James Mchaffie, with two 9a’s, done 13 years ago, has sent Yma O Hyd in Gnyweed. The 43-year-old is one of the most accomplished trad climbers in the UK with 15 routes E9 and beyond.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
The climb is a direct on an E9 called Mission impossible (8b). It follows a thin crack via some great moves to join mission impossible at all its cruxes. It took me 3 months to get into shape to climb it, partly because the summer was very wet and I needed to gain form. I did Mission impossible in 2009 and that didn't take long, 2 sessions I think. This hard one took many sessions over 3 months.

I'm generally into onsighting rather than projecting but the climbing and rock was so good on this project I really wanted to give it my best shot at climbing it.

How is the protection?
Protection is good but start is committing. Need to place gear carefully, jump down on rucksack to then test them before climbing. I placed all gear on lead.

Leo Cea sent Tecnoking (9a) in Las chilcas at age 11 and three months, the youngest ever to have reached 9a. The next month he did La Nueva Yera (9a) at the same crag.

How did you start climbing and what are your first great memories?
Since I was a kid I liked to make mountains out of things and climb them. I also liked to climb trees and rocks near my house and in the places we visited with my family. When I was 8 years old, I started going to “Las Chilcas” accompanying my dad who was going climbing with his friend. That's when I started to climb Top Rope and I liked it more and more. I remember very well that I really liked going to Las Chilcas to play climbing rocks and hanging out in a cave in the “El Cubo” sector. There we would hang out with my dad and friends while we ate what we had brought for the day.

How does a normal climbing week look like?
I climb 6 times a week. Of those, 2-3 times a week we go to the rock, 2-3 sessions a week at the climbing gym where I go with my trainer, and another couple of sessions on the wall at my house.

What is it you like most about climbing?
My favorite thing to do is to climb a lot and be on the rock. I love looking for hard routes, working on them, and I really enjoy the feeling of connecting sequences. I like exploring new climbing areas and camping.

How many sessions did the 9a's take and how do you project such hard routes?
For “Tecnoking” I did 26 attempts before sending it, divided into 11 sessions. “La Nueva Yera” was 10 attempts divided into 6 sessions. I chose the new projects by looking for 8b+ routes or one that looked good. When I try it, I try it as much as possible until I know all the moves. After that, I take a rest day before the sending day.

Are you sometimes afraid of trying long hard routes?
No, because I'm not afraid of the height and I'm also very confident of the equipment. I'm confident that I'm using it well and that it is very strong.

What about onsight climbing?
I really like doing onsight climbing. I've already climbed almost everything in “Las Chilcas” so there's not much for me to climb onsight there anymore. But I love going to new sectors and try out new routes.

What are the routes and experiences you like the most?
The routes I have liked the most are Tecnoking, Migrand Balam and Puro Contacto. I also really liked when my dad took my best friend and me camping at Las Chilcas.

What is your next dream when it comes to routes or travel?
Margalef. I dream of climbing there and trying new routes there. I would love to climb “La Era Vella” and “Victimas Perez”.

Nathan Phillips, who the last year has sent his two first 8C’s, has completed Beautiful Mind (8C) in Peak District.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Really psyched to climb this one as it’s probably the hardest boulder I’ve finished. It climbs the start section of Trance Trance (8C) which I climbed back in June. This section is maybe hard 8A/V11 then 2 or 3 new moves of around 7C/V9 to link into all the hard climbing of Dandelion Mind 8B+/V14 which I climbed about 8 years ago.

It took me 14 sessions since climbing Trance to complete it. About twice as many as Trance took. I started off re-learning the moves on Dandelion Mind as it had been years since I’d climbed it, then as the sessions went on it was just about making bigger and bigger links until eventually getting it done before the end of the limestone season.

What is coming up next?
I’m heading back to Switzerland in November to try to finish a 6 year project.

Which project is it and how many sessions have you put in?
The sit project to Fake Pamplemousse (8A) in Brione. I honestly have no idea… in the hundreds.

How will you prepare for your next trip and how close have you come?
I have a replica to train on and I’m doing very specific conditioning exercises. I’ve climbed it in 2 overlapping halves but haven’t got into the stand. I’ve done the stand 100’s of times so I’m reasonably confident I’ll do it when I get into it. All the difficulty is getting to the stand. 2 hard hand moves and a hard foot move.

Alex Honnold, with seven 8c+' under his belt, has done Manphibian (9a) in Mt. Charleston, giving a personal 8c+ grade. This is the first 8c+ and beyond for the 39-year-old since 2021. "Psyched to get this done in between life stuff - too much work travel. Used kneebars in several places that surely make this much easier than 9a - I could even imagine hard 8c the way I did it. But it's still a great route and I really enjoy the upper part." (c) Rollin Grimmett, who sent Arrested Development (8c+) the same day, comments.

"We both sent first try of the day, first me and then him. Lovely day at the crag with surprisingly no crowds. I have been trying Arrested since I moved to Vegas in June, gave it about a month of effort before it got too hot. I trained a lot in July on the TB2, and was psyched to put it together as soon as it started cooling off. The middle crux for me is very friction dependent, so it was nice not to not slip off anymore".

Leo Bøe, who since 2023 has done a dozen 9a's, has during the last three weeks in Flatanger sent three 9a’s. (c) Adri Martinez

Little Badder (9a); "Was hard for me to complete this climb as it had 1 stopper move in the last crux. I fell in the top crux 6 tries in a row. I had to be fully rested to do the span-move, and in the end it went when I had optimized the rests before. Cool to finally send this athletic climb!!"

Illusionist (9a); "Fun to solve this puzzle and find the perfect beta. I almost only fell in the big span move before the roof, but when I finally stuck that I climbed Illusionist to the top! Was cool to share this with a motivated crew!!"

Valhalla (9a); ”Finally dared to try this endurance test. Thanks to a good crew and sharing betas it went down so quick! Doug & Josh also sent the two following days! 💥”

Pepa Šindel, who did a 9a+ two years ago, sent Hades (9a) in July. " I tried Hades for the first time in the summer of 2023 and after a few tries I started throwing sharp attempts. Unfortunately, I failed. So we returned to it during the autumn holidays. I was very close, but just felt short... So the plan for this holiday was clear - to finish it. And after a good rest and when the conditions improved, the climb was successful! Wow this one gave me a hard time 😅. So far my hardest 9a."br>

Domen Škofic has done Little Badder (9a) in Flatanger and now he has started working on Move (9b). ”I’m enjoying the process of working on Move. It’s going amazing at the moment:)”

With Jorge Diaz-Rullo (who took the picture), Stefano Ghisolfi and Seb Bouin at the scene, it is an amazing line up in the cave, although Alex Megos just left.

Can you tell us more about Little Badder?
It’s incredible that this route is not that much endurance based even though it’s approximately 50 meters long. It has so many good knee bar rests that it’s more challenging to stay focused on doing two very cool athletic cruxes perfectly with a nice flow. The only thing I disliked about this route is that it gets wet quickly and can stay wet for a long time. I basically send it the first good/dry day since arriving here. The other days I could focus on working the Move which stayed dry most of the time so I took adventure of every day :)

Loic Zehani, who earlier in 2024 has sent 15 routes 9a to 9b, has done the FA of La voie lactée (9a) in Baume canouille. (c) Lunar Fox

”35 powerful movements in the big overhang. "Grotte de l'Ours" style! Hard first part with a nice dynamic move and some crimpy movements, then the second part is very resistant and physical. There is no rest between. About 15 tries in way too hot, that it is so good north wind "mistral". Not soft I think.”

Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher have repeated Alex Luger’s Seventh Direction (8c) in Rätikon. The 220 meter long route follows a particularly steep part of the wall, with sustained and strenuous climbing, throughout. Here is Babsi’s report.

”On August 15th, after completing our project "The Gift," we heard that Nemo [Nemuel Feurle] had successfully climbed "seventh Direction," which is located on the same rock face but about 50 meters to the left. Unlike "The Gift," which has one very hard pitch (8c) and another graded 8a+. "Seventh Direction" is consistently difficult and runs through the steepest section of the massif. While we were working on "The Gift," we often saw Nemo taking big falls on this exposed route. He spent two hand full days over two summers working on the steep line and finally made the very first repeat of "Seventh Direction" at the end of August.

After Jacopo’s send of "The Gift," he decided to join Nemo for a day on "Seventh Direction" to get a feel for it. They climbed the first difficult pitch together before a severe thunderstorm forced them to retreat. On the next attempt, I joined in. Jacopo and I spent three days together on "Seventh Direction." We worked out all the pitches and found solutions for the tough sections, benefiting greatly from Nemo’s previous efforts. He left his fixed ropes, and the route was already cleaned with visible chalk marks, making our task a bit easier. After three days of work on the different pitches, we decided to try a redpoint ascent. With five of the eight pitches ranging from 8a to 8b+, we agreed to approach it the same way as "The Gift"—one of us leading all pitches one day, and the other the next. To decide who would go first, we played rock-paper-scissors. The luck was on my side and I won, meaning I was up the next day.

On September 1st, we started early due to a high chance of thunderstorms that day. The first three pitches were easy, but the first hard pitch in the steep part of the wall took all my energy; I was not fully warmed up and barely managed to climb that pitch. My arms were pumped, and I felt already exhausted after the first hard section of the overhang. After a brief rest, I pushed on, feeling more confident but still nervous. I fought through a tricky boulder problem, only to fall just before the anchor of the second hardest pitch. Frustrated!! Jacopo lowered me back down to the belay. I tried again 45 minutes later and made it to the anchor. Back in the game. Then came the crux pitch. It was a massive fight, but I somehow barley made it and clipped the anchor, realizing I still had a little chance to send the whole line that day.Without much rest, scared from dark clouds in the sky, I pushed through the next 8a pitch, making it to the very last pitch as the sky grew darker. I asked Jacopo if he could jumar up instead of climbing to save time, as we could hear thunder approaching. Again no time for a proper rest, I began the final pitch, the one I had practiced the most. I was confident on that one but really exhausted as well. Maybe it was too much of a rush and pressure to keep on going. Again I fell at the very last move. I thought it was over. But then, a miracle—a small blue window opened in the clouds right above our route, while it rained all around us. After an hour's rest, the sky cleared, giving me one more chance. Feeling more relaxed and finally after a proper rest I climbed through the cruxes and reached the top. It was one of my most intense and motivated days in Rätikon—an incredible, steep climb through the wildest part of this wall located at Gelbegg. Thanks, Alex Luger, for this amazing route!

And biggest thanks to my partner in crime for all the support during the day and for sharing all those great moments together. Jacopo climbed the route two days later on the 3rd of September. He didn’t have a single fall. Climbed everything first try on lead! It was a perfect day, we were super fast, both no falls and we stood on top of the wall already around 2:30 p.m. That was a perfect ending of a great summer, spending lots of time in the beautiful Austrian part of the Rätikon.”