William Bosi has made very good progress on Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams 9A, in his first two sessions. Let's see if he continues trying the new beta he found. Here is the live-streaming link.

William Bosi just recently said that he felt that Adam Ondra's Terranova (8C+) was as hard as Burden of Dreams 9A. Now, Jana Svecova has dropped a video where she does all moves on Terranova in just two sessions, by coming up with new beta.

Carlo Traversi, who did his first, out of ten 8C, in 2011, has repeated Dave Graham's From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Got really close to finishing From Dirt in early 2013. Right after making the first ascent of The Kingdom (8C), I fell off the mantle a few times from the bottom. I could do the mantle easily from starting mid way up the boulder but it always felt like it just didn’t work from the bottom. I’ve returned to try a few times over the years but conditions just haven’t lined up. This trip it felt good first day, but then it’s been too warm since then. Luckily with only a few days left in the trip, we got some cold, windy conditions yesterday and I was able to climb it 2nd try from the bottom. Was a really odd send for me, the boulder has always felt like a bit of a struggle, nothing feeling easy. Send go felt weightless, no struggle, the easiest climbing has felt the whole trip.

Three years since the last 8C. How did you get back into peak performance shape?
I feel like I’m always in peak performance shape. At least I try to be. That doesn’t always result in sends, but my level has mostly been the same or slightly improved each year for the last 10 years. So my “results” are rarely reflective of the work I’m putting in.

What are your 2023 plans?
Lots of plans but nothing worth mentioning yet. The goal is always to maintain top level in bouldering, sport, and traditional [climbing]. So I will likely be bouncing between those 3 disciplines through the summer. Multi-pitches is definitely a priority for 2023.

The 34-year-old did his first two 9a's in 2015 and he has later done two 9a+. Three years later he did the second ascent of the first 8c+ trad route in the world, Beth Rodden's Meldown, and last year he did another one of the hardest trad lines in the world, Magic Line (8c+). His previous send above 8C was Creature From the Black Lagoon (8C+), which he did three years ago. Carlo also worked on The Dawn Wall together with Kevin Jorgeson some ten odd years ago. Overall, Carlo has made a case to be considered one of the best multi-discipline climbers in the world.

Adam Ondra reports on Insta that he has been on a ”family vacation” trip to Malta. "Spending a lot of time with family and getting rest for the hard training ahead of me! It was nice getting to know the small climbing community in Malta 💪" In the end, he onsighted eight routes 8a+ and harder, meaning the 30-year-old is approaching 500 such graded onsights. (c) Stephen Farrugia

The hardest onsights on the island were actually (probably) two FAs in Melieha Cave;
Winds of Change (8b+): "Start to the right to Aint Sane in the Membrane, finish like the Down in a Hole. Hard start, then a total nohands and a tricky boulder. Definitely being tall helps. Giving a grade on my onsight try and being 8th 8th-grade route of the day doesn't help. Thanks Simon and Stevo for an amazing day!"

Fight Club (8b): "Start like November Rain, but go direct in the end. probably first ascent? Roof climbing on tufa at its best."

Adam also probably made the FA of a previously chipped route, Tunnel Vision (8b+) in Mgarr Ix-xini. "Short burly route just above the little "tunnel" when you approach the gorge. If you use the chipped pocket in between the 3rd and 4th bolt, it is probably 8a. Without, I think it is pretty hard 8A boulder."

Siara Fabbri, who did her first 8B+ in November, has done Les Feux Dazeroth 8A
in Branson, Creatures of Comfort (8A+) in Vernayaz and Taijutsu (8A+) in Val Bavona. (c) Simone Tentori

Can you tell us more about those ascents?
Good weekend here in Val Bavona 😁. Psyched to send Taijutsu 8A+ today, it's a new block that got put up a month ago.

I had a session last fall on Creatures on my first trip to Vernayaz. I felt close to sending but fell off the last move four times, it's a deep lock off and I kept failing to get this crimp good. In the end, I found some better beta and came back recently, I refreshed myself on the moves, then sent :).

We went after to check out the boulder with Les Feux, but it was really cold so we just climbed a little. We returned the next weekend and I sent Les Feux fairly quickly, but onsighting the mossy top out in the night was spicy. I was psyched to find the right beta for these blocks and send them relatively quickly as I want to improve in optimizing the projecting 😊💪.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done The full journey (9b) in Margalef. "First repetition after Alex Megos. 4 days of work but I already did the first part one year ago and the second part one week ago." (c) Adri Martinez

The route is a original line linking The journey (9a+) which he did last year and Carlota's journey (9a+) which he did last week. In the 8a ranking game, the 23-year-old is #2 after Adam Ondra.

The Gallery relaunch has made finding and sharing climbing inspiration easier. Plus, the quality images submitted ensure that the crag database charges forward and remains a useful tool for every member to use. Sharing your greatest climbing moments now puts you in the prize raffle. All you have to do to enter is upload your photos to the gallery and tag the crag. The more “Venga”s your photo gets, the higher your chances of winning, as each “Venga” earns you an additional ticket in the raffle draw at the end of the month. To kick things off, all participants this month will score one month of Vertical-Life Premium, and one lucky climber will receive a one year subscription to Vertical-Life Premium with friends. The winner and four friends will have access to all 5000 crag topos available in the Vertical-Life app. Tap the “Learn more” button below, in the Gallery, for more info. Best of luck!

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.