In comparison to the Brixen World Cup, all Top-10 underperformed relatively speaking, in the first two rounds in Innsbruck. Natalia Grossman, who won in Brixen, was fifth in the Innsbruck semifinal. Chaehyun Seo, #2 in Brixen, was #19 in Innsbruck and Stasa Gejo dropped from #3 to #15. Out of the other seven Top-10 in Brixen, only four participated and they were on average around #30. On the other hand, Futaba Ito, who was #45 in Brixen, is #2 after the semifinal. Four of the six finalists in Innsbruck did not participate in Brixen, and Oriane Bertone skipped the last Boulder World Cup which would have given her a shot at winning the overall, as out-placing Grossman in Innsbruck, more or less, would have given her the title. Complete results.

Elnaz Rekabi was #23 scoring 35 and was very close to making it to the final as she had her hands on one top.

Advertorial: Reinhold Scherer is a legendary figure in Tirol’s rock climbing scene. One of the true pioneers of the sport, he made a name for himself climbing some of the hardest routes in the region before making the switch to coaching and supporting some of the world’s best young sport climbers on their way to multiple World Cup and World Championships medals.

And as if that wasn’t enough, “Reini”, as he is known by all, is also the man behind the Kletterzentrum Innsbruck, one of the biggest and most modern indoor rock climbing centres in the world. Climber. Coach. Businessman. We met in the mountains with this man of many talents and endless energy to find out what makes him tick and how his priorities in life and on the rock have changed over the last 30 years. More info about Reini.

Youtube shorts: Toby Roberts had to top out the final Boulder in Brixen in order to advance from outside the podium and win gold. Dohyun Lee, who had just made the zone, was in the lead. On Toby's third attempt, he makes the zone, which the two leaders from the semi, Tomoa Narasaki and Sorato Anraku had not managed to do. Then the biggest boulder fight of his comp career begins Youtube shorts filmed by his father Tristan. Toby spends over one minute on the wall and tops out to a roaring crowd with 15 seconds remaining.

Sebastien Bouin had a record breaking 2022, doing the FA of DNA (9c), Suprême Jumbo Love (9b+), Nordic Marathon (9b/+) and he also repeated Change (9b+). Add to that another ten 9a's and harder over the last year, making the 30-year-old one of the undisputed champions of redpointing.

What does a normal climbing week look like at home and as well as during a trip?
At home, I usually climb outdoors during the day and train in the gym during the evening. It permits me to keep my motivation up and improve my physical capacity. I usually do 2 days on, one day off. On a trip, it's a bit different, I try to be as fresh as possible to do my best in the projects. I can train if needed, but I will keep under control my shape, and try to not be as much tired [over fatigued].

What is it that inspires you the most in climbing?
Finding a beautiful and hard project in a stunning place is what I am climbing for. I am always searching for this.

How many routes have you bolted and made the FA of?
30 ? 40 ? [I] don't really remember all.

Which of your FA's do you think are most likely to become must-do-classics?
All the routes in Pic St Loup and La Ramirole I think. All these routes are quite amazing in a stunning place. La Rage d'Adam (9b+) is maybe the favourite because it's the only one which is not a marathon. (c) Julia Cassou from 2019.

What are your 2023 plans and ambitions?
]which he sent last week], Norway, Italy, Spain...

What advice would you give to upcoming youngsters?
Keep dreaming about your project, and keep your motivation high, it will bring you a long way.

William Bosi has repeated Ultra Instinct (8C) at Forest rock and here is the video. The FA was done this spring by Orrin Coley after working it for three years. The 24-year-old is a superior #1 in the 8a ranking game, his 12 399 points is the highest ever achieved on 8a since we started with the scorecards in 2000.

Can you tell us more about UI and the potential sit start as well as continuing the roof?
It took 4 sessions in total, one last year where I did the higher start. Then one where it was mostly wet and I couldn’t really try. Then finally to redpoint sessions last week. It’s a cool boulder as it’s just big pure power moves! There is definitely potential for a sit start and I’m hoping to try that soon but I think it will make it a lot harder! You could also continue into the roof I think but it would start getting way too high

Cameron Hörst, who made his first out of nine 9a's in 2019 at age 18, has made the FA of Martial Law (9a+) at Robbers Roost. In the 8a ranking game, the 22-year-old is #13.

"Martial Law is a direct, harder start to an existing route called Arrested Development (8c+). The direct start was bolted/prepped by Andy Raether and Joe Kinder. A couple of weeks ago Joe invited me down to Vegas to try this Martial Law project with him. After a couple of sessions on the climb, I got super psyched and felt like I could do it with some effort."

It is a super bouldery and resistant route about 20-move, nonstop, intro section straight into the crux of arrested development. The grade seems to feel like a super super hard 9a or 9a+. Im deciding to propose 9a+ because I feel like it is harder than the 9a/+ I did (Bone Tomahawk). I also discussed it with Joe (who has done numerous 9a+ FA’s) and we both feel it is of the 9a+ standard. Getting to have the FA of Martial Law is a huge milestone in my climbing career. I am super thankful to Joe and Andy for welcoming me to try it!"

Today, he also sent Dad Bod (9a) at the same crag, calling it 8c+.
”Believe this is the 4th ascent? The Way Andy and Owen did it is def 9a. However, in the first (hardest) crux there is an obvious right knee scum that makes it V9/10 rather than V12. It is way too obvious not to use, so it will be the way people do it moving forward. I propose the climb should be checked at 8c+.”

Austin Purdy, who previously has done five 8C's, reports on Insta that he has repeated Drew Ruana's Insomniac (8C+) at Lake Lincoln. In the 8a ranking game, the 25-year-old is #4. (c) Maddie Sturm

"After I sent Delirium (8C) and We Can Build You (8B) earlier this year I began to think that sending Insomniac, which is the combination of the two, could be possible for me. However, given the difficulty of the line, I assumed that this would be a long process, so instead of immediately trying to do the boulder I spent a lot of time trying to refine the individual pieces as much as possible so that I could hopefully execute them perfectly when the time came. This made the process very enjoyable for me, because it did not feel like there was any immediate pressure or expectations to do the boulder and I was able to focus on the small improvements I was making instead. Eventually, a day with perfect weather came and I felt like it was finally time to give the boulder real send attempts. All the time I spent refining my beta on the boulder felt like it paid off and I was able to have one magical go where I executed everything absolutely perfectly and found myself on top in disbelief! Doing this boulder was very rewarding for me, not only because it is the most difficult thing I have ever done but because it also showed me that I am still improving and growing as a climber, even while essentially being a weekend warrior and working a full-time job [software engineer] the last couple of years."

What are your summer plans?
If the weather stays good I will likely try to do more hard boulders at Lincoln Lake, like Drew Ruan's Distortion (8C+) or try to do some other classics I haven't finished outside of the Wolvo cave like Let the Right One In (8B+) or Warrior Up (8B+). Once it starts to get warm though I will likely be more focused on training for fall objectives.

What does a normal climbing week look like for you?
Most weeks I climb 5 days. I typically spend 3-4 of those days training in the gym and the remaining time climbing outside depending on weather, work, and how motivated I am on climbing specific things outside over in the gym.

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