Ryuichi Murai has repeated Nalle Hukkataival’s 8m highball Livin' Large (8C) in Rocklands. It was first climbed and graded hard 8C which James Webb confirmed doing the second ascent and then Shawn Raboutou suggested an upgrade when he did the third ascent, which also Murai also agrees with. Murai has five other 8C+’s under his belt.

Can you tell us more about the ascent, including the safety aspects?
I had 5 sessions to send it. I practiced with a rope for two days to establish the moves for the upper part. I fell only once at a height of 5-6m. On the day I sent, there were 8 mats in total, including my friend's and I borrowed at the campsite. The approach takes 45 minutes, so we spent several days carrying them.

Murai was #5 in a Boulder WC in 2018 and stopped competing one year later. Here is part of Murai’s Livin’ Large report on Instagram. (c) Naoki Shimatani

"It was only possible to try in perfect conditions in the early morning (~9:00), evening (17:00~), or [a] cloudy day.

However, the approach takes forty-five minutes, so early in the morning there wasn't enough time to warm up. In the evening there's only a short time after the rock cools down until the sunset, so a cloudy day is the best. Due to friction issues, the damage to the finger skin was quite severe. If I tried, I had to rest for two to three days. So this cloudy day near the end of the tour was my last chance.

The conditions were great on this day and every move worked perfectly on the second try. I just focused on each hold in front of me, and didn't feel any fear of heights. It would have been really bad if I missed the last move. I'm glad I climbed, but more than that I'm glad I didn't fall. Thank you to the tour members who helped me with the big hike for days, and huge respect Nalle Hukkataival for putting this mega [line] up!”

Seb Bouin has repeated Adam Ondra's Move Hard (9b) at Flatanger. Seb has now redpointed a dozen routes graded 9b to 9c, out of which seven are FA's. (c) Clarisse Bompard

"We arrived in Norway a week and a half ago and my main goal was to try ‘Project Big’. The videos of Jakob and Adam from last year motivated me a lot to visit this route. I spent 6 days on Project big and managed to make some interesting progress on it, but I need more time for sure. Over the last week the conditions began to worsen, so I decided to shift my focus and try another route from Adam, ‘Move Hard’.

I would say this route has more in common with Silence than Move, so could be called "Silence easy" [variation] too. The line starts from ‘Move’, and takes you through the very first crux, before turning right into Silence to do the second and third cruxes. Basically, you skip the main crux of Silence. It's a really good route combining multiple interesting cruxes. And it's a logical step to gain some confidence in Crux 2 and 3 of Silence. My beta for Silence crux 2 is a little different from Adam and Stefano. I am taking the first crimp with my left hand after the rest. And reach for a right-hand sloper on the right. I then use a really bad knee bar to reach the normal right gaston, and then bring up my feet. I don't think this is a game-changing beta for this route. It's quite different, but still hard. Adam did the FA just before sending Silence, and Stefano made a repeat while he was also working Silence. This route is fun, and even if I am not currently involved in the "Silence" process, I was psyched to try it. Let's continue the process.”

Project Big was bolted by Adam Ondra in 2013 and both he and Jakob Schubert have been working on it. Here is Ondra's documentory video of the close to 70m route and here is Schubert's video, which features a solid effort. Aside from Silence, Bouin has effectively done all the other high-end routes in Flatanger, and also the FA of the 130m long Nordic Marathon (9b/+).

Paige Claassen, who previously has done four 9a’s and who 13 months ago gave birth to her first child, has repeated Legacy (9a) in Rocklands, Insta video. She sent it after only three mornings top-rope soloing with a mini traxion and one day with a belayer. ”Not sure a route grade really suits this line. Three very hard moves off the deck lead to sharp 12d climbing. I can only imagine someone will boulder this someday. Maybe in 20 years, my kid will flash it. Unfortunately she won’t be able to onsight, as she saw me working it once. But rulebook says you can’t onsight a boulder so… maybe it’s a route. Regardless, the block is a square and I’m glad I only had to loose 4 days of skin on it. Shoutout to the men on the internet nagging over my mini-trax tactics, hopefully you can also impart your wisdom on all the guys who work boulders on a grigri.”

It was found and tried by Dave Graham as a scary almost 10m highball. Later Fred Nicole bolted it and tried it for five years. In 2019, Giuliano Cameroni got permission to try it and made the FA and then Nicole made the first repeat a few days later.

How was the experience working it?
It was a nice experience, much shorter than expected. I worked it on mini trax for 3 days by myself, which gave me a nice chance to focus on my performance and beta details without distraction. I find it quite hard to focus on climbing when we're out with the baby. I did all the moves and felt ready to link them, so just needed a belay. Arjan went out with me while his mom stayed with the baby and I did a few warmup burns and then sent quite quickly. It was a surprise as I thought it would take many days of falling off the bottom. It is only 3 hard moves right off the deck, then sharp crimps to the top, but not very hard.

What made you start trying it and how is Rocklands for a family?
I wanted to try it because I don't really like bouldering, and prefer to be on a rope. So this was a nice combo, and I knew I wanted to try before I came to Rocklands, so it was the project I had in mind for the trip. Rocklands is great for the family, but our backs are definitely sore from hiking her around with all the extra gear.

How did you prepare for the trip?
I wasn't able to prepare very seriously, as I felt pretty wrecked from lack of sleep and baby care. So I just did the best I could, which was 2-3 times a week on the Kilter board for an hour or two.

Lukas Mayerhofer, who previously has done 17 boulders 8B+ to 8C, has done the FA of Generation Z (9a) at the Frankenfels.

Can you tell us more about your FA?
The route was first bolted 2006 and some strong local climbers tried it every now and then but nobody really found a solution. 2021 was the first time I checked the holds and found a possible beta for every section but couldn't send at that time. Then in 2022 I worked again on the lower section but one sequence felt really hard (around 8a+/b boulder). But this season I really wanted to climb the full line, and gave it all my motivation and got the reward to send it after around 12 sessions. It's style is really fingery climbing, very technical and a good portion of power endurance is needed.

Ainhize Belar Barrutia, who three months ago did Begi Puntuan (9a), has done Honky Tonky (8c) at Araotz/Oñate. Josune Bereziartu sent it in 1998 to become the world's first women to climb 8c. This was the fifth 8c during the last year for the 17-year-old and she is #3 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Aitziber Narbaiza

Can you tell us more about your experience on Honky Tonk?
It’s a route that makes me special illusion because of its history and I was very motivated to do it. It took me 8 tries in total.

Max Bertone has sent Redoublement d'effort (9a) at Roche de rame. ”Two days of rest after the TAB and thanks to a new beta (thanks Tanguy and Yannis) I can top this hard line for me. Physical and far moves... Definitively not in my style ! 4 sessions (with "La proue débridée") and at least 6/7 tries needed for this short and powerful route.”

Can you tell us more about this line?
It is a two sections route. The first one is the hard section of « La proue débridée » (8c+). The second one is the hard section of a 8b+. Between the two sections there is a pretty good rest. The style of climbing is really powerful, from the beginning. I took a session to send the 8c+, so I thought that I could quickly send the hard variant but I was wrong. In the second session there is a hard crux of 6/7 moves and I was tired enough to fall when I came from the bottom. I don’t know if it’s harder than my first 9a route (TCT in Gravere), but I’m sure that it’s harder for me because I’m not physically strong enough and prefer long endurance routes to short and nervous ones.

Siara Fabbri has sent Kingda Ka (8B) in Gottardo / Gotthardpass. Last November, the antimatter researcher did her first 8B+ and we followed up with an interview. (c) Simone Tentori

Can you tell us more about Kingda Ka?
I had a few sessions on this boulder last year and figured out the beta that worked for me. It is a really unique climb because it is a tall granite slab/almost vert wall at a hard grade, and you have to pull on these pebbles and in my beta I need to use my thumbs a lot to either pull/press on tiny pebbles or grabbing an undercling. The pebbles can be really painful and both recent sessions I had to tape my thumb because it was bleeding. The real crux is doing around 5 movements in the middle off of a slopey small pebble for a foot.

Here I struggled a lot because one of my weaknesses that I feel holds me back is fear of falling in a weird way, like on mantles for example. Weighting the bad foot, I have to reach the undercling in an almost fully-stretched position and I can only get it with my thumb, staying close to the wall, and then do some hand moves and go into basically an upside down gaston - in these positions I felt pretty vulnerable and afraid to fall in a bad way.

First sess back from the ground I built my way up cm by cm, trusting the foot more and more, and each time that built my confidence and it felt really good. If I hesitated or was afraid, my hips would come out a tiny and my foot would pop or I would fall, so it was really this all or nothing attitude to do the boulder, and the journey to finding that attitude was the best part. I came back 2 weeks later and got a high point first go, then after a few tries sent. It was amazing to feel the movements so fresh and smooth, and overall this is one of my favorite boulders and such a joy to do!

Jakob Schubert made the first repetition of Chris Sharma's DWS Alasha 9a (+) in Mallorca in 2021. Here is an interview from back then.

”I still and always get goosebumps when I look at the footage of 'Alasha'! Mischa (Michael Piccolruaz) and I had been planning the Mallorca trip all summer and luckily it really worked out. It was the coolest trip I've ever done - the perfect mix of really tough climbing and vacation feeling with a really cool crew and great vibes.

The DWS experience was incredible! The fact that I was able to repeat Chris Sharma's two difficult routes in a single trip topped it all off. The two movies - part 1 has just been released, the second part will be released next week - let me relive those emotions. The feeling of being so high above the water was something very special that you never feel in other disciplines! This discipline is deep in my heart, and I know I want to do it more in the future. Next year at the latest, I think I’ll return to Mallorca. Maybe then it will be after the Olympics again."