Daniel Woods, who last week made the first repeat of Drew Ruana's Freak Show (8C), reports on Instagram that he has done the FA of Adrenaline. (c) Bobby Sorich

The 33-year-old has now completed 50 boulders 8C and harder including the FA of Return of the Sleepwalker (9A). He has also won one Boulder World Cup and completed roughly ten 9a+ graded routes.

Zach Galla has during the last four months done four 8C's and Sleepwalker (8C+). The Mellow archival video follows Zach during the past two years.

Taylor Kiley did Hypothetical (8B+) at Swan Falls, last month. Initially, we got in contact with Conrad Piper-Ruth, who did this same boulder as his first 8B+ at age 39, but he graciously chose to shine more light on Taylor's incredible story rather than his own impressive ascent.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how long you've been involved in climbing?
I'm 30 years old. I grew up climbing in Idaho, and have been coaching for 10+ years! My climbing background is mostly outdoor bouldering in Idaho, I rarely gym climb. I also grew up with Lyme disease, which has been a constant battle in my climbing career.

How has this disease impacted your climbing?
Tough question to answer shortly, it has been the biggest impact of my entire life. Constant severe pinched nerves, osteoporosis, 20+ fractured bones, permanent broken fingers for multiple years. Cognitive issues, severe Hyperacusis, severe inflammation, arthritis, chronic fatigue, insomnia, heart issues, organ pain, severe migraines, the list goes on.

Ultimately Lyme's has been my greatest teacher, it's taught me how to heal/prevent traumatic injuries all over my body, eat correctly, & maintain an extremely positive & forward thinking attitude. Sometimes my window of climbing at my limit is only a few months out of the year because of all the injuries compounding. I have to find these really small windows where my body allows me to climb hard without nerves pinching, muscles tearing etc... It has been like this since I was a kid. It used to be very depressing & debilitating. I'm very lucky.

When I was a kid, my dream was to climb a v14. when I was 17 I was told I would never climb again, and end up in a wheelchair by 25.

When did you get infected?
I got it from a tick bite, when I was 6 years old. I wasn't diagnosed till I was 16 or 17. By that time I was so sick I wasn't't even able to do much. I couldn't even put my hand around a door knob and close my fist.

How much have you been able to train during the last years?
Especially in the past 5 years, It feels like at any moment something could break, tear, or get pinched. I feel like I'm listening to my body with a condenser microphone or an internal stethoscope. Oftentimes I can only do a few attempts on my project. If I do a full session, I could for sure get injured & maybe have to take 3 months off to heal. I became very good at flashing and day flashing as a result.

I'm constantly weary about getting injured, so the biggest thing that I knew had to improve if I wanted to climb "Hypothetical" or a v14 in general, was to figure out a way to increase my durability of my body!

I've never been able to train, like period. Anytime I tried to train I would immediately get injured. The only training I can do is preventative injury exercises, I do very thorough dynamic warm-ups, static hangs from the hangboard, & climb a ton outside really gently. Lots of heat therapy & acupuncture too. To be honest I spend a lot of my day just laying in bed in pain.

The way I've been able to train is by coaching, coaching motivates me to get out of my bed to do something with my life, Lyme disease can ultimately kill you if you lay in bed too long, it'll make its way to the brain and cause inflammation. Which, is why coaching has been so important. I probably wouldn't leave my bed most days without it. Teaching movement has taught me movement as well. Finding the path of least resistance through moves, instead of being stronger than the move. Having great precision and accuracy, learning how to execute under high pressure, while maintaining confidence and great positivity. I do a considerable amount of mental visualization, which is where most of my hours go into training. Honestly my training has mostly been purely teaching, visual, and finding ways to motivate belief in myself. That has been my biggest mechanism for training.

How many hours do you normally train in a month?
Short answer, I usually spend half the year climbing & half the year recovering from injuries! In a normal week when I'm not injured, maybe 2-3 hours, [but] oftentimes zero. I warm up really thoroughly every day like I'm about to climb and then don't! I'll go out and watch Conrad on the boulder, or my friend Mike & Tammy project things. I just immerse myself mentally in movement throughout the week. [I] Probably climb 4 hours over 2 weeks.

That being said when I'm not climbing, I'm still mentally climbing through other people, I continue going out watching my friend's project very closely. I'll help clean new lines build landings or just sit and watch. I'll just go out, walk around, sit in front of a boulder, and pretend to climb it for a while, while manically filling my brain with thoughts and impressions on why I CAN do the boulder. I see myself doing the boulder in my head so much I eventually I conjure it into reality.

What type of injuries have you had and how often do you have to battle them?
Last year specifically I had around 6 severe pinched nerves, I couldn't even leave my bed sometimes, at times I would crawl to the bathroom literally. I tore this extremely low AB muscle while projecting, that took about half a year to get in control of. A left lateral ligament strain/tear on my middle finger, bad inflammation all over & especially in the spine. Carpal tunnel in my left wrist (flares up and down). Increased heart issues and swelling. Severe strain of my groin ext...

Not really anyone except my close friends and family know about this, I've always been paranoid about people looking strangely, or down at me for being sick. But after doing this boulder, it might help people to know that the impossible can be possible! If you create an ecosystem in your life for success, confidence, health, & positive growth, you can create an opportunity to overcome your life goals.

Domen Škofic has been on a four week “solo” trip to , where he did 17 routes 8b to 8c+, including two onsights. (c) Jan Novak

The five hardest, for the overall World Cup winner in 2016, were; L'idéal chimérique (8c+), Le concept intégrale (8c+), Go Green Gringo (8c+), La ligne claire (8c+) and L'enfumette (8c+).

Which route did you like the most and which did cause you most problem?
My favorite route I’ve done on the whole trip was “Le concept integrale”. I’ve spent two tries to equip this monster line with draws and to clean the top part but then I had so much fun on it that I was able to send it the next try after a huge fight. I liked it because I love long routes, it has a unique crux at the top where you have to throw your feet above your head and I think it’s also one of the most natural routes in SL.

Most of the routes I was able to send on my second, third or fourth try only L’ideal Chimerique I came close to my limit because I was underestimating it and I always tried it at the end of the day and I got to pumped.

The only route I came to my limit of 6 tries was Supercrackinette (9a+) and it was very tempting to try it more because it was [looking] very promising to send it quick but at the same time it could take me many more tries because I wasn’t solid enough on the last move and I would need to be quite lucky to get the last micro crimp perfectly…

Can you explain more about what you said on Instagram prior to the trip: “On the road 🇫🇷 solo mission, meet new people and climb great routes.”
Haha, yeah it’s awesome to do solo trips. I started doing this because I’ve always used too much energy getting people pumped up for a certain trip and at one point I realized that people that are actually psyched to climb at the crag I want to go are already there. … and meeting new people is anyway one of the best ways to learn in life not just climbing, I love it :)

I talked to people a little bit in advance of course. Before coming to SL I talked to Jules Marchaland and he recommended me to his friend that climbs a lot in the area. From there on I met new people and so it was never hard to climb with somebody cool every day :)

What are your next plans?
For 2024 plans I can’t really say because I’m really just following my instinct at the moment. The next trip will be to Villanueva del Rosario to finally try Chilam Balam (9b). I’ve been dreaming to try this route since I first saw videos about it.

Andrea Locatelli, who last year onsighted eigth routes 8a or 8a+, has onsighted Cerutti Gino (8a+) in Arco. Andreas father Davide, gives us the background.

The ascent of Andrea's last 8a+ onsight came by chance... The day before in Arco, Andrea took part in a selection meeting of the Italian national team and we decided to stay an extra day to climb outside. We have few opportunities to climb on the rock precisely because of competitive commitments. We spent a few hours at the Bassilandia crag and on the advice of some local climbers, whom I thank, Andrea tried Cerutti Gino, a slab of about 30 meters with two bouldery sections separated by a good rest. It was a good fight especially because of the second boulder problem which was difficult to read on sight and because Andrea was climbing with two annoyed [thin skinned] fingertips, worn out from training the day before.

Andrea replies regarding this year's objectives: “This year I will be very busy with competitive commitments, I would like to join the youth national team but it will be very difficult at my current height [150 cm]. I would also like to climb the first 9a! But first of all have fun.”

Amandine Loury has, in the same day, done La ligne claire (8c+) and Les petits chefs du néant (8c) in . (c) Jean-Luc Jeunet

La ligne she had been trying for several years. After the send she decided to also try Les petits which she worked on one year ago.

”I always have been passionate about the rock, even when I was competing. In 2012 I decided to stop competition and to spend all my free time on the rock. I’m sport teacher close to Saint léger du ventoux and Buoux. I practice rock climbing 3-4 times per week and this is the main training I really do. I’m very lucky to live in this amazing area, surrounded by world-class crags.”

The IFSC has introduced comprehensive regulations related to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). "RED-S is a syndrome that affects health and performance and is caused by a mismatch between the calories eaten and burned during exercise. It can lead to many short- and long-term health and performance issues. "In short, the IFSC REDs Policy will require:

"Athletes to fill out two short questionnaires aimed at accumulating personal parameters for such criteria as height, weight, heart rate and blood pressure;

National Federations are to issue each athlete a health certificate or request more testing before providing “clearance” to the IFSC;

IFSC will initiate random and focussed testing of the following parameters (including BMI, heart rate, and blood pressure) throughout the competition season. The IFSC will also store the information provided by the National Federations;

An External Commission will review the data of suspected cases, comparing collected data with that of the National Federation health certificates."

IFSC President Marco Scolaris comments. “The new system underscores our commitment to the health of our athletes. The policy will not only help us determine which athletes are most at risk, it will also help raise awareness of the issue, provide help to those who need it, and ensure the rights of each athlete are protected.

The National Federations are key to the success of the new policy, as the health and welfare of the athletes fall under their jurisdiction at the national level. We look forward to collaborating with them closely on this matter.”

As an example, here are the scores and measurements that give an idea of who will be allowed to compete or if further testing is required

(ii. BMI: Males 18 years old and older < 18.5; Males 15 – 17 years old: < 18
Females 18 years old and older < 18, Females 15 – 17 years old: < 17.5
iii. Heart Rate: 18 years and older <40bpm; under 18 years old < 50bpm
iv. Blood Pressure: < 90/60 mm Hg)

Here are some examples of BMI:
(Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.)
61 kg / (180 cm * 180 cm) = 18.8
54 kg / (170 cm * 170 cm) = 18.7
46 kg / (160 cm * 160 cm) = 18.0
40 kg / (150 cm * 150 cm) = 17.8