joe Kinder. ”Joe and I always thought this climb would be 9b. Over the years, however, we optimized every possible move and sequence down to its easiest form. So maybe just high end 9a+ is where it should lie.” (c) Daniel Teitelbaum

”This climb was the north star of my life over the last few years. My hardest and longest project. That being said, what I take away from the multiple seasons spent in the cave was the the close-nit experience Joe and I had together, while rolling the dice on this thing. Which only we can fully wrestle with meaning of. Hard to believe this chapter is done, but looking for the next north star. Also...def higher-end 9a+. hehe.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
It was my longest and hardest project. Joe and I first began working on it in the fall of 2022, shortly after I moved to Salt Lake City. At the time, the route felt completely beyond us.

Over the following years, we made sporadic trips during the spring and fall seasons, gradually inching closer to the send. Some years we spent long stretches of time in the cave; other years, short seasons and poor conditions limited our efforts.

This spring was different. Joe kicked off the season by establishing a new route in the cave, Bone Saw, while I arrived believing I was finally in the shape required to send Big Bone (and I did a few weeks later). What made this project so significant was not just the novelty of the climb itself, but the role the Fynn cave played in the development of my friendship with Joe. It became a kind of time capsule—an isolated space where the events, challenges, and milestones of our lives were shared and processed over countless days spent pursuing a common goal. Looking back, I suspect the send itself will fade in intrinsic significance. What will last is the friendship that was forged over those years and ultimately transcends climbing altogether.

How many sessions are we talking?
I honestly lost count of session. I have so many days in the cave over the last 4 years, likely close to 100 now. Probably north of 50 sessions on big bone.