Zach Galla, who sent Sleepwalker (8C+) in December, has added The Doors Of Perception (8C) in Little Cottonwood and Southern drawl (8C) in Chattanooga to his impressive tick list. The 23-year-old has now climbed five boulder problems graded 8C and harder over the last four months.

"Southern drawl [in the picture] is a banger! I managed to finish it up on my last trip home to visit family for the holidays. I was originally trying with beta a lot more standard but I was quite sick and didn’t have the power endurance for the last sequence. I thought if I could manage the jump way it would be much faster and could work in my current fitness. It ended up suiting me well that way and I was able to get it done.

It’s been good momentum for me recently! Doors is one of the hardest things I’ve ever managed to climb. I did some cleaning work getting it ready to go last season and put in around 5 or so days before Sean [Bailey] joined me on it and he managed the first ascent in about 4-5 sessions. We were both super close on the FA but with the boulder being so finicky and a foot crumbling after Sean’s ascent, it took me about 5 more days."

The last three years, Zach has been #8, #11 and #5 in the Salt Lake City World Cup.

”After missing my olympic opportunity and a few long seasons dedicated to comps, I plan on focusing on rock all [of] 2024. I was 3rd at the Pan American games and needed to win for a spot.”

Ben Burkhalter, who last year did three 8C’s, has repeated James Webb's Southern drawl (8C) (FA'ed as an 8B+) in Chattanooga. In the 8a ranking game, the 23-year-old is #6.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Southern Drawl is a very meaningful boulder for me! It encapsulates everything that I was bad at. Pure big hold power on slopers that need perfect friction to stick. It also demands ton of body tension plus open hand / half crimp strength, which for a long time has been my total anti-style. Despite having grown up climbing in the Southeast, I’ve always been strongest on crimps. Drawl is one of those mystical lines that I’d heard about long ago, but with its brutal difficulty and physical style I never thought it could ever go for me.

I first tried it last winter, but didn’t really come close to sending. Then I had a few sessions over Thanksgiving this year and had a total breakthrough falling on the final rip into the victory jug EIGHT times from the bottom last day of my trip! Because of my height, I am unable to release before the final dyno like others have previously. Instead, have to do a violent slam across into the hold which makes it much harder to hold the swing. This move turned out to be my crux, constantly spitting me off many times each session, leaving me with gnarly flappers.

After 5 more sessions of falling on the last move I finally had the magic go where I hit everything right and ended up on top! It was a perfect moment of total bliss, disbelief, and happiness as I watched the sun set behind the southern hills. To me, sending this boulder marks the end of the final chapter in my Southeastern climbing journey. There will always be more hard lines to try, but none will be as meaningful as this. So psyched!

Davide Picco, who started 2024 by sending Sanjski par extension (9a), has made the first repeat of Silvio Reffo’s Musa (9a) in Covolo.

Can you tell us more about those 9a ascents?
Let me start with Sanjski par: I've always had a weakness for this line, since the first time I visited Misja Pec. I think that might be because it is located in a 3-meter-high cave 😂. Anyway, during my Christmas holidays in 2019, I was able to send the first part but failed to connect the extension. I came back one weekend in December last year and was nearly able to make the ascent after the third day of trying. I was close but didn't expect to be that close 😅. When I came back again during Christmas time I warmed up, I did one go to brush the route and then I was able to make it to the top.

Concerning Musa: I chose this line because no dry caves were nearby 😂. It is a bouldery route (bolted and climbed by Reffo some years ago), that never gets wet. It seemed the perfect solution as in November it'd been raining a lot and there weren't any dry crags where I live. So we started going back and forth from Rovereto to Covolo every weekend of that month but I couldn't connect all those hard movements, 14 in total. To be fair the first three moves were the ones that made me trouble the most, those right before entering the main crux. Finally, on Christmas Eve I understood how to pass through and when I returned last weekend I succeeded. I would have never thought to send it soon after going past those three movements, usually, I'm the one who falls right in front of the anchor at least one time 😂.

Speaking on the Testpiece Climbing podcast, Sean Bailey reports that he has added a low start to the highball boulder Evilution Direct (8A) at the Buttermilks, calling it Devilution (8C+). The 8A goes from stacked pads and Sean basically added two super hard moves from a stand start. (c) John Kasaian

”Everyone that comes out of the Milks normally walks through that boulder, we were trying it late in the day, we brought like twenty pads out there to do it so I'm already like a little stressed. I really don't want to have to get all these pads out here again, and I turn around and I'm like oh my goodness, there's like thirty, forty people out here. I want to get this thing done, it's getting dark...”

Earlier in the winter season, Sean flashed Slasher (8B), did the FA of The Doors of Perception (8C) and repeated Lucid Dreaming (8C). More details can be found on Sean's Instagram. The 27-year-old has been an active IFSC competition climber for over ten years and in 2021, he won one Boulder WC and two Lead WC's.

There are over 8.2 million ascents in the 8a database that could assist you in finding the best routes to try. Here's the list of the most popular routes from 5A to 6c+.

Isolation (6c+) in Frankenjura - 819 ascents (c) Maren Riedel
Frapogalo (6c) in Kalymnos - 875
Atena (6b+) in Kalymnos - 911
Carpe Diem (6b) in Kalymnos - 991
Monahiki Elia (6a+) in Kalymnos - 1 002
Komin Lechfora (6a) in Rzędkowice - 627
Rój Hektora (5c+) in Sokoliki - 537
Dulferek (5c) in Dolina Będkowska - 420
Oszołomiony oszołom (5b) in Podzamcze - 326
Domowe przedszkole (5a) in Dolina Szklarki - 368

Michaela Kiersch is on a trip in Hueco Tanks (TX), where she has sent El Techo de Los Tres B (8A), Full Monty (8A+), Power of Landjager (8A), Rumble in the Jungle (8A+), The Thrilla in Manila (8B) and flashed Focus (7C+).

Can you tell us more about your time in Hueco thus far?
I sent El techo in about an hour but I had tried it before, about 5 years ago. Landjager took about 20 mins and I had also briefly attempted it some years ago. I repeated Rumble in the Jungle the other day and Thrilla is an alternative crimpy exit. I sent it second try from the bottom once I figured out my beta. The Full Monty took me 2 sessions and I’d say it's the most powerful [of these boulder problems mentioned].

What is next on your agenda?
I’ll stay a few more days to try a couple more projects before heading back home to continue my training for Margalef :) in March. Nice to know my power is high! Now [I need] to make sure the endurance is good.

Silvio Reffo, who has 18 routes 9a to 9a+ under his belt, has done the FA of Lullaby (9a) in Covolo. ”Lullaby is the easy variant of a project of mine. In the last few months I have not climbed so much, because of the birth of my second child, but despite this in the last few weeks I have managed to climb many routes. I hope the positive trend will continue in the coming months, because the project I have in mind is really hard.”

Beckett Hsin, who did his first 8B+ in September, four days after he turned 14, sent last month The Game (8C) in Boulder Canyon. ”So psyched to finally send the boulder I’ve been dreaming about for so long.”

Daniel Woods established this testpiece problem in 2011 and it has been logged 12 times in the 8a database.

There are over 8.2 million ascents in the 8a database that could assist you in finding the best routes to try. Here's the list of the most popular boulders from 8B to 5A. In the picture, La Marie-Rose (6A) which was the first 6A in Fontainebleau put up in 1946 and named after the FA's girlfriend. (c) Maarten Muylle

Riverbed (8B) Magic Wood - 209 ascents
Jack's broken heart (8A+) Magic Wood - 290
Octopussy (8A) Magic Wood - 539
Resident Evil (7C+) New Joe's - 502
Supernova (7C) Magic Wood - 959
Carnage (7B+) Fontainebleau - 1 291
Schrotti (7B) Magic Wood - 954
High Plains Drifter (7A+) Buttermilks - 1 125
Le Toit du Cul de Chien (7A) Fontainebleau - 1 499 ascents

Matusalem (6C+) Chironico - 362
Serengeti (6C) Happy Boulders - 968
Girl on Our Mind (6B+) Rocklands - 579
Iron Man Traverse (6B) Buttermilks - 1 096
Blue Sky Of Mine (6A+) Magic Wood - 492
La Marie-Rose (6A) Fontainebleau - 1 657 (c) Maarten Muylle
Nobody Here Gets Out Alive (5C) Hueco Tanks (TX) - 660
Heavenly Path (5B) Happy Boulders - 348
Melon Patch (5A) Hueco Tanks (TX) - 212

Kerry Scott, who did three 8A+ graded boulder problems last year, has sent The Grinch sds (8B) in Eldorado Canyon. "The boulder definitely suits me very well! It’s hard to comment on the grade. People have opinions that are all over the place. It took me 3 sessions and I felt like I had some luck on my side because I executed all the moves perfectly and felt like I was in flow. For me, there was no margin for error on a climb this hard and technical.”