Tre Mou Polacche (9a) in Arco was bolted and named by Gabriele Moroni last year. Stefano Ghisolfi got an ok to try it and last sunday he made the FA together with Gio Placci, who comments;

“Some climbing routes in Arco and in other areas are kept closed, and we don’t want to encourage this. The goal is to show that making the First Ascent doesn’t need to be a competition. By avoiding closed projects, we promote cooperation within the climbers and show greater appreciation for the bolters, who put in a lot of hard work.

The route is really sick. Start with a 7C boulder then a good rest and then a 8c+ sequence of 20 moves !”

Gabri, can you tell us more about your bolting and your take about open projects?
I bolted Tre Mou Polacche on a random day after my tries on Erebor last year. I cleaned it and made it climbable, put some fixed draws and briefly tried but never had the time to go back for some proper tries. I imagined the possibility to climb the blank wall right of the classic 7c. Unfortunately I’ve never had the time to put my hand on it until one day this fall.

Then Stefano contacted me and asked if he could try it. To be honest I wish I could have tried it a little bit more and possibly get the FA but I know my time is limited and I live theee hours away so at the end I am glad someone got interested and had fun on the route…

Han Seuran has been on a trip to Arco together with her husband Hyunbin Min where she sent Puro Dreaming (8c+). Min projected Excalibur (9b+) and Erebor (9b), and is eager to return. In 2012 he won a World Cup and in 2018 he made a comeback after four years and got two bronzes. Last year, comeback again and in Seoul this year, he made semifinals. Seuran’s best year was in 2011 when she three times made the finals.

Can you tell us more about the trip?
The main purpose of this trip was definitely to check out Excalibur, and my wife also wanted to try some more hard routes as a project, like 9a or 9a+, cause last winter she sent two 8c+’ quickly in Santa Linya.

She was interested in Puro Dreaming plus (9a) but the Underground part was completely wet due to heavy rain until last week, and even some parts of Puro Dreaming were looking impossible to climb.

Anyhow, she tried with bad conditions and she liked that it using lot of chalk on the wet holds. The holds didn’t dry out completely, but when it felt a little drier than the first day, the moves felt much easier. She finally sent it after 5 days. The next goal is to have more experience on 9a and 9a+.

We both love climbing so much, it was such a fun trip and we are planning another trip next year. We didn‘t really have a rest day, because we belay each other every other day ;-) (Like one day climb and one day belay).

And 11/11 is actually our anniversary. We first dating was 11/11/2006 and got married on 11/11/2017. It was nice to have our anniversary in the middle of the trip.

You actually started dating at age 14 and 17? Did you meet in the gym?
Yes! Man that’s really loooooong story to tell. We have same date of birth too, it’s really really special I think😆

Loic Zehani, who earlier in 2024 has sent 17 routes 9a to 9b, has done the FA of Harder Better Faster Stronger (9b) in Orgon. (c) Lunar Fox

”Start in "La chicha"( 5 moves ) then to the right with 4 super hard movements ( more or less 8A+ FB ) , then you have another hard section ( more or less 7C FB ) . These two sections are on natural holds ( little pinchs ) on a very big overhang . Once you get there you are at the beginning of "fast and furious" a long , resistant and physical 9a . To summarize : start in "la chicha" and finish in "joli son de clarine net". Very happy to climb this because it's a massive effort on big overhang ( + 60 movements ! ) and I am really close to my limit on the first crux . The line and the movements are very beautiful and original and It's very good to climb in . One of the hardest think I have done.”

We’re excited to announce the release of the Vertical-Life Climbing Gym Gear Guide—a free magazine packed with inspiration and insights for the climbing world.

This year’s edition features:
• Photo Contest Winners showcasing the beauty and creativity of indoor climbing
• Survey Insights revealing how climbers and gym managers use digital tools
• A Gear Catalog highlighting the latest innovations for climbing gyms

You can explore the digital version for free here.
Prefer print? Stop by our office in Brixen, Italy, next time you’re near the Dolomites to pick up a copy!

Indoor Climbing: A Growing Part of the Climbing World

Indoor climbing is booming, and for many outdoor climbers, gyms have become an essential training ground. At Vertical-Life, we’ve been creating tools to support this growing community, helping gyms enhance the climbing experience for everyone.

To see what we’ve been developing, visit our newly updated Gym Management System website. From course booking and route management to challenges and memberships, our tools are designed to make gyms run smoothly and inspire climbers of all levels.

Colin Duffy, who was #4 in the Paris Olympics, has sent Echalo (8C) in Clear Creek Canyon (CO). ”First of the grade for me! Did Echale (8B+) a few years back and decided to come back to give the low a shot. The first move felt improbable for most of the sesh, but after figuring out some microbeta for the starting feet it started feeling close. Eventually I was able to latch the first move and then struggle my way through Echale all the way to the top!”

The 20-year-old won the Lead World Cup in Chamonix in July and two years ago he won both disciplins in Innsbruck. In the Tokyo Olympics he was #7, however, had he not made a false start with 0.002 seconds against Alberto Gines López in Speed, he would mathematically have gotten the Olympic gold.

What are your winter plans and what about comps in 2025?
My winter goal is to knock off as many hard boulders as I can around Colorado. I’m also in school so that is my main priority over climbing at the moment. Once 2025 rolls around I’ll start directing my training towards comps and compete in the upcoming bouldering/lead World Cups!

Chris Weidner, who did his first, out of six, 8c’s at age 40, has sent Green Mile (8c+) at Jailhouse. ”There were so many opportunities for me to fall off this beast, it's hard to believe I finally didn't. 59 days over 3 seasons. What sticks with me most are the partners who made this happen - all 12 of them who belayed me at one time or another. Biggest thanks to Heather, Skyler and James, all of whom logged many many hours at the helm. Timing seemed serendipitous: I did my first 14b at 40, and now my first 14c at 50. I'm a slow roller, what can I say?”

What is your climbing background?
I started climbing mountains and granite cracks in 1988 in Washington, where I grew up, and quickly branched out to try everything I could: sport climbing, ice, aid, rope-soloing. To me at the time, being a climber meant being well-rounded in terms of skills. Over the years I've had different areas of focus: sometimes on trad and alpine rock, other times mostly sport climbing. My son was born nearly three years ago, and since then it's been easier to focus on training and sport climbing than on other disciplines, so I decided to set a goal that would be hard enough for me that success was far from assured.

What is your late bloomer recipe?
I've always seemed to lack strength and power, so I zeroed on those aspects of training. I spent more time board climbing - Tension Board and Moon Board, and also weight lifting. And this season I added more specific endurance training - basic stuff like 4 x 4 type circuits into my routine. Time on the route itself was perhaps the most valuable thing to me, learning the subtleties of 40 meters of very steep, complex terrain. Most of all, even before I could even do individual sections of the route, I had to believe there was a chance it was possible. As I learned the route more and more, confidence slowly arrived. I think confidence is ultimately the most important ingredient for a limit redpoint.

Is there a picture you can share?
Here's a selfie I took on top of the cliff one day last week when I couldn't find a partner. I ended up solo TRing the top third of the route since that's all I could realistically do solo. It's so steep that it's a pain in the ass to work alone.

Babsi Zangerl has set another new standard by doing the first flash ascent of Freerider (7c+) in Yosemite (CA), during a three-days push. The 34-pitch, 1,000-meter route achieved global fame with Alex Honnold's free solo ascent in 2017. In the realm of multi-discipline rock climbing, Babsi stands out as the leading female and ranks confidently among the Top 5 climbers overall, regardless of gender. Zangerl shares her thoughts of the flash. (c) Miya Tsudome for Highpoint Productions

”The first thing I should say is that I was really, really lucky!

There were hardly any other climbers on the route with us, the weather forecast looked bad but in the end it held up, conditions were actually very good and as we climbed upwards everything just seemed to slot into place. Jacopo was really unlucky. He was so close to flashing the entire route! He attempted to lead the Boulder Problem pitch before me, but didn't see the undercling hold properly and as a result fell on the famous karate kick move. He then quickly redpointed the pitch second go and didn't make any further falls. Thanks to Jacopo, I had more information about the crux and somehow managed to stick the moves, though I still haven't quite figured out how I managed not to fall there.

We hadn't consciously saved Freerider for a flash attempt, it just turned out this way. In the past, we've climbed routes in the center and on the right wall of El Cap, but never any of the routes on the left, such as Golden Gate, Salathé, and Freerider, because we were always a little afraid of the Monster Offwidth. We've heard so many horror stories about it that we've steered clear of this part of the wall. After our free ascent of The Nose in 2019, our friend and former Black Diamond employee Kolin Powick suggested we should try to flash Freerider. To be honest, we didn't think about it too much, simply because the idea seemed too impossible. Having said that, when Lara Neumeier and I climbed El Corazon in November 2023, we chose the Muir Blast start and not the Freeblast start, to avoid climbing any pitches shared with Freerider. So, I can say that, at that point, we did already have it in our minds as a future possibility.

Still, the idea of a successful flash ascent seemed unrealistic to achieve. This season our aim was just to see how far we could get. Perhaps we wouldn't even get very far at all. That's the problem with El Capitan: even the pitches which on paper look easy, are never easy! Actually, there's nothing easy on El Cap! After climbing Magic Line on this trip, we both realized that if we wanted to stand a chance of climbing the Monster Offwidth, we'd have to train specifically for it. So, we spent 4 days doing just offwidths like Generator Crack, Twilight Zone, and others, until we started to feel a bit more comfortable with this style of climbing.

It was a real battle! The ‘Monster Offwidth’ pitch is 60m long and after about 40 meters I started getting cramps and ran out of breath! I thought I'd fall but then I remembered what Alex Honnold had told us: if the going got tough, I should lean out so the left leg got solidly jammed in and I could rest a little. Thank god we'd met him by chance in a cafe a few days earlier for that bit of advice!

On day 1, we swung leads and climbed the Freeblast slabs past the Heart Ledges to the pitch below the Hollow Flake, where we made our first bivy. On day 2, we pushed on past the Monster Offwidth to the El Cap Spire, climbed another two pitches, fixed ropes and returned to the spire for the second bivy. On day 3, we jumared up the two pitches we'd climbed the day before, pushed on to the Round Table, climbed and fixed one more pitch before spending our third night on the wall, then on day 4 we jumared that one pitch and climbed the last three pitches to the summit. Our deal was that I would lead the Monster Offwidth first and Jacopo would go first on the crux Boulder pitch, which I also led right after, and we swung leads on all the rest.

After the Boulder Pitch, I felt nervous. I certainly didn't feel as if it was all over, on the contrary. The first section up Freeblast had already been stressful, and now somehow we were on course to the summit. But the famous Enduro Corner still lay above us, and that proved really pumpy. And we knew from experience that even the easy pitches can be really demanding. We really had to fight all the way to the summit! I view this, like all of the other climbs I've done with Jacopo, as a successful team ascent. Without him, nothing would have been possible and I'm infinitely grateful to him that we managed to pull it off. Although we hadn't climbed any of the 30 pitches before, and onsighted many of them, we nevertheless knew a lot about the route before setting off. We know many climbers who have repeated the route before us and so we tried to find out as much as possible from them, and of course, we'd seen some stuff on YouTube before. We also went to the cinema to watch Free Solo when that came out. So there's no way we could define our ascent as anything close to an onsight.

When we got to the summit it felt unreal. I was happy for me, and at the same time sad for Jacopo. Climbing onsight or flash is like this, you only get one chance, and on a 1000m big wall this can feel even more brutal. But Jacopo took it in his stride and his unwavering, 100% support all the way to the top was fundamental. It's a true testament of his character, and as I said before, I can't thank him enough. It was certainly the biggest mental challenge I've ever faced in my climbing career."

Staša Gejo, with twelve IFSC senior podiums under her belt, has done One Piece (8c) in Frankenjura. In 2017, she claimed victory at both the European Championship and the World Games, with her most recent podium finishes occurring in 2023. In the years between, the 27-year-old also secured two bronze medals at the World Championship.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your climbing life?
I'm good, trying to balance full time work, training and going outside, but so far it seems that my adapted routine also works well.

The route consists of two intense cruxes. I do the lower one a bit dynamically to avoid pulling on a mono. The upper part requires insane precision in body positioning and getting the holds perfectly. It took me two sessions (spread apart by 2 months) to figure out the moves and details. I could send it just after warmup on the third session.

I was lucky with the crisp and sunny weather, not too cold for the rope sends and I simply had to use the opportunity to go out and climb nice routes ☺️ The sector itself (Teufelsrissmassiv in Schlaraffenland) is very interesting with unevenly shaped holds and a slight touch of blue and pink rock.

What are your winter plans and what about comps in 2025?
I am moving from Munich to Nürnberg for work in January, which will also allow me to be more often in Frankenjura. There are some great gyms and passionate climbers to train with here. With comps I can't say much yet, but from what I know and feel, I will be more often on the rock then on the mats next year.

What is your new job, and what is your educational background?
HVDC control and protection engineer. This is high voltage DC power transmission across great distances, which are inefficient for the classical 3 phase AC transmission. I'm an electrical power engineer.

Niki Rusev, who was #7 in the European Combined Championship two months ago, has made the FA of Kuche Marka (9a+) in Karlukovo. ”One of the hardest things I’ve ever done, crazy line and crazy process. I’m so happy I climbed the first 9a+ in Bulgaria. When I was trying it I was sure this route has the potential to be something harder than 9a. The grade wasn’t important anymore because what I wanted was to send this route exactly, not any other 9a+ but this one.”

Can you tell us more about the send and the process behind?
This is definitely a reminder to myself to never give up, because last year I almost did 😅. Prohodna cave itself is very famous with ,, The eyes of god’’ (two wholes on the roof of the cave that look like eyes). It’s a big tourist destination but also for climbing. It all started when @fazabrushes bolted three new lines on a small sector around the corner of the cave in 2020. In 2022 we decided to try the ,,easiest one’’ and at first I remember I was not enthused to try hard because I couldn’t do half of the moves but a few weeks later I did them all. It’s crazy how much less time you have in one season to try it in good conditions. In 2023 I spent around 2 months on it but there was so much rain and it just didn’t go⛈️☔️😔.

The first session of this season was different, this time I felt stronger on the crimps and the body memory made its job and quickly got back on track with some good links. I had strength to make only one good try for a day, so I usually arrived early on the route, warm up and try ones before the sun comes up because it’s impossible to climb during the shines, even after the sun comes down. The route stays warm and later on in most of the times comes some kind of moisture that bothers me. I knew it was about good conditions and today everything was perfect. This time it just happened 😌.

Moritz Welt has made the FA of Straight Flush (8B+) and done the first repeat of Low Life (8C), both in Frankenjura. The 23-year-old has previously done some 20 boulders 8B+ and harder as well as over 20 routes 9a or 9a+. (c) Tobias Iding

Can you tell us more about those two ascents?
'Straight Flush' is a linkup of two existing Boulders, the first half of Royal Flush (8B+), which I did the FA of in 2019, second half is the classic Hips don't lie (8B). After doing 'Royal Flush' I wasn't very motivated to come back and do the remaining link, but then a friend convinced me to join him on a session there. Refreshed the moves a bit and did it in a few tries.

'Low Life' was my main project last winter. It is a 4-move sitstart addition to the classic 'Forget about life for a while' 8A+/B. The start itself could be 8B and the whole thing is probably one of the hardest boulders in Frankenjura. Moritz Perwitzschky did the impressive FA in 2021 and since then nobody else could do it. This season, to my surprise, it took me only one more session. About one hour of relearning all the moves and 2 ground attempts.