Sera Gearhart, who last summer did her first 8B, has sent Marked for Death (8A+) at 221. In the 8a ranking game, the 26-year-old is #6.

”Tay [McNeill] put up this boulder by doing a huge move. Since then, it's been done a few times in different ways. I was able to find a way that centered around using a really small sharp right-hand edge. It was hard to get good conditions for this boulder since it was so skin intensive, but I was able to do it with heavy use of the Makita fan. Really psyched to be climbing so many cool boulders this fall in the southeast!”

Nicholas Milburn, who previously has sent four 9a’s, has repeated Tommy Caldwell’s Flex Luthor (9a+) in The Fortress of Solitude. Last year he projected it for a month and in the end it took him 25 sessions to send it. (c) Jon Cardwell

”This one felt hard the whole time. Figuring out the beta took a lot of work. I never watched the video, but a few days into projecting I had a phone call with Matty and we discussed the beta. Going in blind is such a fun way to go work a route. Especially something hard and complicated as Flex. I climbed this with almost the same beta as Matty, but I used the hand jam method for the final boulder. Sometimes routes just flow and feel easy by the time you actually send them. This one did not feel that way. I had to fight hard on the send go and that felt cool.

Stefano Ghisolfi has, on his way back from Flatanger, made a quick stop in Frankenjura and sent Action Directe (9a). (c) Sara Grippo

”I was quite close to do it already in 2017 but I didn't come back before this trip. I almost did it on the second day with a new heel beta, that is a bit easier but more low percentage. So in the third day of this trip I went with the regular beta and did it.”

Can you describe the new heal beta? Did you find it yourself?
Yes. It is by the last quickdraw, the one that is skipped. I use a right heel from a left undercling to go right hand to a two finger pocket. As single move it's easier because I can skip two hard moves but it's sketchy and you can easily slip.

What are your upcoming plans?
I have few projects in Arco for this winter and then I'll start training for the Olympic qualification series.

Martina Demmel has had two great days in Schleier Wasserfall, sending two hard classical routes, out of which, Least Resistance (8c), second go. "Perfect dry grip today, the beta-support by the crew & a free mindset let me battle up this gem within 2 tries!! Totally loved the far shoulder move with its high feet:) but for the athletic midpart, I had to unleash some proper 'try hard'! Danke Simon fürs Seil halten und Felix für de Send-Buidl:) more on Insta!" (c) Felix Bub

The following day she did, Wassermusik 8b+ (c). "Die ALLERBESTE! No words for how much this kingline means to me regarding several aspects but mainly because I broke my wrist in it last December... I kept visualising the details the whole year but to finish it 2nd try today by dominating most of the bouldery parts felt surreal!! While lowering I was far away from reality by enjoying the stunning view with its fall light... thank you Vera for the final belay! Danke an de ganze Schleier-family, dass ma si da oben so wohlfühlt:)) and I couldn't use the knee-bar due to my short leg, so I would go with the "c"... 8 tries in total."

What are your winter plans?
The phase of the year when it's mainly about police school and training (first 2 weeks of season break now) still continues till the end of January📚🏋‍♀️ but then I'm already planning to go back to Catalunya for a month with a few friends😁💃...

In 2021, Martina became the first-ever female to have won the 8a annual onsight ranking game. In total, she onsighted 18 routes 8a+ and harder that year. Amazingly, in 2019 she did her first 7c onsight when she had only climbed for 1.5 years.

Camilla Moroni, who last weekend was #8 in the Laval Olympic qualifier, has quickly done C'Était Demain (8A) in Fontainebleau. A couple of days later she sent The Traphouse (raccourci) (8A+), "with Brooke’s [Raboutou] method". That is using the mono undercling seen in the picture.

”After Laval I came to Font. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best but I still managed to send “C’etait demain” very quickly and “Traphouse raccourci”. Tomorrow I will take part in a comp in Paris and after that, I hope the weather will be better so I can try to finish my projects in the forest. I’d like to send The Traphouse / Gourmandise (direct) (8B+), [the lower original Paul Robinson start] and Partage (8A+).”

Gonzalo Larrocha has made the FA of Paparajote (9a) in Alquézar. The route is 30m long and overhangs with 30 degrees. The sector in the background of the picture is Colegiata. During the last ten weeks, the 39-year-old has done nine routes 8c+ or 9a.

”I bolted this route two years ago. It is always good to make every part of the process. I think that this sector has some really good routes and I hope that in the future they will see more traffic. The route has one very resistance 8c+ part and after a really hard sequence with a good rest in between.”

Chuck Odette sent his hardest route, T-Rex 8b+ (c) three years ago. The 67-year-old started climbing at age 23 back in 1978. Turning 35, he decided to try to start pushing his limits, reaching his first 7c+ at 37 and first 8b+ at 44.

Ryohei Kameyama has repeated Ryuichi Murai’s Floatin (8C+) in Mizugaki, which Florian Wientjes did the second ascent of last week.

Jana Svecova has sent Claim Perfection (8A+) and Wild Thing (8A) in Saalachtal - St. Martin bei Lofer. The 26-year-old has over the last 12 months done 14 boulders 8A to 8B+ and she is #2 in the female ranking game.

Can you tell us more about those ascents?
We planned to spend the whole of October in Switzerland in Chironico which we half succeeded. The first half of October we were actually in Switzerland trying out the projects we had on our wish list. I had tried Shadowfax (8B) and supertussi (8B) in Brione. In both boulders, I would have needed one or two more climbing days to finish them, but unfortunately, everything went against me. The conditions were bad as the temperatures didn't drop below 20 degrees and when they did it was 15 degrees at most. I also struggled with headaches and stomach pains for the first two weeks of the trip and was somehow unable to acclimatise. Combined with all this, it was really hard to climb anything.

Later on, the rain drove us out of Switzerland and we had to cross over to Austria, where we climbed in the Lofer and had some success. I managed to climb the 8A+ and 8A and Martin, who had probably the best climbing day of his life, climbed 8B and then 8A+ on a flash go. This was the end of our month-long trip, because even from Austria the rain pushed us back home.
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