Jonathan Siegrist, who previously has done over 80 routes 9a and beyond, has done the third ascent of Adam Ondra’s L'étrange ivresse des lenteurs (9a+) in Céüse. At 39 years old, he holds the #3 spot in the VL rankings, based on a new all-time high score. “One of the best, most demanding and scariest sport routes I have climbed. Easily 9b for me, quite obviously harder than the other 9a+ here... But I'll keep it a sandbag out of respect for Ceuse.” (c) Ryan White

How many sessions were needed and how cold was it?
Too many sessions to count. I tried the route last year, and had great progress but then fell at essentially the last move near the anchor on the final day before the weather came in. This year it was a big goal of mine to come back and finish the route. Unfortunately on the first day here in September I tore my LCL while trying the route, and needed quite a bit of time to recover before my knee felt strong enough to try some of the moves. Then when I was starting to recover from the injury, some insane weather arrived and a crucial hold in the bottom was wet for 5 weeks straight. I did my best to be patient and stay fit. Yesterday was the first time the hold was dry.

As for the cold, actually it is quite hot right now! The wall is in the sun until 4 or so. You really only have 1 or 2 tries before it's dark. Not the best time for Ceuse but in some ways I prefer the fall. You can be alone in the cliff even on a weekend and the autumn colors are amazing. We have made some great friends here in Gap, it really feels like locals only this time of year.

”Scariest sport routes I have climbed”?
Most of the route has normal Ceuse style run outs but the final 1/3 of the route is totally next level, with 15 meter fall potential still in hard climbing terrain. It’s one of the only times in my life I felt afraid on a sport route. Sylvain Millet had a very special vision for this route when he bolted it! The biggest fall was from the final moves really near the anchor (Megos took this fall also), even in the huge run outs it’s still pretty hard. I fell here last season - it was the last day of that trip. But the most terrifying fall was this year, I was trying to rediscover the moves in the run out sections and I took a massive fall at night with a headlamp.

William Bosi, with four 9A’s under his belt, has flashed Janja SD (8B+) in Moravský kras. (c) Teresa Coimbra

How did you prepare flashing your second 8B+ in a week?
So there is video from Martin Stranik I watched and then copied his beta almost exactly. But nothing else different from my other flashed, just quite a lot of visualisation before going for it. But there’s not too much beta it’s mostly physical this one 😁

Did you have full control all the way?
Through the start yes but it was limit coming round the edge of the cave.

What was the plan returning to Czechia?
I’m back here to try Terranova (8C+) again! However it’s been wet so while waiting for it to dry it’s been fun to check some of the other lines.

How is the feeling possibly being in the best shape of your life?
I’m definitely feeling really good at the moment after hard training this summer, so hopefully I can make progress on Terranova.

Laura Rogora continues to strike, this time in Siurana where she completed Estado critico (9a), Kale borroka (8b+) and Dogma (8b+). All three routes share the first half and the second half of the latter two, were done in onsight style. In the past two months, since winning two gold medals at the European Championship, the Italian climber has red pointed four 9a routes and onsighted an 8c. (c) Marco Dugatto

Can you tell us more about that great sending day?
The plan was to climb in Margalef but the weather was quite bad yesterday and after two days in La finestra my tendons hurted a lot so we moved to Siurana. I wanted to try La Rambla (9a+) but it was wet so I tried Estado Critico and I did it on my 3d go. Then I wanted to climb Kale borroka but the topo was wrong so I climbed Dogma. Then I climbed Kale borroka, I know the first part from Estado but it was my first try on the upper part.

Andrea Chelleris has onsighted La poten (8b) in Villanueva del Rosario, meaning the 15-year-old has now onsighted 15 routes 8a+ or 8b, only in October. When it comes to redpoints, he has the last two weeks done two 8c's and El bushido de shiva (8c+). The Italian is also close to send Mangarbo (9a). During the last few years Andrea has been training together with Domen Skofic, who comments.

“ I had no plan to start coaching, especially at this time in my life because I still haven’t finished coaching myself… Then Andrea showed up in my gym a year and a half ago asking to help him with his training. I couldn’t refuse because I could straight away see the enormous potential in this kid. I said to him quite early that if our training is successful he will climb way better than me in just few years.

When we started I had to make completely separate boulders and routes for him, a year later I had to make only some adjustments and now I basically set the same things for both of us. He tells me his goals and I try to help him achieve it. Andrea has an enormous passion for climbing. He’s smart and super calm, sometimes to calm haha but it’s incredible to see how he approaches things in his unique style. I will definitely learn a lot from him as well. It’s also mind blowing to me that he had so much success doing skiing and climbing at the same time. I’m very happy that I got the opportunity to work with him and I’m very excited for the future :)“

Gio Placci, who was #12 in the Briancon World Cup, has completed Flow State (8C) in Val daone. It is said to be easier for the taller climbers but the 166 cm long only needed four sessions for the send. (c) Crimp-Films

“World class. Shoutout to my bro Pietro Vidi for the F.A. About the grade I felt the same of the other 8C I did.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what was most challenging for you?
For sure the last move, a big move to a sloper. After the comp season I’m focusing on sport climbing but the heat in Arco forced me to go to Val daone, a bouldering spot way colder than Arco. The boulder is king line!

What is next?
Erebor (9b), I did already 3 sessions and it felt very good.

How does a normal climbing/training week look like?
3 days on and 1 day off. Always double sessions. Most of my days are 6h training. Interval training, routes, circuits, bouldering and campus.

How much outdoors climbing in a normal week?
I just do two months when the comp season is over.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo repeated Adam Ondra’s Change (9b+) in August. ”I still can’t believe it happened. Being able to pass the boulder problem [pictured] at the beginning from the ground for the first time and then climbing the 50-meter complete line was a physical and mental fight that I will never forget. I gave everything I had, my arms and body couldn’t do more, but in the end I managed to clip the chain.”

Luke Gerhardt, who did his first 8A only 18 months ago, has sent Pegasus (8C) in Left Fork.

Can you tell us more about sending your first 8C?
Yeah so I put around 6 sessions on the boulder last spring but wasnt able to stick the crux move very consistent and usually only got 5-10 tries on the crux hold before getting a blister because of how bad it was on the skin. I had a lot of frustrating sessions where I felt like I couldn’t do it.

Once the season ended I trained all summer until the weather was good again and finally tried the boulder again and had a pretty good session where I reworked all the moves and they felt a lot easier. Second session back and 2nd try from bottom I fell on the last move because my foot popped and I knew I could send that day. Next try I managed to send. Definitely the hardest boulder I’ve done and the most I’ve had to push myself mentally and physically to send a boulder.

William Bosi, who last week did his fourth 9A, has flashed Dune (8B) in Stařechovícký Lom. The 25-year-old is the new #1 in the VL yearly ranking game but he needs two more 8C+ to overtake Daniel Woods in the All Time Ranking.

”Super fun but savage crimp line, 1st repeat and 1st repeat since break. Felt really hard so I think 8B+ is fair but hopefully more people will try it soon :)”

Austin Purdy, with seven 8C's under his belt, has done the FA of Sword Of Damocles (8C+) in Mount Blue Sky. "Finally! Probably the most days I've put into a boulder and unless I missed some key beta, likely the hardest thing I've ever done. The process on this one was very stressful with the imminent road closure for the next two years hanging over everything. Luckily I was able to extend the season with some e-bike tactics and get it done before the snow came and shut everything down for good."

How many sessions were needed and how many of those did you come alone?
I'm not sure exactly how many sessions the boulder took as I began to lost count at some point but it was around 15. One of my friends was working an 8B nearby when I was first trying to project so he came out for some sessions, but once the road closed at the start of September there was no one who wanted to bike the 10+ miles in with me so all sessions we solo after that.