"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 . 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, Murcia. 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."

Noah Wheeler has repeated James Webb’s Sleepwalker (8C+) in Black Velvet Canyon. ”16- or 15/16 [8C+(-) or 8C/8C+]. Came back this year hopeful but doubtful and felt far stronger on the crux move than I imagined I would. The crux ended up being the last pinch throw but with some tweaks and deliberation I got it done first go of the 5th total session. Psyched on deeper down the wall.”

New video by Noah - Is Sleepwalker 8C or 8C+? Some other repeaters have also indicated it being a bit ”soft” for the grade. The sit start is Daniel Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker (9A) and before completion, Daniel was able to do the stand up to four times in a single session.

Can you tell us more about this boulder problem and the process you went through?
I originally saw the boulder 2 years ago on my first trip to Red Rocks. I briefly felt the holds and wrote it off as a project for the future. Last year I came back with the intent of sending having a few harder climbs under my belt. However the weather was awful for the 2 weeks I was there and I only got 2 sessions in on the climb, where I completed all the moves quickly but was unable to make significant links (notably, the crux sloper bump link was undone). Coming back this year I was both cautious and invigorated by the misfortune of my last trip - knowing that the forecast looked better but that I only had 2 weeks in Red Rocks. In the first session back I felt surprisingly good on the crux sequence and ended up dialing it fairly well. The following session I gave 5 or 6 ground rips, all of which ended with a fall going to the last left hand pinch on the top of the boulder. The next session I managed to top it out first try of the day!

Pepa Šindel, who at age 14 did his first 9a+, has sent Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja Peč. "I spent the Christmas holidays in the Slovenian climbing area Mišja peč. I climbed the route Konec mira 8c/c+, which I had tried before. Two days later I climbed Martin Krpan, which is an extension of the Konec Mira. I climbed this extension on my 4th attempt and started the new year very well! I ended the short trip by climbing the endurance route, Karisma 8b+."

What are your plans for next year?
My plans for the 2024 season are to continue climbing 9a routes and maybe try some 9a+. Especially Hades 9a in Austria is a big challenge for me.