Enrique Beltrán Blasco, who over the last two years has done five 9a's, has made the FA of Mavericks (9a) in Alquezar. The very next day, the 23-year-old repeated Desafiando a Noa (8c+).

Can you tell us more about Maveriks?
I am very happy with the ascent because it can be the hardest of my life. It was bolted Dani Fuertes three years ago. The route is about 30/35 metres on a roof and the most difficult part is to take the kneebar rest. This part is about hard 8c+ or 9a, small crimps, two finger pockets, very small feet and very physical.

You can relax a bit in the knee bar but it is bad. Then you continue with a helicopter move and the real crux is when you go on climbing, it's about a 7B boulder and then two quickdraws very easy with jugs. The finish is not very hard but when you do the small crimps in a more vertical wall [from the ground] , it is difficult to be calm and climb well.

Jernej Kruder sent Martin Krpan (9a) in December without using kneepads to respect the first ascensionist and commented, “I would like to expose something here: I spent many tries on this one, because my endurance is pretty bad, but I chose not to use kneepads since I respect the first ascent. Using kneepads would help me rest just before the crux. This would make grading equal to Konec Mira (8c/c+). Kneepad would also make me rest after the crux, where I was mostly falling. This would make the route even easier. So people, if you decide to disrespect the first ascensionist by using kneepads, then at least be true to yourself by not calling it 9a!” In this article he elaborated a bit more.

Jernej received a lot of credit for his thoughts and it created an interesting debate in the forum. Tobi Corr made a long statement which is one of the most "venga/liked" comments ever recorded on 8a:

"My few cents on the topic: Some people underestimate and under-appreciate kneebaring as a skill. Why do you think Dave Graham or other kneebar-expert pro climbers use kneepads on basically every climb that they do on climbs where nobody else does? Why are we not seeing more repeats of First Round First Minute if the kneebar beta is such a game changer? Is it because most people want to do it the way it was FAd or because they can't utilize the kneebar beta?

Another question for this scenario then is whether the kneebar-expert should downgrade the climb because it was an easier solution for him/her or recognize that for the average kneebar-leveled climber this does not make the climb any easier. Some people assume kneepads and kneebars are a "necessary evil" in order to get to the top of climbs in easier ways. Speaking for myself, I enjoy technical kneebar climbing a lot and think it, contrary to what some suggest, increases the complexity of climbing by opening up a larger set of available techniques. I think having kneepads as an available tool makes climbing more fun for me.

We all have different views on climbing. If you don't want to climb with kneepads, then don't. If you want to repeat a climb the same way it was FAd, then do. If you don't want to use a fan, then don't. If you want to use a full-body rubber suite, then do. If you want to have a crew of people holding a fan on the crux hold of your route, then do. If you think it is silly, then don't. As long as you don't mess with the experience for other's I think you should be allowed to climb in whichever style you want.

What is important is that if you are playing the "tick-hard-routes-to-get-cred" game, then I think you need to be honest about how you did it. After all, grades are subjective (as we all know) and may be different depending on what material is being used (as we all know), and giving a good grade suggestions may be challenging even for experienced climbers.

I think the "problem" here is that some people, Jernej in this case, are frustrated because they don't want to climb with kneepads, yet the difficulty of their ascents are compared apples-to-apples with the one is using kneepads, which in some cases are not an apple-to-apples comparison and may not give the appropriate level of credit to some ascents. Jernej seems to suggest that the solution to this is to have some sort of standard of how a route should be climbed. I think this is not the best solution because this discussion would then go on forever on what this "standard" should be. He seems to suggest that the standard should be to do it the way it was FAd, which also comes with problems since kneepads are not the only equipment that has been and is continuously improving as well as the routes themselves changing due to polish, new beta, broken holds.

Therefore I think the best option is to just accept that it is very hard to make apple-to-apple comparisons of ascents and there is no such thing as a "true" grade of a route and that the best option may be to ask for transparency from climbers regarding how they ascended it in order to tell what type of apple it is (new beta, kneepads, specific shoes, fans, going left at fifth bolt, finding new hold, hold broke, supercharged physivantage collagen, etc.). I wish you a lovely new climbing year at the crags or the gyms."

"We talked about his two most epic solos that nobody heard about, near misses, lessons from other climbing legends like Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist, and Peter Croft, pooping while free soloing stories, how the film Free Solo exceeded his hopes and dreams, the commitment to excellence, and much more!"

Lasse von Freier reports on Instagram that he has sent Off the Wagon Sit (8C+) in Valle Bavona. The 21-year-old German is a competitive climber and his best result thus far has been #13 in a European Cup last year.

"After many sessions over the last 4 years with ups and downs and filled with great memories this day has arrived. I am really proud to finish this lifetime goal."

The boulder, which includes a one-meter-cross over move where you face outwards, has been well known since Dave Graham and Chris Sharma tried it in the Dosage videos. Nalle Hukkataival made the FA of the stand start in 2012 as an 8C but later 8B+ has been the consensus. In 2018, Shawn Raboutou made the low start sitting from the wagon calling it 8C+ and it has also been projected sitting from the ground. Lasse says that he broke a foothold meaning one move became "slightly harder".

Manon Hily has done Rêve de poutre (8c) in St Léger. Last year, the 29-year-old was #3 in the Briancon World Cup and now her goal is to qualify for the Olympics and later the European Championship. After this, her focus will be outdoors. The picture by Théo Cartier is from L'idéal chimérique (8c+) which is still a project.

Can you tell us more about Rêve?
The route is located on the most beautiful roof of Praniania (for me). It’s a long beautiful power 8c with 2 very different parts. The first one is easy with a vertical part at the beginning and a long crossing part horizontally. It’s about 7b+ grade I think. So the difficulty of the route is on the last five quickdraws. Two very hard movements with low feet for tall people but for small people there is no foot so it’s campus-style. I quite quickly did all the moves but still, after five working attempts I didn’t manage to campus the second movement after the first one. I was close to giving up but I found a new foothold just to push better.

After these two moves, there are still ten very crimpy moves in a resistance section (the same section as the end of Le Cadafist (9a). You can fall so many times on different moves. But lucky me, the first time I managed to do the campus movements, I could also do the last sequences.

Conor Wellman sent James Webb's The Multiverse (8B+) last October. "What a gift to live in this universe and no other. The ultimate goal of my climbing career for a long ass time, and a level up to boot. Hard to believe I’ll have another moment this meaningful. 5 days :)"

Sam Weir has done the third ascent of Giuliano Cameroni’s REM (8C+) in Cresciano, video. It was established as an 8C+ and then Paul Robinson did the second ascent giving it a proposing 8B+ , as he did in a few short sessions. "It is hard to grade a boulder that is really just one move. It is very [much] in my style, meaning it is possibly 8C."

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
You know people are always super quick to say after one downgrade that’s the grade of something. This thing is hard! REM is a crimp masterpiece. Hard 8C or low 8C+. I think Giuliano gave the correct grade. It needs crazy perfect sticky damp conditions and I got them. The Boulder was soaked when I arrived and I think when it dried just the residual humidity on the rock made it sticky! Physically, it's not the hardest move I’ve done on crimps, but the fact that the crux is the last move makes it hard!!! It turns an 8A move into an 8B move with all the factors involved. The temperature, humidity, wind, and skin all need to line up perfectly when arriving to the 5mm crimp. You get 2/3 goes once every once a week... Still two grades harder than Dreamtime for me which I did in a few sessions ... Time will tell. But for sure my hardest ascent to date! Heading to Bishop or Vegas in February to visit my family so let’s see how Sleepwalker or Lucid Dreaming compares 😎

Luca Bertacco, a multidiscipline climber doing everything from boulders to multi-pitches and who is also trains youth competitors, has flashed La charca y la rana (8c) in Mula. Last spring he sent his first 9a.

Can you tell us more about the flash and what kind of beta you received?
I went to Murcia for a little four-day holiday with three of my friends. The idea was to have our friend Alex Ventajas [to the left in the picture] to guide us to the places where he grew up and then have some fun during the evenings. The first day he took us straight to the "Mula" crag. The crag is not very large but the routes it offers are very beautiful and fun. Its bouldery and crimpy style suits me a lot and this allowed me, after a quick warm-up, to start thinking about something more challenging. After managing to onsight Amigo gecko (8a), I finally felt ready.

Alex described to me all the possible options but, by knowing me well, he convinced me to try the 8c. After giving it a try to remember it, he described every detail so, without too many expectations, I decided to give it a go. The route is possible to be divided into three boulder problems separated by a good rest on a jug. The first boulder problem is on the second quickdraw and consists of a technical heal hook and pinches where you have to go fast without thinking. The second boulder, in the middle, features a distant lock off to a crimp and a slopey pinch difficult to hold. And finally a simpler boulder on crimps that destroy the forearms. During the climb everything was as described to me, only on the boulder in the middle I didn't feel confident in holding the slopy pinch so I had to improvise with a different beta.

Sending the route on my first try felt so unexpected that I didn't even celebrate! Certainly, the congenial style and the excellent conditions of that day helped, but thinking about it in hindsight, I'm really happy with how 2024 started! Certain routes don't happen too often but I hope to have more opportunities like this in the future. If I didn't celebrate much after climbing the route, that evening I did quite the opposite! If you want to climb and have fun, Murcia is the right place for you! I also want to thank Alex and his entire family for the fantastic hospitality of these days. Muchas gracias!

Eva Hammelmüller has had a productive week in Seynes sending Métaphysique des tubes (8c) as well as ten more routes 8a to 8b. (c) Felix Mast

"We decided to check out a new climbing area this Christmas break - this time Seynes in Southern France. The routes are amazing and I decided to focus above all on climbing many different routes. I am really happy that I managed to send Metaphysique des tubes (8c) and L'odyssée (8b+), as well as, Les brigades du chibre (8b+). Seynes was an amazing choice and we had such a good time there climbing amazing tufa kinglines like Dinosaure (8a+)".

Stefano Ghisolfi has done the FA of Il terzo occhio (9a) in Arco. It total, the Italian has done 47 routes 9a and beyond, out of which 17 are FAs.

"About Il Terzo Occhio, Adam bolted the second part of this route, the first part is 8a+. We tried it together along with Laura Rogora last year for one day, at the beginning it felt harder, more like 9a+, but then I tried it this year for 4 more days and sent it, 9a is the grade that fits better to it. After the chain of the 8a+, there are 2 hard sections about 7/8 moves each, with a good kneebar in between."