Ryuichi Murai is a former competition climber who was #5 in a World Cup in 2018. The 28-year-old has done 20 boulders 8C or 8C+ and nowadays he considers himself a weekend warrior who always climbs alone. In February he did Sleepwalker (8C+) after projecting it for eight days, and he explained how he prepared for it.

Shauna Coxsey, who just over one year ago gave birth, reports with an Insta video that she has done Flip Flopera (8B) at the bowderstone. This was done on her second session whilst Shauna was filming the top 50 7th Grade boulders in the UK which will be appearing on her YouTube shortly! (c) Ryan Balharry

UKC has the full-length interview with Shauna who in between 2014 and 2017 won 11 World Cups. In the same period, she also did three 8B's and one 8B+.

"It feels so good! I guess I never really knew what to expect from my climbing during my postpartum journey. I knew I really wanted to be pushing into the hard grades again, but I had no idea what my recovery from pregnancy and birth would be like, plus having double knee surgery when Frankie was 6 months old."

Andrew Nimmer, who did his first and only 8B+ six months ago, has flashed Massive Attack (8A+), Steppenwolf (8B), Voigas (8A+), Pura Vida (8A+) and Jack's broken heart (8A+) in Magic Wood, out of which the last four were done in just the last four days.

"Steppenwolf was the number one problem I wanted to try on my trip to Magic Wood. My friend Matt and I watched countless beta videos and finally got to try it today after we waited 2 weeks for it to dry. He also sent today which helped bring the psych for the flash go.

For Voigas it looked like my style, huge moves on good holds so thought I had a solid chance at flashing. I felt like I was going to fall a few times but kept it together and tried hard for the final big move to the jug."

How have you been able to up your flash game?
I have been very close to flashing several 8A+ in the past, but have always messed up one small piece of beta and never put it together. I knew I was capable of flashing more hard boulders so this time around I am spending more time working out all the beta before jumping on. My friend Matt has also been with me trying the climbs before I do, and seeing someone do it in person really helps. Also, Moonboarding has helped a lot in preparation for this trip.

Your grade pyramid and especially the high proportion of flashes is unique. There should be plenty of room for doing 8C's?
I have been able to flash boulders relatively close to my max level for a while, and I think it comes from having a good ability to visualize climbs and how they will feel before I try them. I tend to climb with a lot of focus and tension, so that controlled style helps for flash attempts. Specifically to Magic Wood, the boulders are pretty straightforward and powerful without too many subtleties, which lends well to flashing. With the current breakthrough in flash grades, I think yes, maybe I can do more 8B+ and maybe 8C if I spend more time projecting.

What's the next plan?
I plan to try to flash a few more classics. I nearly flashed Dark Sakai (8B) today but I dabbed twice near the ending. Ended up sending it 2nd try. I also want to try Power of Now (8B+). A little less than 2 weeks remaining before I go home!

Have you done any stand-out and slightly more moderate problems in Magic Wood?
Blue Sky Of Mine (6A+), and Octopussy (8A).

Matty Hong, who previously has done 14 routes 9a - 9b, reports on Insta that he has done Biographie (9a+) in Céüse. Interview is comming up. (c) Angie Scarth-Johnson

Biographie was bolted in 1989 by Jean-Christophe Lafaille and then in 1996 Arnaud Petit made it 2/3 up to a first anchor grading it 8c+. Five years later Chris Sharma made the FA of the full 35 meters line and the first anchor was removed. In total, it has now been repeated 19 times including one female ascent by Margo Hayes in 2017.

Lena Herrmann reports on Insta that she has done Shangrila (8c+) in Frankenjura. The German did her first 8c+ in 2016 and the year after she tried Shangrila for the first time. All in all, she workef it for some 30 sessions. (c) Stefan Riedl

Can you tell us more about the long process of projecting it?
It was an on-off-story with this route :D When I tried it for the first time in 2017 I wasn‘t strong enough at all. The route starts with a two-move boulder which was super demanding for me and I did not succeed in this. When I came back, being able to climb the boulder (sometimes) I thought I might have a chance. After the boulder the route is still 8b/8b+ish but I underestimated this part a lot!! So there were quite some seasons where I still tried and sometimes I succeeded in the boulder and fell afterwards or I did not even succeed in the boulder. This period was super frustrating for me. Then there was covid where I have only been bouldering, also I had a pulley injury and later on a little Inflammation.

In 2022 I‘ve made huge progress by changing my training. I focused a lot on boardstyle-bouldering and have always been surrounded by my friends who were way stronger than me in this style. This made me progress a lot. Then the boulder was no problem for me anymore and I was so close. Then I got sick and had to wait for autumn. Here I was busy with my master thesis but had several top-hold-drops. I had great winter training, which made me succeed directly this year on the third day of the season.

What's your next plan?
I hesitate a bit if I still want to continue to only climb in the Frankenjura. I did this for so long. Maybe I will look for routes which I can visit on the weekends. But I don't know yet. There are still some Frankenjura-diamonds which I want to at least check out once :)

Stefan Scherz, who last year was #4 in a Lead World Cup, has onsighted Coque au Vin (8b+) in Zillertal. In 2021, the 21-year-old did his first 9a+ and when it comes to onsight, the competition climber's previous onsight best was one 8a+ from 2020. As a junior, Stefan has won Euro Youth Cups in both Lead and Boulder. (c) C Highland Production

Can you tell us more about your personal best onsight?
I always try to squeeze in some time outdoors in between the comps. I went to Bergstation, probably the best spot to climb hard in Austria, with the intention of making some goes in my project, Companion of Change (9a+). I quickly realized that it’s too warm for these nasty crimps, so I thought it would be a good idea to try to onsight something hard. Coque au vin is a beautiful, 35-meter-long and pumpy 8b+, which I never tried before. So I hopped in it and found myself on the top. Super psyched to climb something that hard on my first go. The onsight itself didn’t feel too hard. It consists of two hard sequences, which suited me quite well. I quickly passed them and made sure that nothing was going to happen at the top. It wasn’t the biggest of fights so I think I can onsight harder.

What's coming up next?
Next things up are the upcoming World Cups. I plan on doing the BWC in Brixen and all of the LWCs this year. And of course, have some quality time on the rocks!

Ido Fidel, who was #1 at Studio Bloc Masters, won the European Cup in Loverval in Belgium. The 19-year-old is currently ranked #7 in Israel and has not done any World Cups yet. Among the women, Chloe Caulier won in front of her home crowd and in the final she did all four problems in just six tries meanwhile no other got more than two tops.

Runner-ups were Pierre Le Cerf and Flavy Cohaut, followed by Antoine Girard and Martina Bursikova. Overall, France got four in the Top-8 male final and four females in the Top-13. Complete results. France has also been the best European nation after the first three World Cups.

Nicholas Allan, who previously has logged ten 8B's, has done Book Club (8B+) in Rocklands. "First 8B+!" Noteworthy is that the 15-year-old, who did his first 8A+ at age 11, has twice done 8B+ before but given them personal down grades.

Can you tell us something about your climbing life and your first 8B+?
I am 15 years old and live in Cape Town, South Africa. I started climbing when I was 8 years old. I climb 3 times a week at one of the local gyms and go outdoors around Cape Town on the weekend. On days where I’m not climbing I’m doing conditioning at my house like core, hangboarding and flexibility.

Book club is a 10-move power endurance boulder with very physical moves. I tried Book Club for the first time at the end of last season and really enjoyed it as it fitted my style, but summer came around and I couldn’t go back. My first session back to it in the new season was mostly spent refiguring out the moves. Then on my next session, I surprised myself by falling on the last move and was psyched that it was within my reach. I went back a couple of days later with a sick crew and was super psyched to put it down. Now I want to push my limit even further and find a harder project to climb.

Michela Kiersch has done Wovenhand (8B) in Magic Wood. In just the last year, the Doctor of occupational therapy, has done some 35 boulders 8A and harder out of which some just the last few days, also in MW.

Can you tell us more about the send and the number of sessions needed?
It took about 3 sessions for me - on the second session I tried 15 times and had to take two rest days afterwards, oops! The style is very challenging for me- very powerful sequences with large moves and compression. Proud of this one!

How does the warming up routine look like and which are your favourite boulders in MW?
An important part of my routine here in Magic Wood is starting the climbing day with a joyful moment — something which sharply juxtaposes the longer and arduous projecting sessions. Favorite boulders of the trip are , Blue Sky Of Mine (6A+), and .

Théo Blass did his first 8c at age 10 and last September he sent Trip tik tonik (9a) at age 12. His father Vladimir Arnaoudov, has previously explained his son's climbing background and we asked him what they have been up to this spring.

"He started the year tired and weakened after catching the flu a couple of times. He had to start training gently and building up the volume and intensity very slowly. In April he was in decent shape to start trying harder stuff. He usually likes working on hard projects but this year he decided to focus on routes that he could send quickly, mostly in our local area. He sent Elzevir (8b+), a classic fingery testpiece in Claret, Biotpo (8b+) a magnificent 8m roof with great compression moves in Claret (famously onsighted by Chris Sharma and flashed by Adam Ondra), Panonoramix (8b+/8c) short and bouldery route in St Leger, La theorie des cordes (8c) a classic stamina route in St Leger and Crazy world (8c) a sustained 30 m route with a few hard cruxes near Aniane.

He's got his eyes set on a few harder routes in the 9th degree, but he is a bit too short for them now. He can do practically all the moves of his harder projects, but using different sequences and sometimes higher feet, which makes them even harder, so he decided to be patient and while he is waiting to grow he will continue to focus on easier routes where he has more fun."