Ainhize Belar Barrutia, who was #4 in her last Euro Youth Cup, has onsighted Txirrin txirran (8b+) and redpointed Bongo X in Egino, La Leze. The 18-year-old, who onsighted her first 8a at age 14, is #2 in the female ranking game.

Can you tell us more about those two ascents?
Well, I chained Bongo X and the truth is that I was not sure what to do. I looked at ‘txirrin txirran’ which looked like an amazing line and decided to try it. The idea was to look at it a bit to try to do it the next day, but as there is only one attempt onsight, I went with everything. I felt very good climbing and was very focused on task goals (without giving importance to the result), so little by little I managed to clip the chain on this 8b+.

Karoline Sinnhuber has done Idée fixe (8c) in La Saume. "Finally some wind and fresh condis… ahhhhh. What a line, great climb. Happy that I kept my shit together for the top part 🤪 it‘s not over, till it‘s over!"

The 29-year-old finished her World Cup competition career in 2018 by being #8 in Munich. Later her focus has been outdoors and in total she has done 55 boulders 8A+ or 8B. She has also done nine routes 8b+ or 8c, out of which, six in the last 15 months. (c) Fabian Leu

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Idée fixe consists basically of 2 boulders. The second one is the same like, Saume thing more (8b) I already did last year. Unfortunately, it didn‘t feel easier this year 😅 The first boulder is quite long, starting with a tricky heel hook section, a nasty drop knee for the clip and then a hard shoulder move far to the right and then you have to catch a little crimp with the left hand. I was struggling a lot with warm conditions, no wind and/or bad skin. Super lucky it was really cold on one day - so I took this opportunity 😉

Are you starting to shift focus to route climbing?
My focus is still on bouldering, I just concentrate on a harder boulder in my area which needs kind a lot of sessions 🤪 and some better conditions than summer has to offer. So during summer my‚ boulder career‘ is mostly on ice and you can find me on the rope somewhere. I hope autumn and winter treat me well and I can tick off a few boulders 🙂

The Youth World Championship will take place in Guiyang from 22 - 31 August. In total, 599 teenagers from 49 countries will participate. Here you can follow the results.

The Hatchling (8A) is one of the iconic boulders in Rocklands with over 200 logged ascents. In the picture by Kevin McNally, Michaela Kiersch is flashing it. The second picture, from Daniel Gajda, shows that is has fallen down to the ground and Eric Jerome comments;

”No one can say for sure whether The Hatchling was blown over by wind or other natural occurrences or if it was rocked too hard and toppled over by a human. What we do know is that climbers have been rocking it back and forth for over a decade which has contributed to its instability and eroded the base. That in conjunction with record rains and lots of wind this year likely led to its demise. There are now a few very easy problems that we climbed on what remains.”

Alex Ventajas, with two 9a+' under his belt, has had some good days in Gravere where he first flashed L'Extremacura (8c) and later redpointed TCT (9a). (c) Nicolò Conterno/Crimp Films

Can you tell us more about those two ascents?
Gravere is a small and peaceful sector near Turin. I have heard of it because TCT, the line dedicated to Tito Traversa, is a famous route in Italy and I was curious to try it. Even if it’s quite an old-school style, with some chipped and sika-holds, the routes have great aesthetic movements and I really enjoyed them!

L’Extremacura, it’s power-endurance route on crimps and two finger pockets on an overhanging wall. It fits my style and has no hard-to-read boulder, so I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it flash!

TCT represents the connection between L’Extremacura and the upper and hardest part of “Base Jump” 8b+, with a bad rest in between. There aren’t any extremely hard crux, but the line remains quite intense from the beginning till the end, so you need to climb perfectly the 8c, without wasting too much energy, to keep endurance enough to climb the second part.

How did you prepare yourself for the 8c flash?
This time everything was kind of improvised! I haven’t planned to try the 8c flash. I watched some videos of TCT on the road and, when we arrived there, I was lucky to find my friend Luca Casadei, who motivated me to try “L’extramacura” flash. I reviewed the sequences from the ground with him and then I started climbing. I had very good feelings going up and the more I climbed, the more motivated and confident I became to reach the top! Luca kept telling me the moves and everything went perfectly!

In February, Adam Ondra sent Narcissus (9a), which was his #212 9a and harder. He onsighted the first half, Kalmia-moci (8b+), going straight up and then he rappelled down and actually did the 9a extension on his first go. "Amazing line by Matteo Gambaro. Me and Seb [Bouin] we both used kneepads and took kind of different direction/beta on the very top (what we believe is more intuitive) which makes it much easier. and I think it could be soft 9a like this. The way Matteo did it is much harder and could be even 9a+?"

Max Milne, who started the World Cup season by beeing #9 & #8 in Lead and Boulder, has flashed Bewilderness (8B+) in Peak District. In total, only a dozen climbers have previously flashed 8B+ including Will Bosi who was at the scene giving him the beta as well as cleaning the holds on the top.

“It was quite surreal. I obviously knew i could do it but i'm really chuffed and it was cool that I had to fight. On this one [Bewilderness], a lot of the moves felt fairly at my limit so I had to lock in to get it done. I am proud to have said I was going to do it and then back up what I said with my actions.

I have looked up to Will for many years and we know each other fairly well but for me it is always super special to climb with him as it’s not that often we do get to train or climb on rock together. I have looked up to him for many years ever since I was a kid and I still do now too. So it was quite magical to have him there and help me through the whole process of flashing Bewilderness from the beta, spotting, encouragement and the good vibes. For me one of the best parts of flashing a bloc isn’t just the challenge itself but is the fact that it’s not just you”.

Max warmed up climbing on Badger Badger Badger (8A) which was a perfect warm-up for him as moves are very comp-style with a bit of spice at the top to jump to the good hold and then as me, Will and photographer Jake were grabbing photos elsewhere Max slowly got himself into the headspace for the flash.

The 'lock in' scribbled on his hiangles is a cool story. It is a meme online but Max jokingly put it on his shoes as a nudge to focus and now it is a key part of his routine for comps and he brought it to the flash attempt at Badger.

Janja Garnbret talks about her climbing background, being a women competing and her mindset going in to Paris, in three different videos.

Alexander Feichter has done the FA of The Darkness (9a) in Drittlsond, which is an easier variation of The Lord of Darkness (9b) he did in 2022, but which has not been reported. "Crazy powerful Line! Starting with a really nice crack continuing with the big roof of the Witch!"

What is interesting is that Alexander often projects his routes rope solo and actually often also sends them in this style. "I'm doing it because it makes fun and I really like climbing when my head says let's go. If not every time someone has time to belay you can climb and be safe. Also in the mountains, it is useful if some crux sections are and you need to belay if you are alone. Maybe well known by alpinists. Most of the time I get belayed by others. On big projects sometimes you are alone."

What kind of rope solo system do you use?
You make a fixed point in the other end of the rope and fix it in the first bolt in the bottom. Then you make 2-3 fixed knots in karabiners which you wear on a climbing harness and hang them in the boltes. The distances you have to calculate before or testing it. You can combine it with the Grigri, for the upper part, you can really quickly climb. Demonstrating Vimeo video.