Ludivine Balbi has sent Amadeus (8c) in Grotte de Sabart, uncut video. The 15-year-old did her first 8b at age 12.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your climbing background?
I started climbing very early thanks to my parents who took me to the crag since I was young (I took my first steps in the Finestra sector in Margalef!!! 😊). When I was 8 years old, I discovered competition by chance thanks to my instructor at the time Mathieu (Gallo-Lavallee also called Mr. MA.GA.LA). I quickly managed to rank well on the local and regional circuit.

In the summer of 2021, at the U-14 French Championships I was number two. In 2022 at the French Difficulty Championship in Le Pouzin I won the title of French Champion and this gave me access to the French Team and to international competitions.

Today I share my passion for climbing between the cliff and competition. I have the chance to travel to the major spots in France, Spain, and Italy. I have already done some 8b in climbing trips and I wanted to try a harder project close to home. That's why I chose Amadeus. I am so happy to have done it in 10 days and about 25 attempts and especially before my 16th birthday (at the end of October). I wanted to thank the Block Out Toulouse club for their support and especially my coach Guillaume Mauss for his kindness and cheerfulness.

Lee Dohyun, who won in Prague last month, got the Boulder World Cup gold also in Seoul.

”I thought if Max got the top in three he would win the gold so when he got it he had won. I thought congratulations, but then my team and coaches said it was me who had won. I couldn’t understand it. I’m just really happy to win in front of my home crowd, it means a lot. It was a hard final round. All the boulders were hard for me. Very powerful and tricky moves. Very hard.”

The fifth and last Boulder World Cup took place in Seoul in Korea. 17-year-old Annie Sanders, who got her first two bronzes in the last Boulder as well Lead World cup won.

” I’m definitely still in shock right now. I wasn’t expecting this. After the second boulder I almost kind of gave up hope as a lot of people were topping that one so I was just trying to have fun for the rest of the round, and it paid off.”

Connor Herson has done the FA of Midnight Way (9a+) in Paradise Valley and The Shark 8b+ (c) trad in The Chief. The 21-year-old made his first 8a headline in 2018 when he did an 8c+, 2nd go at age 14. In the same year he repeated The Nose 8b+ MP; and was #11 in the Youth World Championship. Since then, he has evolved into one of the world's leading trad and big wall climbers. (c) Tempei Takeuchi

Can you tell us more about those two impressive first ascents?
The Shark: When I returned to Squamish, Didier offered to show me his project. I assumed I would just be trying the moves for fun, but he offered me a chance at the first ascent! I ended up sending it on my second session, grade is probably around 8b+ or 8c. The climb is pumpy, steep, and powerful, and it’s very high quality!

Midnight Way: I knew about this possible linkup last year, and it was my primary objective when I returned to Squamish this year. The line follows all the hard climbing on Spirit Quest (9a) and then climbs straight into several hard boulders. I ended up climbing spirit quest then falling higher up 3 times, and in order to send I needed to climb spirit quest and feel fresh after all the hard climbing!

On the day I sent Midnight Way, I high pointed on my first go (nearly doing it that try), then fell about halfway through spirit quest on my second attempt. On my third attempt I notice my finger was bleeding halfway through spirit quest, and it got worse and worse as I climbed higher but I still somehow made it work!

Josh Ibbertson has done Change P1 (9a+) in Flatanger. The 20-year-old, who has already completed seven 9a climbs, made his first 8a headlines at the age of 10. Two years ago, he sent Rainman (9b). (c) Adri Martinez

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Whilst not initially on my agenda for my first trip to the cave, but after belaying Jorge on his send of the full rig I got psyched to give the first pitch a try.

Leo [Böe] and I worked together to find our own sequences, so it felt fitting that we were able to send on back to back attempts! (Leo as it was getting dark and myself the next morning). The crux for me was maintaining tension through the very intense right knee and then releasing this without cutting feet. It's an intricate sequence that feels very burly at the same time!

I sent on the first go of what I think was session 9, although two other of those sessions were just 1 short try each. It felt closer to 7 'full' days of effort. I'm now motivated to come back for the full line next season!

What is next?
Back home in the UK for a bit to train and surf. Then off to Red River in November!

Michał Korban, with one 8c+ under his belt, has completed Action Directe (9a) in Frankenjura. It was put up in 1991 by Wolfgang Güllich as the first 9a in the world and has been repeated some 30 times. (c) Frank Kretschmann

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
The route took me around 16 sessions, making it my longest project ever. The first time I tried Action Directe was last June (I dedicated only one day to see how the moves looked), and I immediately knew I would come back to it. Between May and June of this year, I spent three weeks on the route, but unfortunately, I didn’t get lucky with the weather (the route was wet for half the trip), so I ran out of time. I decided to rest and heal my injuries—first a torn pulley, then a sprained ankle—so I was ready for the next trip at the beginning of September. The first week was quite hot (25-27°C), but surprisingly, I felt pretty good. Unfortunately, when the rain came, I had to give up again.

I set off for the next trip as soon as the conditions improved. Right away, I felt surprisingly good, and from the second day of this trip, I was approaching the Waldkopf with the intention of sending the route.

At this point, I knew that physically I was capable of doing the route, but I wasn’t sending it. I think I was putting too much pressure on myself. Up to that point, I hadn’t even reached the final sequence (the traverse to the left), but I felt the most confident on the finishing moves. Significant progress happened on the fourth day of this trip. I approached the crag after a full day of rain, thinking there was a high chance the route would be wet and I would have to retreat. I guess that’s exactly what I needed. During this session, I fell off the last move twice. The attempts that should have been the best turned out to be the worst. I still need to work on my mental game. By the fifth attempt, I knew I was already tired, so the pressure was off, and that was key. During that try, I definitely didn’t feel my best, but I managed to send it anyway.

Which sequence did you opt for at the crux?
I decided to do this section with a heel hook. At first, it felt like a bit of a lottery, but once I got used to the move, it felt right. Going straight from the crimp also wasn’t a bad beta for me, but I felt it cost me too much energy. The toe hook felt almost impossible.

Why was 8b was your hardest route the last year prior to sending AD?
This year, I mainly focused on training at the climbing gym and got into progressing with exercises on the hangboard and campus board. Additionally, I took my final exams this year and graduated from highschool, so I had less time for trips. I aimed to climb quick redpoints and onsights. For quite some time, I’ve wanted to do my first 9a, but I was saving that achievement specifically for Action Directe.

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James Pearson, one of the most acomplished trad climbers in the world, has made the first repeat of Jacopo Larcher’s Shikantaza in Valle dell'Orco. Non of the climbers initially suggested a grade but Pearson was kind enough to elaborate a bit why it could be considered E-9/10 (8a R/X). E-10 means that it is one of the hardest graded trad climb in the world using the British system which adds difficulty and danger into one E-grade. At the same time an 8a R/X suggests it is not that hard but there is a big risk for for a serious injury.

”I must admit that Grades are not my favourite subject, but on this occasion I believe you might be right in thinking there are some interesting information to be shared.

Shikantaza is a relatively short route, less than 15 m in height, and the difficult section is only a small fraction of this, perhaps 7 or 8 moves where you might actually fall off. Bouldry routes are always harder to grade in my opinion, because they are much more more likely to feel different based on the conditions on the day, and a climbers own experience. Longer routes tend to average out over their length, whereas shorter, routes can be all or nothing.

When it comes to trad climbing, ironically, shorter routes can also be more dangerous than longer ones, as once you pass 7 or 8 m, the consequence of a ground fall will be extremely serious regardless of the height, and a short route means that you always have less margin for error before you are in that groundfall territory. Take Rhapsody for example, the overall fall from the final move must be approaching 25 or 30 m (with rope stretch), but since you are very high, and the route is steep, its a safe fall into air. Shikantaza is much shorter, and though the length of the fall is probably less than 10m from the final hard move of the crux, you’ll likely hit the floor.

Since a large part of the overall e-grade is made up of the danger, how you protect the route plays a big role in how dangerous you perceive it to be. Protecting a trad route might seem simple in theory, and if it was a well protected crack climb, with easy to understand gear, then that would be the case, but on Shikantaza, there are lots of things you can do to alter this perceived level of danger, and how much each one of those would actually make a difference in the case of a fall remains to be seen.

For an example, the route is protected by a sky hook that is next to your feet, as you are finishing the crux section. If this skyhook holds a fall, then the route is technically quite safe, but we are talking about Skyhooks here! They are far from the most reliable protection that exists, and in the case of Shikantaza, it is the rock on which you place the sky hook which causes me the most doubt, not the skyhook itself. This piece of rock is very fragile. It is hollow when you tap on it, and you can actually see the hold flexing when you pull on it. It wouldn't surprise me if one day it breaks under somebody's fingers, let alone if somebody were to fall onto it. To be completely honest, I rated the chance of this protection holding a fall very low, and almost decided not to place it, so that I would at least know for certain the danger level I had to contend with, instead of crossing my fingers and hoping for a miracle. However, in the end I placed it, for the small chance that it would actually hold, or more realistically, slow down my fall and give my bilayers a little more chance to pull in the necessary amount of rope to keep me off the floor on the good Friend down below.

Speaking about the good friends down below. With a very good belayer I believe they would keep you safe for most of the crux, but falling onto them from the three or 4 final moves would almost certainly result in a ground fall. To give me the best chance possible, I decided to use two belayers on two separate ropes. The first rope running directly through these Friends, and the second rope running through the skyhook. One belayer would lock the rope, and even jump off a boulder, in order to take in as much slack as they could. The other belayer would allow the rope to slip through their plate, and give me a very dynamic belay, giving more chance that the skyhook might hold, and slowing down my fall so that belayer number 1 could take in even more slack. These belay tactics are obviously more complex than your average day at the crag, but can make the difference between possibly walking away from a fall, and not. Unfortunately, it brings another set of questions into the grade, and depending on how "Good" the belayers are at their job, the route, or more precisely your experience on the route, will be more or less dangerous.

Finally, I chose to place several crash pads at the base of the route to protect things even further. Crash pads are wonderful for protecting short, dangerous climbs, but they are a nightmare for grading them. It's really difficult to quantify how much a “set" of crash pads will affect the danger of a Climb, simply because the quantity of protection they provide is potentially infinite. Bring enough crash, pads and you can make almost any solo safe.

Obviously in the real world, the difference between zero pads, one crash pad, and five crash pads is less black and white, but there is a significant difference. How old are the crash pads? How big are the crash pads? All these things are really hard to quantify, but make a big difference to how dangerous a route will actually be. This is actually one of the reasons why some of my early first ascents on the gritstone were “downgraded", because I had graded them for using zero crash pads. Not as an obligation to future climbers to also climb without pads, but as a sort of theoretical base level, allowing future ascentionists to better understand the “raw" nature of the route, before climbing it in whatever style they preferred.

At eGrader we take a similar approach, giving the route a "danger grade” (D-points) without pads, and then using a "pad filter" to later remove some of that danger. If you prefer, you could also take into account the pads you used from the very beginning of the calculation process, which would simply mean the initial D Point is lower, but since this would end up with every climber having a slightly different opinion on the danger, it doesn’t seem that helpful to me when the grade is supposed to allow us to compare experiences… if not then why do we grade at all.

You can play with some numbers on eGrader, but my experience on Shinkantaza would be something like this

Difficulty - 8a
Danger - 3 = Dangerous - Ground fall likely from the crux. Injury is likely even if advanced and specialist ropework / belay techniques are used.
Pad filter - Medium Padded (4 to 6 pads)
E Grade = Easy E9
Without Pads it would be an Easy E10”

Veronica Chik began climbing at the age of five and normally she trains five times a week. In March, she ventured into outdoor climbing for the first time. Following three months of intense training, she encountered a fear of falling from heights, prompting her to take a temporary break. After approximately ten weeks of mental adjustment, Veronica resumed her training in September with renewed determination to conquer her fears. Just a few weeks later, the 135 cm tall climber successfully completed China Climb (8b+) in Yangshuo.

Her mother Vivian shares their story. ”The emotional rollercoaster of the past few months has been indescribable. From the moment we decided to accept this challenge, we knew it would be a difficult journey. Every weekend, we traveled from Hong Kong to Yangshuo for training by high speed train for 5 hours each way, experiencing a whirlwind of emotions—anticipation, excitement, disappointment, doubt, fear, and ultimately courage and perseverance.

We felt heartbroken seeing Veronica's hands covered in calluses, her skin torn and bleeding from climbing. There were times we wanted to convince her to give up, yet she gritted her teeth and insisted she would complete the challenge. Throughout this journey, we reevaluated our roles as parents, contemplating how best to nurture, encourage, and appreciate our child.

This experience has been filled with challenges and inspiration, teaching us the values of courage, persistence, and the spirit of never giving up as our child relentlessly pursues her dreams.

Veronica's success is not only a personal breakthrough but also a recognition of the courage and dreams of the younger generation, inspiring more children to bravely pursue their paths. Although the journey to realizing dreams is fraught with challenges, as long as one is courageous and persistent, dreams can indeed come true. With climbing now included in the Olympics, the popularity of the sport is gradually increasing in Hong Kong, and we look forward to seeing more young climbers courageously chase their dreams, writing their own remarkable stories.”

Lana Skušek, who was #8 in the European Championship last month, has sent Strelovod (8c) in Mišja Peč. (c) SAC/Romy Streit

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
When I climbed Marjetica (8b), two friends were climbing Strelovod, and right away I felt the urge to try it myself. I made the moves in the lower part quite quickly, and I already knew the moves in the upper part from Marjetica. It felt good and doable. I linked everything together quite quickly; it took 2 sessions. I’m very happy since this was my first 8c.

What are your autumn plans?
Oh, I don’t have one 😅 I’m really enjoying rock climbing at the moment. I’d like to try a few more hard things, and I hopefully send some. In about a month, I’ll take a break from climbing, and then I’ll start training again for the upcoming competitions.