Last year, Natalia Grossman won all the last five Boulder World Cups. Later she got a bad food poisoning which created stomach problems for many months and she also spent time in the hospital. Last month she was #8 and #13 in the Asia World Cups before getting back on track and winning all three rounds in Salt Lake City. Complete results

Grossman: “Asia was pretty hard for me, so just feeling physically better was already a huge help for me and my mental game. It’s cool to be home, I think this is the best crowd from any World Cup I have ever been to.”

Cedric Lachat, who previously has done nine 9a+', has made the FA of Fantasia (9b) in Vercors, which was bolted by Romain Gendey. "I’m a little bit less strong physically but I find that I climb better compared to a few years ago". More info at Fanatic Climbing. (c) Simon Destombes

"For me, it’s without doubt the hardest route I’ve climbed, so I suggest 9b, however, I wonder if it’s not easier for taller climbers because some movements seem hard to me due to the span required. In any case, for the climbers of my size (Cédric is 1.72m tall), it’s ultra intense and a real challenge!"

Cedric won 17 medals in a storied World Cup career. In 2007, he took the bronze at the World Championship in both Lead and Boulder. Seeing as how he has also done some very hard multi-pitches, the 38-year-old should be regarded as one of the best multi-discipline climbers in the world.

Pablo Zamora reports on Insta that he has done El proyecto de tu vida (8C) in just one session. This was his fourth 8C for the Spaniard, all of them done in the last eight months. (c) Beatriz Sanchez

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your thoughts about the grade?
It is a block located in Hoya moros, Salamanca. Nancho Sanchez made the first ascent. It is a ceiling of small crimps and finally a slab. It's a style I'm very good at and I was able to do it surprisingly quickly. I would not know what to say about the grade because being my style and it came out quickly so it seemed easy to me.

How can you explain having progressed so quickly the last year?
This year I have dedicated myself to improving my technique and going out much more on rock and I think that is what has made me progress a lot.

What are your summer plans?
I will go up a lot in the Hoyamoros area, which I really liked and I will also go to South Africa.

In the third Boulder World Cup in 2023, in Salt Lake City, Natalia Grossman (USA) and Hannes Van Duysen (BEL) flashed all their five boulders. Miho Nonaka (JPN) and Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) won the two other qualification groups needing seven respectively six attempts.

Japan got all their seven participating females in the Top-23 and all their seven males in the Top-27. Also the USA got great results with a total of nine athletes making it to the Top-20 semifinal. Jernej Kruder (SLO) #42made his 84th Boulder WC which is an all-time male record for the discipline. Complete results

Natalia Grossman: “I’ve been dealing with some stomach stuff, which is hard to deal with when you’re traveling. It’s just nice to be home and be able to do what I normally do. My one goal for tomorrow is to focus on the present, enjoy it, and have fun.

Miho Nonaka: “I’m very happy about my round, I love being here, the vibes are very good in Salt Lake City, I enjoyed it a lot. I don’t know if I would say I feel at home here, I definitely feel comfortable, I usually stay for a longer time, and the crowd is really enjoyable.”

Brooke Raboutou takes a nasty mono finger lock and sends The Traphouse (8B+) in Fontainebleau on her first session. Paul Robinson put it up as an 8B+ in 2011 and most have agreed on that grade.

Is Brooke using another sequence compared to how you did the FA?
Yes, it looks like the kneebar for the first move and that finger lock are definitely different beta than I used

Drew Ruana reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Howl at the Moon sit (8C+). In 2019, he was #13 in the Combined World Championship and close to making it to the Olympics. After quitting the competition circuit he has since 2020, focused on bouldering and with close to 30 8C's and ten 8C+, he has one of the most impressive tick lists over the past three years. He's also undertaking a full-time University program. (c) Jono Ruana

Can you tell us more about doing your tenth 8C+?
I spent a long time last season working on this climb [the 8C stand]. It’s a much harder variation than The Ice Knife (8B+). This season I did the stand in 2 days and the sit the next day. I have like 5 more 8C+ projects I’d like to do this year if things go well. I’ve been building my pyramid for years and it seems to be paying off, did my 75th 8B+ last week too.

How does a normal climbing week look like? How many sessions and hours do you climb?
Not too much, I don’t train at all inside or off the wall. I climb outside 5 days a week or so for a couple of hours per day. I’ve been working on writing 2 books about climbing harder so it’s been a lot of work. I basically would go to school, write on book, do homework, go outside, come home do homework then go to bed Then on rest days focus on getting ahead in school and on my writing. Really exhausting to balance full time school with climbing hard and also writing but that was normal for me and it’ll be normal for a bit more.

Can you say something about the two books?
One is about building climbing intuition. What’s the difference between a beginner climber and a climber that “gets it” and how do you get there? The other is about outdoor bouldering at or past your limit.

Maho Normand, who last month did his first 9a+, has repeated Cedric Lo Piccolo’s Trip tik tonik (9a) in Gorges du Loup, which was set up as an 8c/+.

Do you know why it was upgraded to 9a?
Originally, the route had 2 sika crimps in the crux. When one of them broke, the climber Guillaume Lebret imagined other movements that could be done without the 2nd sika ruler that remained! As a result, the route outfitter Cédric Lo Piccolo decided to break the 2nd sika ruler and re-chained the route in its new version. Trip Tik Tonik has thus become one of the most beautiful natural 9a’s.

Can you tell us more about your ascent?
Second 9! So much emotion! After chaining Sachidananda (9a+) I felt better than ever! For once I finally took pleasure in trying hard routes, working them to finally manage to tick it off! This pleasure was such that I set myself goals for this year on the cliff! The first was to chain trip tik tonic! By definition it is a very natural king line!! The route is long and begins with a resistance start in 8b/+, then follows directly with a good, really cool and hard boulder in the endurance! After that it’s in the head and in the forearms, an 8b of 20 meters to run to clip the relay of this long base of about 70 movements according to the methods!

From the bottom it is really impressive and it immediately caught my attention when Jules Marchand did it last year! I also had to film it and this was very useful to me! I arrived with all the methods, knowing almost by heart! The first session allowed me to fix it to perfection, my second to put in a few runs and to approve the route and the end so to not make any mistake in the sequence! And today after a good warm-up and a climb in the route! I put in a run and finally passed the middle crux and managed to manage the last part well!! It’s really fun, training pays off! Place for the many next projects, the mustache 9a+, casimono 9a. Thank you to my family and my coaches!!

Niky Ceria reports on Insta, that he has done the FA of Ghost of the Navigator in Valle d'Aosta. He found the line in 2021 and in the end, it took him four days not including all the days cleaning and preparing. The Italian used 22 pads which took him over 30 minutes to place. The 30-year-old has previously done around ten boulders 8C or 8C+ but some of his FAs he hasn't graded like this one. ”It’s a line which stays somewhere in the middle of several styles such as bouldering, highball and trad and we didn’t squeeze it into a number.”

How high is it and is it hard also at the top?
For the last moves the feet are at 6 meters and it’s quite steep. It was personally the most difficult part of the climbing and not easy to figure out. It finally has 20 moves :)

Did you work it on top rope? What was the highest point you fell?
I took a fall once placing my feet just below the upper section. Quite controlled. I worked the last moves with the rope very well and all the sequences with ladders and pads up to 5 meters.

"Ghost of the Navigator was a lot about preparedness. If I think back to the days I have spent on it, more than 70% of the time isn’t related to climbing. After the finding part, I spent a few moments visualizing and taking the measures. No-bolts philosophy means that you have to commit using the things that you find. The tree at the top isn’t in line therefore a person has to hold the rope in angle. This means that the time to work on it is very reduced. I hence used the days on my own for cleaning the holds and washing the lichens away properly. Spraying water on this rock doesn’t cause any damage. On the contrary, it helps to scratch less and preserve the precious texture at the top. The height and the steepness made me very concerned about the fall. Differently than on other occasions, and due to the huge size of the problem, I opted to use some of the dead branches to flatten the landing a bit. The rest of my lonely days was spent taking care of the forest around the wall which is sadly very unhealthy."

Ainhize Belar, who previously has sent five 8c’s, has done Begi Puntuan in Etxauri, after working it for some six weekends. (c) Aitziber Narbaiza

How was the progress during the first sessions?
I tried the route for the first time two months ago. I have had to find my own methods due to the long moves and it has been difficult to find good conditions, but I enjoy a lot the process. It is a style that I am quite good at (crimps) and I got all the moves the first day, except for the last clip to the chain. The clip was very far away and there was a very long move that I thought I was not going to be able to do, but it has been a matter of looking at it well.

Jonathan Siegrist has onsighted Herbivore Dyno-soar (8b+) in Red Rock (NV) and flashed, as well as doing the FA of, Alien vs Predator (8b+) in La Madres. (c) Sanni Honnold

Can you tell us more about the onsight?
Honestly, I didn’t even think to try and onsight. I went to support my wife on her project at this great little cliff in Red Rock. Here I had two routes left, both were notoriously morpho so I was quite intimidated. I tried the first one Hank's Route (8a) and fell pretty low. Next, I decided to try Herbivore Dynosaur with zero intention of an onsight, I didn’t even look above an obvious, almost body length dyno right at the first bolt. This kind of thing is so far outside of my wheelhouse and I expected to fall a million times there and lower to the ground! It felt so cool and deeply gratifying to stick the move.. but then the fight was on to finish. Several more huge moves including another dyno guard the top. It’s definitely not the hardest 8b+ (even 8b) but the style is so far from a strength of mine that it made it a really exciting send for me.

Who gave the beta for the FA flash?
Alex Honnold and my friend Tyler Wilcutt had been trying it for a couple weeks so they had some nice beta, and had it cleaned up really well. It was an old forgotten project. Alex and I climb together a lot. So he knows how to give me good beta. He knows when I likely won’t be able to reach something and tells me some potential other options. And he knows that I will probably skip most knee bars. It’s so important to have beta from a solid climbing partner - so they know your size and style really well.