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.

Nico Pelorson reports with Insta videos that he has done From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico and Squalo Bianco (8B+) in Valle Bavona.

Can you tell us more about the 8C ascent?
it's a magnificent boulder opened around twenty years ago by Dave Graham. I've always dreamed of trying this boulder. It is broken down into two sections. A very fingertip first and a very physical second where you have to do a mantle. I will say that section 1 is worth 8A and the second 8B. Fun fact, I only managed to do the second section once, when I tried to do the red point from the ground 😅. I needed 3 sessions to redpoint this one.

The 25-year-old is known for his stiff grades and actually, for most of the hardest climbs he has done, he has given personal grades, like Soudain seul (9A) and No Kpote Only (9A). Including also three 9a+, he has one of the most impressive Combined tick lists out there, during the last few years.

In the second Boulder Euro Cup in 2023, Flavy Cohaut and Arthur Le Bris, both from France, won. Cohaut won also the first event meanwhile Le Bris was #20. Among the males, Thomas Lemagner, also from France is #1 after the first two events and he is also #1 in the Euro Youth Cup. Complete results.

Aidan Roberts has flashed Momentum (8B+) in Valle Bavona, which was put up by Nalle Hukkataival in 2012 as an 8C. On Insta he comments, "Between intermittent rain showers and wavering motivation at the idea of a soggy top-out slab, a weather window opened and I was able to top out on my flash attempt, a great feeling!"

Last autumn Roberts made the second ascent of Alphane (9A) and including also several 8C+, he is a contender for having the most impressive tick list out there.

Michaela Kiersch has had a great day in Magic Wood, sending The bizarre Ride (8A+), Octopussy (8A) and The bomb is explosion (8A). (c) Susannah Anders

”Bizarre Ride and Octopussy were on my 2023 revenge list because they were super challenging for me last year, I couldn’t do all of the moves. So excited to put them to rest! Just wanted to finish up the day with one more! Hadn’t tried it [The Bomb] before and managed to do it in a few tries.

Which has been the most fun you have done in Ticino in 2023?
Frank's wild years (8A+) is my favorite so far because I was climbing just out of pure joy. It was an impromptu trip to Ticino from Spain and such a fun experience to find myself bouldering with my heels above my head doing big moves on pinchy holds. I would also have to say that it’s been really rewarding to see progress in a climbing style that has historically been challenging for me (big powerful moves) - especially on boulders I couldn’t do in the past!

As it stands, the 28-year-old and Dr. in Hand Therapy is a contender for having the All-Time High best Combined route and boulder tick list. She started 2023 by doing La Rambla (9a+) and in the last 15 months she has done around 35 boulders 8A to 8B+. In previous years, she was more of a route climber having completed a dozen routes 8c+ and harder. Here is an interview from last year.

Dani Moreno has repeated Ali Hulk sit start extension total (9a+) in , giving it a personal 9a grade. "On the verge of multi-organ failure. The sit start adds difficulty but I don't think it changes the grade, for me a good reference 9a in this style."

Moreno did the stand start last year calling it a "soft" 9a after having found several no-hands rests where he stayed up to several minutes. Dani Andrada did the FA of a shorter variation in 2007 and including the full "total" line, it has become the most repeated 9b in the world. Enrique Beltran Blaco sent the stand start last year and commented Andrada's FAs. "His FA was absolute performance and much more difficult compared to using knee pads and resting no hands every other ten moves."