Noah Wheeler sent Defying Gravity (8C) at the South Platte last month. This was the 21st 8B+ and beyond for the 21-year-old.

”With campus-board beta because my span is slightly too short to keep good tension on the low feet. Amazing how there's so many different ways to do the boulder dependant on one's body type, each providing similar difficulty and top-tier nuanced movement. Proudest send so far.”

Seb Bouin gives us a tour of the fantastic and relatively unexplored winter venue of Labeil, in his local stomping ground of Southern France. In the video, Seb attempts the crag’s remaining hard projects.

"Follow Alex through a full day of climbing and biking around his home area, the Frankenjura, while he attempts the crazy challenge of climbing 10 routes from 8b to 8c in 10 hours, using an e-bike to get to each route."

Solveig Korherr, who previously has done 28 routes 8c and beyond, has added to her tally while in . (c) John Thornton

Les petits chefs du néant (8c): "This route climbs much better than it seems at first glance. Great power-endurance testpiece! Ended up taking a bit longer than expected :D It is relatively short and very sustained. The first time up, I did all the moves rather quickly and the second try already felt quite promising, but I totally underestimated the difficulty of clipping some of the draws and the overall pump since there were no resting positions. Another climber who was trying it as well broke several holds, so I ended up adjusting my beta a few times. In the end, it took me a quite a bit longer than I expected at the beginning. I had a lot of fun trying this route and it was a great power-endurance challenge!"

La ligne claire (8c+): "Unreal! I can’t believe, I just sent it on my first redpoint try. Hard boulder problem at the beginning to a complex traverse on mini tufas to some tiny crimps at the top - incredible line! 3 days. I tried it once before on a previous trip but that didn’t go so well since it was very hot and it was impossible to hold some of tiny crimps. This time with luckily much cooler conditions, I was able to do all the moves very quickly. After two days of checking out every section and trying up some wet tufa parts in the middle, I felt ready for redpoint tries after a rest day. With no high expectations on my first redpoint attempt, I somehow managed to fight my way up to the anchor with no falls. Those are the best moments when I can exceed my expectations!"

Alex Ventajas has done Sanjski par extension (9a) in Osp/Misja Pec. In total, the 24-year-old has now done 14 routes 9a or 9a+ and all of them the last 2.5 years. "Last try, best try! After falling several times in the crux I decided to make a little change in my beta and it was exactly what I needed. Sometimes a small adjust can result in a big satisfaction! 1 try two years ago and 5 days this year 💪🏻"

How did you adjust the beta?
For me, the hardest part of the route was the crux section just before the first chain. It seemed hard to maintain the body tension with low feet in a 90-degree wall, so I rapidly managed to do the move with a very bad heel hook on my right hand. I thought it would have been the correct beta for me since I could do the isolated crux that way many times, but when I was coming from the ground I kept falling. It was strange because I was feeling good and I wasn’t so tired from the previous moves, but still, that beta wasn't allowed me to pass through.

Yesterday after falling two more times the same way I wasn't even sure I might give it a third try. I realized that maybe I was missing something, so I returned to basics, touching the holds all over again. Finally, I found out that with the feet low, with a different hold I hadn’t considered before, and changing one single step of the sequence, the crux was even easier compared to what I was doing! I gave it one more try and it worked! I sent the route right after changing the beta, on my last possible go for this year! It’s hard to reconsider the crux‘s betas when you feel so close and the only thing you want to do is to save energy for the next attempt, but sometimes a small adjustment can change completely your perceptions making the difference!

Zach Galla, who was #8 in the Salt Lake City World Cup last spring, has repeated Jimmy Webb’s Sleepwalker (8C+) in Unknown Crag. The 23-year-old has previously sent four boulders 8C to 8C+.

"Still, in disbelief, this one came together the way it did. I had tried it for four sessions before this trip and had weird progress. I did the moves fairly quickly but had such a hard time making any promising links. Coming back this year, I felt confident that if I could learn how to dial the bump from the slope into the crimp, I could give some send rips before heading home. I was hoping that the new beta discovered by @ryu____1 was going to be my key to making this thing possible but after my first two sessions back I wasn’t convinced. I was able to do the moves this way but I didn’t feel confident I was going to be able to make it work from the bottom. Warming up on my 7th sesh, the climb felt totally different. The friction was bomb and the links were coming together. I decided to give some goes from the start to just try and do it in overlapping sections. On my 2nd try, I made the link and managed to keep scaling and before I realized what had happened I was on the jug.

There is a lot of backseat grading controversy surrounding Sleepwalker because of it’s number of ascents and I totally understand why. I feel there are quite a few things to attribute to so many people having success. The biggest factor in my eyes has to be the accessibility and comfortability of the climb. The location, style and rock allow for you to have long sessions working the climb without losing very much skin.

Another reason is all the beta options it has. While they are all hard af, there now seems to be a method that can suit a lot of different body types and climbing styles. Personally, Sleepwalker is surely one of the hardest things I’ve managed to get on top of and totally warrants the grade for my experience."

What are your competition plans for 2024?
I didn’t make the olympic team so I’ve been taking time off comps to climb outside more! Will maybe try and do a world cup next year, but outside is the main focus!

Sebastien Bouin made the FA of DNA (9c) in La Ramirole last year. Now the 25 minutes mini-doc is out.

Adam Ondra has made the FA of Chicken Nose in Isenfluh (extrem) which was bolted by Stephan Siegrist.

Jules Marchaland has done Le Cadafist (9a) in and Comité d'accueil (9a) in Séranon. In total, the 22-year-old has now done eleven routes 9a and beyond.

Comité d’accueil: 2 days - I fell at the end on the first day but the end was wet so then I waited three days and came back to send it! Crimpy vertical endurance line, crazy rock, good line for winter, sun and not so far from my house!

Cadafist - 3 days, I fell on the last section on the first trip so I really wanted to come back. After sending, Comite D’acceuil I came back and I sent it on the first day! 3 sections - 8a+, small crimp to go to the crux with pinch and two finger pocket, endurance section and very hard finish (end of « reve de poutre » 8c)

Benjamin Blaser, who previously has sent a dozen 8B's, out of which the last in 2019, has done Dreamtime (8C) in Cresciano. (c) Silvia Flury

"My Dreamtime journey started on 22 December 2022. I did the stand start on my 5th go. It was a crazy feeling for me to do it so quickly. It was also my first session on the sit. In this session, I could to every move from the sit. No links in between but I was very happy about it. It took me about 3 sessions to get from the sit to the stand start. The sessions after were always the same. I could do the lower part quite easily but fell always on the big move from the stand start. On February 11th I could do the first time the big move coming from the ground. I fell off on the 3th last move. I was happy but at the same time very frustrated that I could not climb it....

From then it got worse. The mental battle was very hard for me. I knew I could do it but it was not happening. In April I stopped trying it because of the too warm conditions. I trained very hard 2 months before the Ticino season started. I was confident that I could do it this season. I had one session to just try the moves and get the feeling back. On my second session this season I had a good feeling. The stand start going down again very fast and easily. A friend of mine had the idea to do a video call so that they could join the session and give me support. Then it happened. On my sixth go from the ground in this session, I stuck the big move and stood on top of this amazing boulder. I could not stop my feelings and began to cry after the send. I was so happy that I just climbed my Lifetime Goal!"
How come you have not sent anything at your max limit the last four years?
I was not really on projecting something hard. I just wanted to climb as much as I could in the range that I could climb it within one or two days.