Eliáš Kysela, who over the last four months has sent his first three 9a’s, has done Martin Krpan (9a) in Osp/Misja Pec. The 17-year-old did his first 8c some 18 months ago.

”I went to Mišja Peč for a week. The main goal was to climb Martin Krpan. On the first day I managed to send Konec Mira which is half of the route and four days later I managed to send the whole line. I think it's a little easier with a kneepad. But ok compared to the 9a routes I've climbed, it's definitely not 8c+.”

Shauna Coxsey, who won eleven World Cups and stopped competing in 2021, has during a week spent in La Pedriza, sent six boulders 8A and harder including Wild Wild West, Pin y Pon (8B) and Fotofobia (8B+). All the more impressive, the 31-year-old mother to a toddler completed Fotofobia, which was FA'd by Ignacio Gonzalez, in a single session. (c) Talo Martin

“I was so excited to try Fotofobia! Big moves on tiny crimps on and overhanging wall... Yes! It is such an amazing piece of rock and the moves did not disappoint! I tried to climb the original line from Nacho. It seems there are a few new bigger holds at the end to the right that have been cleaned up. I decided to avoid those and stay left of the obvious seam. As for the grade, I really don’t know. It's been a while since I have climbed this grade so don't feel I am in a position to fully comment just yet. It went down pretty quickly so I am tempted to say it may be closer to 8B but I also don’t think I could design a climb to suit me more than this.”

Jorge diaz-rullo has logged Sleeping Lion (9b) in Siurana and confirmed Megos' 9b grade proposal. Jorge who is 169cm, says the dyno at the start was the hardest part for him. (c) Marco Zanone

On Instagram he comments. "Based on the whole process and my experience on these levels, if I had to choose a personal grade in relation to my body and my climbing style, I think it could be a 9b in the hard range, and I think it could become confirmed in this grade.

Regarding what I mentioned about height, although it may negatively affect me in some moves on this route due to being shorter than the average climbers tackling these difficulties, I am certain that in many cases, being who I am benefits me, such as when grabbing small holds or being more of an endurance climber. It doesn’t matter how you are or what challenges you face, just enjoy the game ."

Maya Ene, who last year climbed an 8c+ route as well as an 8A+ boulder, has completed The Thrilla in Manila (8B) in Hueco Tanks (TX). Her family owns a small climbing gym in New Jersey, and her father Ionel, finished his World Cup career in 1999 by being #19 in Speed and #43 in Lead at the World Championships.

Can you tell us more about Thrilla?
I think I got very motivated to try a V13 after placing third in the Hueco Rock Rodeo competition on February 17. To be on the podium with these famous names, Nina Williams and Michaela Kiersch, meant a lot to me. The problem was beta intense (knee bars - not my style) so I worked on it for two days. I was able to send it on my last day of the trip, last try. Super psyched. Looking for a V14 now:). My father was a big support for me during the comp and while working on the problem.

What is coming up next for you?
I will try to spend a couple of more weeks climbing outside (maybe I can send my project "Pure Imagination" this spring). In May, I will start focusing more on indoor climbing to get ready for Youth Nationals.

What does a normal climbing week look like for you?
My training? Hmm, that is something hard to describe because I don't have a particular program. My parents' schedule is a bit chaotic, but we climb indoors 4 to 5 times a week. Besides our gym, we climb at many others around us to experience different styles, sets and holds. A couple of weeks before Youth nationals we focus exclusively on indoor climbing.

How often do you climb outdoors?
We have almost no climbing outdoors here in New Jersey, so to get some quality climbing we have to travel at least 6 hours, so when we go, we stay for a couple of days. I think we spend about 3 months climbing outside throughout the year.

Anak Verhoeven is historically speaking one of the best female Lead competition climbers. She made finals in the WC 36 times in a row. In total, she made the podium 19 times, but in 2019 she stopped competing due to injuries. In the second half of 2021, she fully recovered but decided to focus only on rock climbing. During her comp years, she did a dozen routes 8c+ to 9a+, and since then she has done another dozen routes routes 9a to 9a+.

Kai Lightner has kept up his recent form and fitness by doing the FA of Death of Villains (9a+) at Hurricave. Kai first made headlines when he sent Southern Smoke (8c+) at age 13, in 2012. The next year, he won the Youth World Championship and completed Era Vella (9a). Last November he made his return to 9a by climbing, Life Of Villains (9a).

On Instagram he comments on his 9a+ FA. "I can’t end this post without giving a HUGE shout out to @joekinder. You have really become a mentor for me in so many ways, and have gone out of your way to help me in my outdoor climbing journey. At the end of the day, the climbing community would not exist without people like you developing the crags we recreate in." (c) Gareth Leah

Can you tell us more about this FA?
Training for Death of Villains was honestly a shot in the dark. I had never projected a climb at that level, and didn’t know how much was enough. For this particular climb, power endurance was the name of the game, and I had to have a lot of it. So lots of laps, lots of 4x4’s and lots of cardio! Luckily when I showed up to the climb, I knew I had enough fitness to get the job done in the 2.5 weeks I had given myself. I had also already done half the climb, as the beginning section is shared with Life of Villains (which I sent last fall). After 9 sessions and fighting the rain and damp conditions, I was finally able to get it done on the last possible try of the last day of my trip! Super psyched to nail this one down .

How long did you prepare for the climb?
I’d say [only] the month before (January). After a busy month of December in Jamaica and going home for the holidays, I reserved the month of January strictly for training and preparing.

What is coming up next for you?
Spain in two weeks! I’ll be climbing around Spain for a month testing routes and seeing what goes. Only time will tell!

Gabriele Moroni has repeated La Rambla (9a+) in Siurana. Originally it was Alexander Huber's project and in 1994 he made it to the first anchor. In 2003, Ramon Julian Puigblanque continued six meters by traversing right towards La Reina Mora. It has been logged 26 times in the database and is considered one of the most beautiful cutting-edge lines in Spain.

The 36-year-old started making headlines in 2004 when he won the bronze at the European Bouldering Championship. Prior to that break-out success, in Lead, he had already won three European Youth Cups as well as the Youth World Championship. In 2018, the Italian finished his competition career after having won a Boulder WC that same year.

Last year he made a brief WC comeback. “I am not going to do any of the WC’s this year. I will be coaching at some of the WC’s like I did the previous years. My comeback last year was not planned. I got asked from the federation if I want to try to get selected for the OQS. But my last minute training was not enough. I got some decent results in bouldering (once in top 25) but not very good in lead (first lead comps [for me] in 14years).”


Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried it for some days during the 2022/23 New Years trip. Then again for a few days at the start of the month and finally on my second day of the last mini trip last week. The ascent came on a very windy day. I knew I had a pretty good chance to do it since I was already very close on my previous trip. I felt really good on the morning of the send. My only concern was the glacial wind conditions but eventually, I kept it together.

Did you do any special preparation for the send?
I tried to train specifically in January doing some longer laps, indoor routes and of course some power training on the board.

What is next for you?
I can't really plan much due to the work schedule. I am the head setter at Urban Wall in Milano. For sure I'd love to spend some weekends in Arco on a couple of routes I bolted last fall.

Tanguy Merard, who the last year did ten routes 9a or 9a+, has flashed Rêve de poutre (8c) in Saint Léger. During the last year, the 20-year-old has flashed five 8c’s and in the All Time Flash Ranking game, the French climber is the runner-up after Adam Ondra. (c) Joris

”A friend of mine gave me beta on the route and I also watched the video of Alex Megos in the Le Cadafist (9a) which has the same finish as Rêve de Poutre 8c. I chose the beta with more movement but easier one which is closer to my style of climbing. During the flash everything worked to perfection and I opted with the right beta. Now I will try Le Cadafist...”

The biggest update in today’s release is the new dark mode. It was your number one feature request after the Vertical-Life release, and so we are happy to get it out today! The default setting is your device’s system setting, and you can change it to always light or always dark in the hamburger menu on the top right. If you notice anything, especially low contrast copy or buttons in the dark mode, please let us know at [email protected].

Besides the dark mode, we’ve recently made the following changes and improvements:

• The moderator system got a fresh look and some improvements/fixes (sign up here if you want to help with cleaning the database!).
• ‘Dickes B’, the Geoquest guidebook by Gerald Krug that covers all climbing in and around Berlin is now available in the app. Check it out here.
• North Wales Limestone by Andy Boorman and Ian Carr is also live in the app in its entirety!
• Aris Theodoropoulos and Katie Rousso provided updates for several crags in Kalymnos and Leonidio.
• Bohemian Switzerland is the latest addition to our premium destinations, and the new Panico Guidebook by Helmut Schulze is available to subscribers now.

We fixed lots of mostly small bugs that were reported since the last release. Thanks to everyone who reached out.

Seb Berthe did the third ascent of Seb Bouin's Beyond (9a+) in January. The 30-year-old is a former international competition climber who twice has won the Belgium Championship. He is perhaps best known for his big wall ascents but more recently he has been turning his attention to sport climbing, and he started last year by doing La Rambla (9a+) and later he onsighted Ajo crudo (8c). "Beyond is probably one of the best of this grade in France and even in Europe: Huge overhang, big dropknees, dynos, kneebars, amazing tufas…"