Nicolai Užnik has made a rare repeat of Klem Loskot’s in Maltatal. Last year, the Austrian won the European Championship and in the World Games, he was #4. (c) Stefan Köchel

"Most challenging boulder I ever did, so psyched!!! 8C+ in my opinion, especially since the starting foothold broke a while ago and made the first move even harder."

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your journey?
I first tried it, I think in 2019 and felt absolutely chanceless until last year when I could finally do the first move once. A few days ago I got really close falling at the dyno to the lip and was unable to put it all together. Today after slipping off matching the lip, I finally did it two attempts later. For sure the hardest and most challenging boulder I did so far. I think it was last climbed in 2017 and since the starting foothold broke off not too long ago and made the first move even harder, I think it deserves the 8C+ grade.

What is your competition season preparation looking like?
This weekend we have the Austrian Championships at my hometown in Klagenfurt which is a good test for the upcoming World Cup season. I‘m feeling in good shape and can’t wait for the comp season to start!

Jakob, you recently took a short trip to what is likely to be the world’s second-ever 9c route. How much could you take away from DNA, the route freed by Seb Bouin in the Verdon Gorge in the south of France?
Last November I went for a very short trip to Verdon. I took the 10 hour drive just because I wanted to spend four days on DNA to see what the route is like; if I like it for the future, and to know if it is something that I'm really interested in trying a lot more. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the sector La Ramirole and the route itself. It's simply amazing. I really enjoyed climbing on it and I felt pretty good in the route as well. I was able to do all the moves within two days. A video that Seb sent me helped massively as I didn't have to invest all the time to figure all the beta out by myself. What attracts me most is that there’s not one specific crux move but that the route is more about adding all these hard moves together and do it in one piece. And obviously it is a very attractive line on a magnificent wall, the new video gives just a small glimpse into the beauty.

Can you walk us through the main parts of the route?
The route starts with a very powerful 8c, a rather short one with quite a few hard moves. Seb does a lot of like very tricky knee bars that I definitely struggled on; but then you have a very big knee bar rest, which is definitely very good. The long crux section starts there I would say, so there's this 8a boulder problem and then a few moves in between, a very bad rest and then an 8a+ boulder according to Seb. I'm not sure, it could also be a tiny bit harder. Definitely both boulders are quite hard, especially the first one felt hard for me because it's a huge span and I’m completely stretched out. Thereafter the route continues to be very powerful: pinches, dropknees and a big move to an undercling and tricky knee bars along the way which are difficult to get a feeling for. Most of it is very much my style and I’m happy to have found solutions for all these hard individual sections. After that it’s still 8c/8c+ to the top, with basically the best climbing of the route on these amazing tufas. Altogether the route is really hard, and I can't wait to actually come here for a longer period and try sending this beast one day. I’m also looking forward to seeing the video about Seb’s process for the first ascent. Wanting to do something so badly always brings along mental battles, especially if the process is spread out over such a long period of time.

Following your probably strongest season ever with Olympic bronze and the 4th World Championships title in lead in 2021, you made yourself a name as a ‘down grader’, so where do you see DNA?
A lot of people are always very interested in the grade of the very hardest routes. What do you think about Silence? What do you think about Project Big? Do you think DNA is actually 9c? Obviously, it's very hard to tell after only a couple of days in it. I think you can only grade a route once you actually sent it. You can make assumptions, but actually grading it is only possible once you succeeded on it. I haven't really tried connecting all the boulders, which will definitely be hard. What I can say right now is it's not harder than 9c and it's not easier than 9b+.

So, will we see you back on DNA this year or what’s your plan of attack for 2023?
I'm kind of a spontaneous person. So I wouldn't say I have my whole year planned out. However, I have certain goals, routes, boulders and competitions that I want to try or attend. When it comes down to competitions, my biggest goal is to make the top three in Combined at the World Championships to secure the ticket for the Olympic Games. If I'm not able to do that, then obviously, I will train for Laval, the European qualifier in November. Regarding rock climbing, I’ll focus on bouldering until spring, and then I hope I can make it back to Flatanger for another round on Project Big. If I manage to grab the Olympic ticket, my focus for the rest of the year will switch completely to rock and I’ll probably come back to Gorge du Verdon.
Interview by Katrin Strobl

William Bosi is up in Finland live-streaming his second session on Burden of Dreams 9A. The temperature is -3, icicles are visible, and there is a clear blue sky and he is making good progress. Will says that the first individual move might be 8B but skipping that, doing kind of a stand start, it could be 8C.

After the session is over, Will actually start trying a completely new beta that might be easier and then he continues like an hour resting max 3-4 minutes during the 2+ hours session. On the other hand, he is doing such good links on the original beta that he should be able to do it in a couple of more sessions. In the end, it seems anyhow that his new beta is better although it makes the last dyno a bit harder.

Being asked which is the hardest boulder he has tried, "Terranova is potentially as hard as Burden of Dreams". Adam Ondra put up Terranova (8C+) in 2011 and Will recently tried it.

The live-streaming is like a tutorial on how to climb hard and in the end, he has answered 20 questions which his girlfriend reads out from the streaming. The streaming is over 2 hours and there is actually interesting all the way, also thanks to his girlfriend who is moderating the show in a very nice way. This is the new standard of live-streaming bouldering.

Matt Segal, world-class trad and big wall climber, has done Kryptonite (8c+) at The Fortress of Solitude. He first tried it in 2003 and then started working on it last year. Matt took a little time to answer a few questions we had.

So basically, you came back 19 years later and started to project Kryptonite as your first 9a at age 38? How was it to raise your bar in sport climbing like this and how did you prepare yourself?
[I] Kinda walked away from hard sport climbing when I was younger to pursue difficult trad climbing and adventure climbing… Honestly, I prepared for it by sport climbing a ton. I had a trip in the spring to Saint George and one in the summer to Céüse. Besides that, the hardest part was staying fit throughout the process and that required a lot of gym climbing.

Alex Ventajas has repeated Gabri Moroni's Trofeo dell'Adriatico (9a+) in Arco. The Spaniard, living in Italy, has during the last two years done eight 9a's and one 9a+.

Can you tell us more about your ascent?
Since I saw the picture of Gabriele Moroni’s first ascent I thought Trofeo dell’Adriatico would have been the perfect project for me. In effect, Trofeo didn't disappoint my expectations: all the moves are so intense and powerful but at the same time very aesthetic. It is meant for being climbed! While I was trying the route I said more than once that even if I kept falling I would never get tired of trying those movements, and I think this helped me keep my motivation high. I had to admit the process that lead me to the send didn't exactly go as planned. It was like a roller coaster, with ups and downs!

I first put my hands on Trofeo at the end of last year, but there were many interruptions due to some vacations, weather, and work. So I went back to it around a month later in January. Since then, I think I spend around 20-25 days on the route. Maybe they don’t seem too much from outside, but when you think you’re close and you keep falling those days might feel a lot. In the beginning, I thought I had found my betas quite fast, and after a few days I managed to give it a very good try from below. Those days I felt really close. But then a crucial hold got wet, there were bad conditions, and above all, I realize my methods weren't as good as I thought: a sequence was too aleatory and required too much energy putting pieces together.

So I realize I had to take a step back to Invest time in changing some of the betas I tried so far. That was exactly what I needed, because by changing a few things I started to have very good tries again, falling in the upper part of the last boulder. I was a little worried that high temperatures will arrive before I manage to put a red point to this great line, but yesterday there were perfect conditions, I felt very strong and I had the feeling I could control every move. Clipping the chain was so exciting! For sure this is the route that made me struggle the most but also my biggest climbing satisfaction so far, and it taught me a lot: to accept failure, learn from mistakes, look for solutions, and go for it without losing motivation! Most of the time the correct mindset it’s all we need to reach our goals!

William Moss has done the FA of Best Things in Life Are Free (9a) in Trapps, and it comes with an R as it is trad/mixed ascent with a risk of injury. This is the first 9a mixed route in the world and as the two bolts, Moss clipped, are in fairly easy terrain, some would consider it as a contender for the hardest trad route in the world. The climb is the 10 meters direct variation to Friend zone (8c+). which he did two years ago. "Two seasons of projecting on this one. My proudest ascent to date and the hardest line up the t’s Buttress."

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the included R grade?
It is the original aid line that was called Best things in life aren’t free. It was always the obvious and hardest project on the Buttress but it had been too hard and too scary in the past for me to send. It is by far my proudest ascent to date. The R is the safety rating. I gave it that because at the crux I am runout about 20 feet above my last piece of protection and the sequence requires climbing upside down which leads to the potential of hitting my head or back in a big fall. This made it scary to climb and was the reason I wore a helmet.

William Bosi has been doing an Insta livestreaming this morning trying Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams 9A in Finland. When he did his flash attempt he had some 50 viewers but in the end, there were 1 500 watching his first working session. As a great surprise for him, he did the first crux move on his third try and basically, he did all five moves and the complicated foot beta without too much difficulty. Will has prepared at home with a replica, where it took him nine sessions to do the first move. Apparently, Stefano Ghisolfi and Toru Nakajima are also coming. Toru has spent several trips trying the problem already. They might be joined by Shawn Raboutou.

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Brooklyn in Orgon. In total, the 21-year-old has now done over 60 routes 9a and harder. ”Crazy send. A new route, bolted by my father between "Macumba club" and "Bronx". After about twenty very hard and powerful moves on natural holds it ends with Macumba club (8c). Three approach moves lead to the first crux: a very hard move from a bad crimp to go to a shoulder followed by three "campus board" moves (6 moves around 8A+). Then you have the second crux with, in particular, a bad little undercling followed by a nice dynamic move (8 moves around 7C+). After all this, you climb the second part of "La Connection", 30 moves of resistance (around 8b+). This route is almost natural and deserves a few "curious" climbers to come and climb it. I propose 9b for this route. It took me around 15 days of work." 💪😍

What's next?
I have some projects in France between 9b and 9b+ (maybe more). In Margalef I would like to succeed in « Artaburu » (9b) by Iker Pou and try routes by Jorge Diaz-Rullo. In Santa Linya some routes between 9a and 9b interest me. So we will have to make choices.🙃

Oriane Bertone, in 2018, at age 12, sent Golden Shadow (8B+) and has since been one of the best female outdoor boulderers. In 2019, she started doing IFSC Youth Comps and she won eight out of nine, and in the ninth, she was runner-up. In her World Cup debut, at age 16, she won the silver and during the last two World Cup seasons, she was on five occasions in the Top-5. Two weeks ago, the 18-year-old won the French Championship and she is a strong contender looking the boulder WC in 2023. We were able to get some thoughts from her following the French championships.

What were the French Championships like?
The Nationals went super well for me actually. It had been a while since I last climbed on « competition style » boulders, since I have mainly been doing spray wall and climbing gyms boulders (which are not the exact same setting style of course). I had loads of fun and it felt amazing being back on comp boulders again !! Good start to the season for me, I’m pretty excited for the rest :)

What does a normal climbing day look like for you?
I’m actually a lot in habits. I have a routine that’s pretty much my everyday plan and I stick to it !! I usually train in the middle of the day, from around 9 a.m. to mid/end-afternoon. I like not waking up too early and not going to sleep too late so this schedule is pretty much the perfect one for me! I like the life that I have in Paris a lot, as I’m finally getting used to it :)

A normal training day isn’t really something actually. It depends a lot on how I’m feeling, where we are in the season and also the cycle we are in (with Nicolas Januel, my coach). But a « normal » training day is gonna be 2 to 3 hours of physical work and fingerboarding, and a few more hours of climbing in the spray wall or wherever my training is.

Have you been able to climb outdoors lately?
I didn’t get the chance to climb much outside but still managed to go a few times!! At the end of my training cycles, I have a week where I climb pretty freely with not so many training plans. I can sometimes go outside climbing in the forest around that time :)

Do you have the rest of your comp season planned out?
I’ll be doing the three first bouldering WCs and trying my best there! Probably a bit of Lead too :) The goal is mainly to get stronger and gain experience as I still have a lot of weaknesses and things to progress in. Getting stronger will probably lead the walk. We’ll then see what the season and the comps bring me. I’m pretty excited to try what I’ve learned these past few months and to see if I have made any progress in what we’ve worked on lately!!