Connor Herson made his first 8a headline in 2018 when he did an 8c+, 2nd go at age 14. In the same year, he repeated The Nose 8b+ MP; and was #11 in the Youth World Championship. Short interview In the video, Connor sends Empath 9a (+) on gear, after previously having done it on bolts.

Roser Giralt, slab master,La Pedriza, Talo Martin better half, has done the FFA of Inuit (8b+). It was put up in 2011 by Aitor Bárez and the holds consist of crystals, smears and a few micro pockets.

What was your previous PB?
I did a 7b route in February and a 7a onsight, both slabs as well. Normally I climb routes 1 day a week in the gym and one day on the weekend, mostly bouldering cause it's easier with the kids. Although I did harder problems in the past, I climb in the 7A range.

How have you been training in 2023?
Not training as people train. I got a yearly membership at the gym to force me to go and I climb with a few friends but always for fun. I guess I'm lucky with my finger strength due to my job sewing and designing clothes.

What's your climbing background?
I have been climbing for 18 years and mostly bouldering. I did a 7C boulder 10 years ago-ish when I had my first daughter, which was also the first female 7C of La Pedriza.

What made you decide to suddenly start working an 8b+?
It was when I turned 39 in January 2023 that I looked back and saw that I spent 3 years fully dedicated to my entrepreneurial work. It has absorbed a lot of my time and now it gives me the time invested back. I wanted to prove to myself that everything I learned in bouldering over the years was applicable to a project of this magnitude. The thing is that I just wanted to try an 8a or so... My partner teased me telling me it was 7c... So I did it on top rope and I only hung once because my feet hurt. When he took me down he said, - Roser, you've done an 8b+ just for fun! Then on my second try on lead that day I fell on the easy 7a section having passed the crux due to my legs shaking a lot cause I was too nervous... So the send would have been a matter of time and tries.

What are you motivated for next? Casual climbing weekends or going for an 8c?
After having reached the highest women's grade in bouldering a decade ago and the highest women's grade in sport climbing La Pedriza nowadays, I would love to be able to seek my highest grade on MP climbing. Although combining MP climbing with kids is more difficult, I will surely end up trying an 8c and bouldering every weekend sooner. During this process, we had the support and help from many friends and this send is also theirs 😜

Jonathan Siegrist, who has previously completed four 9b’s, has repeated Chris Sharma’s Stoking the Fire (9b) in Santa Linya. ”A spectacularly hard route - and one that pushed me physically and even more so, mentally. Many big lessons to take away from this wild experience! Immensely, almost immeasurably stoked... My hardest. Now onward! -I used one left kneebar to clip before the first crux.” (c) Victoria Kohner

How long did you work it, and was there any small or subtle thing that got you to the anchor?
I tried the route for 6 weeks, I started feeling close a few weeks ago but no matter how hard I fought, it felt impossible to get all of the stars to align (conditions, skin, psyche, body, mind, etc). Because it's an intense mental battle - the most intense of my life, the trick was only to keep showing up and trying even when my ego, confidence, and hope was near to zero. I just kept fighting and got lucky with the last day, last try.

What’s your next plan and further 2023 plans?
I fly back to the states to get Married :) and then the plan is to return to Europe for the rest of the year. Just climbing "A muerte". We plan to live in France. Fingers crossed that I get the Visa...

Alex Ventajas, who previously has done two 9a+'s, has sent Halupca 1979 (9a) in Mišja Peč.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Halupca is a 30 meters endurance test, but at the same time, it’s very cruxy. That’s why I think that doing some bouldering in Switzerland on the Easter holidays helped me clip the chain sooner than expected. I first tried this line last November, when I recently had my ankle sprain, so I gave it two or three tries but I couldn’t do the hardest boulder entirely. This time I didn’t imagine sending the route so fast! On the first try, I managed to do all the moves dividing the route into sections. I felt very good on the holds and I finally sent the route on my second go! Everything went just perfectly! This style of “roof climb” fits me, and such as some other climbers before me, I think it’s not a solid 9a, but still, I’m very happy about the result!

Eva Hammelmüller has had two great trips to Arco where she first flashed Pappataci (8b), ”So happy to have flashed this KINGLINE! Felt pretty unsure about giving it a try because it was my 4th climbing day in a row, but it worked out perfectly well!”.

Later, she redpointed Gaucho (8c), Prospettiva Nevski (8c) and Dedi fredi (8b+).

Can you tell us more about your trips to Arco?
Arco is amazing for escaping cold and bad weather in Innsbruck; additionally, it offers many great climbing areas and cool routes! During the last month, I spent two weekends in Arco and, in a total of 5 climbing days, I sent three 8c’s, two 8b’s, one 8a+ and two 8a’s!

David Bermudez Carbonell, who started climbing less than three years ago, has done Potemkin (8c+) in . In total, the 13-year-old and 145 cm tall has now done more than 50 routes 8a and harder including two onsights. We spoke to David's mom, Isabel recently. (c) Javi Pec

What does a normal climbing week look like?
David normally trains in a climbing wall 3 times a week. He loves to do infinite movement traverses, although he trains in a self-taught way. The climbing wall where we train has nothing to do with the current climbing walls, it is a climbing wall set up by a group of climbers with density walls very focused on the transfer to the rock. Nobody tells David what he has to do and he decides what he will do each day. Without a trainer, nutritionists or psychologists .... He is also passionate about watching videos of climbers of all times and loves to climb everywhere in the house (including the living room table 😂). His talent, motivation and passion for climbing make him achieve the accomplishments he is making with his small stature and young age (13 years old). Best of all, he always enjoys the process.

David climbs every weekend and is a climber who always gives his all, he climbs at the top of his game on every pitch. He has a lot of endurance and self-confidence. So as soon as he finds the right method to solve the hardest pitches on the routes, he never fails.

He loves to onsight climb, and although we usually climb on weekends on a regular basis in Cuenca, he usually tries some onsight climbing (below his grade) before trying his project. Also when we go on a climbing trip on holidays, he always climbs onsight.

Mathieu Bouyoud has done La novena enmienda (9a/+) in Santa Linya.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
When I saw Adam do it in 2008, I wanted to do it too. I did the first part in 2010 and the second part in 2022. But all the time the third part was wet and not possible to climb. This year is very dry, nothing wet in the cave. La novena enmienda is the straight line in the middel of the cave ! Perfect for endurance 😊

Ainhize Belar Barrutia, who did her first 8c at age 14, has done her fifth, L'espiadimonis (8c) in Margalef.

Can you tell us more about your trip to Margalef and doing your fifth 8c?
I was in Margalef for a week The first days I tried L, espiadimonis 8c and I was able to do it the third day. Then, we change the crag and we went to Finestra, where I sent Via del kim 8b+, niña mala 8b and freeman 8a.

What does your typical week of climbing look like?
I’m studying first year of high school. When I finish class I train every day from 2 to 4 hours and on weekends I usually go out to the rock here in the Basque Country.

What are your plans for 2023?
This year I’m going to focus more on rock and lead competitions. For this, I have the help of the Sputnik team, who supports me and do everything possible for me to improve (trainers, psychologists, nutritionist, physios...).

Sven Lempereur, has done Supercrackinette (9a+) at after a 1.5 years battle falling 35 times on the last move. (c) John Thornton

Can you tell us more about sending Supercrackinette?
After my 21 birthday, I decided to focus on outdoor climbing, and I really wanted to find a big project that would motivate me and would make me progress on the projecting process. So, I decided to go four days on the route during the autumn 2021 to check what it was like to climb a 9a+ and what I needed to accomplish it. I chose this route because one of my best friends, Sébastien Berthe, did it a couple of years ago. I know that the route suits my style, with lots of crimps and resistance. This route is on a corner in the middle of the St-leger crag. I really like this place because it is not too far from my home (8 hour's ride), so it is possible to come here just for one week and there are always some strong guys to share my climbing days with.

For me, it was important to climb as fast as possible so I could be fresh for the top section. A fun fact is that I shared the progress with Jules Marchaland. We timed our attempts, and we tried to set a record between the first move and the mono movement. This fun thing helped me a lot to arrive as fresh as possible to the last part of the route. For me, the mono movement was not too hard because it’s perfectly my style. After this move, there are just 5 movements left to the final jug. I fell on this part more than 35 times. Most climbers don’t fall after the mono movement, but I didn’t manage to hang on the resting hold, and I fell a lot on the last move. For this, an important challenge for me was not damaging the skin on the side of my finger. In this resting hold, my finger was compressed against the rock, and I opened it every time, because of my big fingers and soft skin.

This route was a real mental battle because I was close to sending pretty quickly, but I just kept falling so many times in this last move. I was not able to find the solution in this last move from the ground, and I knew that I wasn’t able to do the move when I was tired. I remember calling my coach or my friends every trip and saying, "ok, I give up and I come back home", but they helped me each time to find the motivation to try again.

The game changer for me was that after my last trip in January, I decided to focus not just on trying hard boulders or hard routes but on the main goal of sending. In order to do that I chose some classic 8c routes in Belgium and just continued to try them until I sent them. The day before my send, I decided to retry an old beta for the last move and I train to do it 10 times in a row. The result is that work and I didn’t doubt or hesitate in this last move. After this send, I’m a little bit lost because the process that motivate me all this time is finished, but I have some nice projects in my mind like hard multi-pitches or the objective to be the first Belgian guy to do 9b.