Alex Megos reports on Instagram from his impressive 12-day trip to Vingsand and Hell. In total, he sent 20 boulders 8A to 8B+, and a 9a, including four 8B flashes; The Bavarian, Verden på Lørdag, Hulefesten and Ormen Lange. (c) Dinosaauuur

Can you tell us more about your trip and the quality of the boulders in Vingsand?
It was truly amazing to spend a bit of time in Vingsand! The quality of the boulders is stunning. The rock is very similar to the rock around Flatanger, so everyone who has been there knows, it doesn't get much better. The place itself with all its Fjords and small towns is absolutely beautiful. Despite the world class boulders there are not many people though. In my eyes, the potential for new stuff (boulders and routes) is still huge. It just needs a few motivated people with some time.

Tanguy Merard has completed the second ascent of Seb Bouin’s Beyond 9a (+) in Pic St Loup. With this redpoint, the 19-year-old has done seven routes 9a and harder in just the last month. (c) Igor Martinez

"It was Seb Bouin's video in Beyond integral 9b/+ which made me made me want to go climb there. I visited the place for the first time last week when the temperature was 40 degrees. Although it was not very enjoyable, it gave me an opportunity to practice my methods and discover a great new route. I returned for two days to make some attempts in the first part (9a+). I made some good attempts and successfully passed the first boulder step [crux] (7C+), but unfortunately, I fell in the second boulder, not far from the final jug.

I then came back when the temperatures dropped and it was 40km/h of wind and it felt 10° so it changed completely. It [just so] happened on the first run of the day, everything was perfect, I was in good shape, well rested and I had good methods. I succeeded in the crux then I continued on this magnificent tufa to reach the chain, it was really pleasant I was able to appreciate the ascent on these last meters of colours. I really enjoyed climbing and that's what's cool. Now back to Grenoble for the start of the school year and back to the bouldering and training to get back in shape for the big project, the Pamphlet in Entraygues."

Adam Ondra has been on a family trip to Croatia climbing at, Vranjača where he onsighted five routes 8a to 8b+ in one day. Later he bolted and made the FA of A je to! (9a+). At the following day he onsighted another three routes 8a+ to 8b+. The Instagram picture is from Moskito (8b). "Short, burly but very visionary route from the Austrian climber, Gerhard Hörhager, that I was very happy to onsight in the crazy heat☝️"

Adam is currently in Arco for the Rock Masters and as a warm-up for the event he did the FA of Chiave della volta (9a). ”40 meters of slightly overhanging madness, one of the best in Arco in my opinion. Just incredible route that felt around 9a/a+?”

Adam has redpointed over 200 routes 9a to 9c, and has onsighted 197 8b+ to 9a, which is at least five times more than the closest runner-up.

Solomon Kemball, who previously has repeated two 8C’s, has done the FA of Poseidon's Wraith (8C) in Trewethet . He spent almost 30 sessions on it and was debating even calling it 8C+. (c) Annie Nesta Martin

”Poseidon's Wraith is near Boscastle on a 60 degree board that's 3-4 meters high and 10-15 meters wide which is relatively blank with a couple lines. This line is in the middle of the wall and is seven moves long with each move being somewhere between 7B and 8A+ individually.

The main issue with this bloc is it can seep from the rain and gets hit by the swell from the sea via a blow hole so even with usually small seas it will sometimes get drenched. To get it in good condition you need big winds in the right direction but low swell which rarely happens and it being so steep that some holds won't get hit by the sun to dry. Luckily I live twenty minutes away so I have just driven over to see if it's dry or not multiple times and it's fortunate that it's one of the best places to be so time down there doesn't feel like a waste.

I spent 15 sessions of climbing on it last year in which I managed to do all the moves individually but not many links the best being putting the first 3 moves together which in themselves are around 8B+/C. This year I spent another 13 sessions to finish it up.

I struggled with grading Poseidon's Wraith and was debating giving it 8C+ and I think the main goal is to try and expand the amount of 8Cs and trying 8C+'s around the world the first one I want to go up and try to finish is Isles of Wonder (sit ), up in north Wales and then try head out to Switzerland to sample some of the harder blocs [there].”

Pierre Marzullo has done La proue debridée (8c+) in Roche de rame. The 16-year-old has previously done nine 8c's out of which the first one was at age 11. (c) Emile Pino

"This route took me a total of 3 sessions, and I was surprised that it went so quickly because the first session was tough for me and it was hard to do the moves as a single move. I was surprised, however, by the first tries the following day, which were very promising. At that point, I knew that the sequence was possible, and the hardest thing to manage was the mental aspect, which is not what I'm best at. I often tend to put too much pressure on myself once I know I can do the route. But this time it all worked out pretty well and I managed to complete the route on the 6th try from the bottom after falling 3 times on the last crux😅. This is only the beginning and I don't intend to stop here, but I'm already very happy with what this route has brought me and I'm already looking forward to the next ones!"

So what are the next ones?
This route is a milestone for me, but it's only the beginning! A few months ago I tried Supercrackinette (9a+) a lot and came very close, so this is my goal for the winter. There's also the direct version of the 8c+ I did, Redoublement d'effort (9a) in which I've already worked out the moves. I think it can be done very quickly but I'll have to come back in a few weeks well prepared. There's also "Biographie" (9a+), which is my big goal for 2024 and which I've already started working on!

Can you tell us about your climbing background?
I started climbing at the age of 9, and quickly fell in love with the sport, so I progressed quite quickly. At 10 I did my first 8b and at 11 my first 8c. After that, I started to put more intention into competitions, but after 2 years of doing nothing but indoor climbing, I started to lose motivation, which led me to train less. I even thought about giving up climbing, but I hung in there and 6 months ago I regained the motivation I'd lost. So I decided to devote my life to climbing!

Sebastien BOUIN has established a new route at the crag of Saint Auban naming it ‘Jamming Destruction’ and proposing a grade of 9a+/b. The route, which features a hand-jam crux, is the direct start to an existing project that had been bolted by local climber Adrian Boulon. (c) Clarisse Bompard

"After realizing my hardest flash ever in Saint Auban, I was checking out some other projects at the same crag. There was a cool one on the left side of the crag bolted again by Adrien Boulon called "Destruction". I managed to climb this project in 3 goes, and it should be around 8c+. This route starts on the left side of the cave and I also saw there would be the possibility for a direct start from the lower part of the cave, so I bolted it. It looks a bit like "The big Island" boulder in fontainebleau. I was thinking it might be too hard at the beginning. But after few goes I found some crazy beta. Stay tuned for the video.

There is one particularity in this route : there is a crux with a full hand jam where you really need to wear a crack glove. If not, it feels impossible. As the crack glove is annoying for climbing hard on slopers, I didn't want to wear it for the first part. The problem was to put it before the second part and the hand jam crux. I found a kneebar right before the second crux, and I was able to put the crack glove on at this moment. I also found a kneebar right after the hand jam crux, where I was able to remove the crack glove. It's a bit of logistics, but it doesn't work if not. So, the first part should be around 8c+/9a, and then you still have to do the second 8c+ part. By my estimation, the full route adds up to be around 9a+/b”

Jack Palmieri started climbing indoors at age 27 and got hooked on climbing outside two years later after a trip to Fontainebleau in 2014. One year later he repeated Oppotrocity wobbly block (8A+). The 38-year-old has now done almost 500 boulders 8A to 8B+, out of which, 79 he's done in just the last 90 days. Pictured is Jack sending the classic, Isles Of Wonder (8B).

"I really only opted into the ranking scores out of curiosity when I saw the article. Didn’t know the feature was there. I just climb outside a lot, 3 or 4 times most weeks and never inside. I also don’t really like or choose to project so in turn get up my fair share of boulders. It’s strange in the UK, we have a lot more hard climbing than people think. It obviously rains a lot which in turn means a lot of limestone caves, these typically lend themselves better to link-up type climbing than most rock types so when summer comes and they are dry there is tons to do. Then winter the gritstone comes back into condition."

Can you tell us more about how you started climbing?
After 18 months or so I got taken outdoors by some friends I’d made at the climbing wall, once to Malham cove where I got spanked, turns out there are no coloured jugs leading the way up the routes and then on the gritstone over the winter, I didn’t take to it over those first few sessions, it was cold and the gritstone was so harsh on my unprepared skin!

Then around 2014 I went to Font for the first time and really enjoyed myself, since then I’ve just steadily climbed outside more and more. I’ve climbed inside just once this year I believe.

And you've knocked down 79 boulders 8A to 8B+ this summer?
I’ve gone a little crazy trying to do daft little challenges over the summer holidays as I have an abundance of time off whilst my son is off school. He often comes along and heckles while I fall off.

Are you doing any special training or just climbing?
Nothing at all in the way of conventional training, not even any fingerboarding. But most of the crags I go to are nice and steep, they suffice to keep me in shape.

How did you became a GB climbing team coach?
After a couple years of indoor climbing I’d started to do some coaching myself after doing some studying on getting myself in shape. I coached a couple of kids of the youth team and when a coaching spot became available I applied and was successful. It was a great job and I eventually moved on to a role with the seniors. In the end the travelling just became too much time away from my family and also ate in to my leisure time!

19-year-old Luke Eberhard has done his first three 8B+' and all of them in Rocklands: Speed of Sound (8B+), Black Eagle Sit Start (8B+) and Book Club (8B+). (c) Colin Gale

"I've been lucky to be able to spend a lot of time climbing outside this year and surprised myself by getting up some lines that have really inspired me. Speed of Sound was particularly special because it's an incredible line and I squeaked out a send on the evening of my last day in Rocklands after some heartbreakingly close attempts in previous sessions."

How long have you been climbing?
I started climbing roughly 10 years ago, and initially focused mainly on sport and trad. After lockdown, I started bouldering more and realised just how much incredible bouldering there is in the Western Cape. Recently I've also spent a lot of time developing some more remote but high-quality areas in the Cederberg.

Can you tell us more about these new Cederberg areas?
It turns out that the best boulders around here are at the tops of the mountains, so if you're willing to do big walk-ins, you can find endless bullet sandstone with reasonable conditions all year round and plenty of exhilarating highballs. We have a small community of psyched boulderers who really enjoy exploring and developing new lines in the middle of nowhere. We generally look on Google Earth for spots that look promising, and then just go see for ourselves. The walks are generally 2-4 hours uphill. Being able to climb in such beautiful wild places makes the walk-ins worth it.

Belgium big-wall masters Siebe Vanhee and Sébastien Berthe have made a one day, ground-up free ascent of the 500m Rayu in the Pico’s de Europa, which was originally graded 8c. Berthe flashed the hardest pitch and Vanhee sent it second go and their personal grade suggestion is 8b+. Their multi-pitch ticklists are among the most impressive in the world and they have both done 9a. Berthe just recently onsighted Ajo crudo (8c). (c) Frank Kretschmann

”On the 19th of August, Sébastien and I teamed up for a common goal we had. We aimed to climb “Rayu” in a one day push ground up push, first day on the route. “Rayu”, on the south face of Peña Santa (2596m), was opened by Iker, Eneko Pou and Kico Cerdá in 2020 and is known as their second difficult multipitch in Pico’s de Europa after Orbayu, the infamous 8c multipitch on Picu Urreillu (Narano). In 2020 I had already made a free ascent of Orbayu so for me it made complete sense to return to the Pico’s and try out their second masterpiece.

Exciting, nervous and noble, we made the 2 hours approach the day before and slept in a beautiful cave near Refugio Vega Huerta, 20 minutes from the base of Peña Santa. The weather forecast for the next day didn’t look that great, few millimetres of rain and wind were predicted. We decided to see it as something positive, given the south face we would need the clouds to be able to climb before 5pm when the route would get into the shade. The few millimeters of rain might even fly over the mountain, fingers crossed.

An easy morning start: at 8h30am at the base of the wall we got towards the humongous middle ledge at 11h30am, after sending the adventurous first 7 pitches. Nothing too difficult but a certain amount of focus was already required given that the first ascensionists opened this line in style without many bolts. The weather turned out to be great, windy and cloudy but no rain. Rain was predicted in the afternoon but the high clouds raced over our heads so we could be lucky. A little snack and no time to lose, we could be unlucky with the weather. We both sent the 7b+ and 7b after the ledge and were at the base of the crux of the route. Now the nerves started to kick in and we were facing a dilemma; “Who would go first?”. Seb comments: “Somehow, even if the idea is scary and maybe a bit too ambitious, we both think that a flash attempt is doable. The one who will go first will most probably fail the first go due to the lack of chalk and info, and will of course have to do some substantial work: finding beta, brushing holds,... and therefore loose skin and get tired, which is of course a key for success in a single-day push attempt.”

Seb: “After a few minutes of transparent talking and hesitation, Siebe speaks up his mind, determined: he will go first in order to give me the best chance of flashing. This is actually a true gift from him and I feel really thankful! Flashing multipitches and bigwalls is a complex and demanding game that I particularly enjoy. Having the real opportunity to give a flash attempt on a hard multipitch is rare and priceless.”

I knew my chances to flash the pitch were lower than Sébastien’s so I figured I could give it a good onsight go with the option to fall and figure out all the moves for a perfect second go. This way I would also mark all the holds and find the betas for flashing Seb the best I could!

Seb: “His shoes are on, let’s go! His onsight try is far from bad. It’s quite impressive how he goes through the first crux, then the second one and how he is working hard on the third one, not giving up… until gravity, finally and unfortunately, beats him. Truly inspiring! Siebe, as perfectionist as he can be, spends the next hour and a half trying moves, dialing betas, ticking holds. I am freezing down there at the belay, but I know he is doing it right, for us, for me!”

After his “work” go, he joins me back down at the anchor and explains to me the final bits of details. My turn! I feel stressed but psyched. Motivation between us is high and Siebe‘s proud try makes me want to fight hard. I start climbing and I can feel his strong support, stronger than ever before. I’ve the feeling he wants it as much as I do. I struggle in the first crux, breathe, I struggle again in the second crux, focus, I climb well in the third one, shake my pumpy forearms. The final long crux is above me: I know exactly what to do and I go for it. Close call: I almost missed the hold, Siebe is shouting at me! Now, I am fighting for real, three more moves! Two more. I shout myself, hard. One move left. Elbows are high, I manage to stick the final hold, in extremis! I can’t believe I am still on the wall, clipping the chain of what I would call a nice “flash-team effort”. Happy, proud and grateful.

FLASH! He did it, I was super psyched! I couldn’t wait to lower him because I felt the urge to do the same, I was so confident. The rain stayed away and the sun even came out a bit, luckily it was almost 5pm and the pitch was almost in the shade. I went for it, clean and perfect climbing, surfing on the sending vibes, brought me to the anchor.

A big scream of joy was accompanied by Seb’s load laughter and some more people at Refugio Vega Huerta celebrating with us. It was 5pm and we continued to the summit. Two more adventurous pitches with mobile protection caused us some challenges but we pulled it off. The sharp rock and micro spikes made the climbing very slow and painful. We reached the summit at 7:30pm and descended the North side of the mountain. Climbing hard multipitches in a “one day – first day” push is exciting. Seb is the master in this style and I loved to take on this challenge as well! Big thanks to Kico Cerda, Iker and Eneko Pou for this amazing line and sharing logistical information with us. It’s been another great classic in the

About the grade (from Seb): Rayu’s amazing crux pitch was proposed as 8c by the first ascensionists. We had the feeling that it could be a bit easier though. Despite the reasonably good shape we are in, we can’t honestly say that we are able to send an 8c pitch that quick, high on a multipitch. Compared to the recent sportclimbs I’ve done, it felt closer to 8b+. The rests are too good and the moves are probably too easy to make it a proper 8c.

Moreover, for Siebe, the crux pitch of Rayu definitely felt easier than the crux pitch of Orbayu (which is more or less confirmed as 8c). Maybe he got stronger as well? We reckon that the difficulty of the crux section of the pitch definitely depends on size and height, and it is probably easier for taller people. Siebe and I used a quite reachy beta which is probably impossible for smaller people. Let’s see what future ascensionists will think about it, time will tell.

Nevertheless, this “downgrading” proposition does not detract from the performance of the Pou brothers and Kico Cerdá: opening and freeclimbing this pitch and route ground-up with this airy style is an amazing feat! Full respect!”