Alex Barrows has done Fabela pa la enmienda (9a) in Santa Linya after projecting it for some 12 sessions during three weeks. "When I first went to Santa Linya I thought climbing the whole way out of the steep part of the cave looked like one of the coolest bits of sport climbing going. That was 13 years ago (god I feel old)... Back then there was no chance of me doing it - my hardest route was 8a+ and the easiest way out of the steep part was 8c+.

The last few years I've mostly been psyched for onsighting when we've been at long Euro crags, but this year I thought it would be cool to go back and try Fabela pa la Enmienda, a 9a coming all the way out of the steepness. Maybe by now I'd be strong enough, fit enough, or at least have amassed a large enough collection of kneepads...?" (c) Ella Rusell

A couple of days later, he sent in the big cave. "Brilliant last day pump out. 3rd best line in the cave for me, after Neanderthal and Remeneo-Enmienda."

What is next?
Now we have to go home, unfortunately, so it depends on the weather in the UK! I have two projects at Kilnsey I'd like to try this summer if they're dry, though I think one might be too hard for me and the other needs quite a bit of loose rock removal so it's hard to know how they'll go!

Eva Hammelmüller has done Pungitopo (8c+) in Arco. During the last two months, the Austrian has sent 15 routes 8a and harder out of which half onsight or flash. In the 8a ranking game, the 22-year-old is #2. (c) Felix Mast

Can you tell us more about the quick double send of the route?
So happy I could tick this beautiful route after struggling really much with one move and a nasty cut in my last sessions! After the send, we decided to film the whole route, so I tried it again - and found myself on top of the route a second time! I have never re-climbed a route as hard as this before, especially not within an hour :D

Drew Ruana started making 8a headlines in 2012 when he did his first 8b+ at age 12. Two years later he sent Just Do It (8c+) and won the silver in the Youth World Championship. He continued progressing both on rock and in comps, where he was close to making it to the Olympics and was #13 in the Combined World Champion in 2019. After quitting the competition circuit he has since 2020, focused on bouldering and with 27 8C's and nine 8C+, he has one of the most impressive tick lists over the past two years. He's also undertaking a full-time University program . During the first two weeks in February, Drew did two 8Cs and one 8C+.

How can you explain being in such good shape right now?
I don't know, I’m really busy with school and climbing just for fun right now. Takes the pressure off.

How much do you train and climb outside a week?
I don't know, I’m really busy with school and climbing just for fun right now. (That) Takes the pressure off.

How much do you train and climb outside a week?
I don’t train or climb inside too much. I normally have 4-5 outdoor sessions a week.

What drives your desire to climb?
I just like climbing hard boulders outside. V15/16 (8C/8C+) is a lot more fun than it used to be because I can do them in around a couple of days or a week now, especially if I know the beta or have tried them before. I like trying v14 (8B+) and harder stuff because that’s where I usually start feeling challenged. I like pushing myself so I stick to harder grades, but I try to do the climb before the grade.

How many different projects are you working on now?
I have like 20 boulders I’m trying off and on.



How do you deal with failures and working with one or several projects?
You get used to it. It sucks but it’s part of what it takes to get stronger. Learn from failures and figure out how to make them less likely to happen in the future. Trust the process, projecting and progression involves lots of failure and learning.

Any short and or more long-term advice that you would give the youth that are out there pushing hard to make gains?
Not really any great short term but for the long term is to really think long term. Plan your projects and training cycles long-term and keep punching the clock. Just putting in the time. 6 months of consistent training is better than going super hard for a week.

Marine Thevenet reports on Insta that she has done Dreamtime Stand (8A+) in Cresciano. In total, the lawyer has now done some 90 boulders 8A and harder, out of which around 30, in just the last two years. (c) Clement Lechaptois

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried it a session or two last year very quickly when Clément tried the Dagger a little. This year I worked it two times and did it at the 3rd session :)

How do you manage working full time and climbing so hard?
I will quit my job in few weeks :)

Wow! So what is the plan now?
I quit my job to have more time to climb and to organize my job (and my life) in my own rythm - to not have to work during the all sunny week and climb in gyms thé weekend because of a bad weather (for exemple!) I decided to do it since in the past I negotiated some sponsorship agreements for my friends and I gave them some advice regarding their image rights. I used to work in a law firm for a huge sports agent in football/rugby. I would like to help climbers or outdoor athletes to find some sponsors that fit their expectations for whatever they are :) So🤞

Ignacio Mulero reports on Insta that he has done the FA of the trad route El boulder del pedal (8c+) in La Pedriza. This means that it is one of the hardest trad routes in the world, as nobody has dared to suggest 9a. (c) Emmi Isakow

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
"El boulder del pedal" is a ball in the middle of a meadow at the top of the La pedriza with a blind and slopey crack that runs through practically the entire rock except for the entrance, which concentrates the hardest part. The movements in El Boulder del Pedal are of crimps, slopers and some uncomfortable fingers and hand jams with bad feet The protection is quite good. The entire start is protected with crash pads and at five meters you can put the first cam (Dragon 00 blue from DMM) and from there it is protected quite well with the next size.

It is very short and intense, about 12 meters. If it could not be done in trad, I would see it as a highball. In fact, it was always in my head to do it without a rope. But being on it with Nalle Hukkataival made me see that you can really protect it without altering the rock, so why not use the rope and not add danger to the ascent when it is well protected? It was difficult for me to change that thinking. There are many routes of this style. And the truth is that Nalle was right! When you lean out from the top you don't want to fall from there.

Of the difficulty when doing it with a rope, it sounded strange to me to grade it as a boulder. Talking about it a little together with Dani Andrada, who was able to try it briefly one day, it would be like an 8c+ route. For me, that comes from equivalence to a bouldering grade of around 8B+, which for me would be easier to approximate the difficulty of this route in comparative terms of difficulty.

I started trying last season but I couldn't do it. This season I had to remember again and to change methods because I broke a very important foothold and some days it was wet. This together with those of last season were like 20 days.

Now I'm going to Annot for a few days to know the place and then I'm going back to Norway to try Recovery drink (8c+ trad). In between these travels, I want to finish more projects that I have in the La Pedriza.

Cathy Wagner has done L'hypoténuse (8a+) in St Léger. "The large diagonal that crosses the wall from La face cachée de la lune (8a+) to Au nom de la loi (8b): This pure base of physical content is INSANE👌💪. Many thanks to Mick and Seb for the belay and the encouragement."

The 57-year-old has done a total of 874 routes 8a and harder which is most of the females in the world. In just the last 12 months, she has done 34 so if she somewhat keeps the pace, she will do #1000 at age 60.

Leo Bøe 🍄, who two days ago sent Fabela pa la enmienda (9a), has had another burst of productivity in Santa Linya doing Fuck The system (9a) as well as Travers de la enmiend (8c+). (c) Emile Pino

Can you tell us more about that amazing day?
When walking to the cave yesterday I had no idea what the day would bring. The clouds that were promised on the forecast were not there and the sun was hitting hard. Warming up I told my friends today will be shit… Somehow and out of thin air the wind started blowing like crazy again just like the previous good days we had. The transition from being a bit grumpy and demotivated by the condies to being extremely psyched was instant and I jumped on one of my projects.

The route I was trying was «Traversa de la Enmienda» 8c+ has a savage mono which I passed, but then fell on the following move. I came down and basicly felt fresh even though I had burned some calories already. My next try I focused on shaking my right arm alot while hanging in the mono so that the next move would be easier. It worked and I quickly passed the crux and entered the last part which is fairly easier, but pumpy as hell. Somehow this time I did not get pumped.

I came down from the 50 meter route that traverses the whole roof with fresh forearms and I was thinking to myself that I’d maybe try my main project again as the condies also were insane. I had before my send on Enmiend also told my friend, Pol Ortiz, as a joke that I would send both my projects this day. It went from being a joke to something that could be reality!

I waited a couple hours and the wind was even stronger at this point. I jumped on Fuck the System 9a and the holds were super sticky, more than ever before… Even the kneebars felt better and I could relax and rest for less that half the time compared to previous rounds.

Eventually I reached the top where I had fallen off around 4-5 times before. I was nervous eyeing out the last hold, but somehow I stuck the big move and could clip the chains!

I was super happy to send these two routes in a day and it might be my best climbing day in terms of sensations. I was feeling like I was in my best shape ever. Now I can move on to other harder lines maybe. Not entirely sure what I’ll invest my time into the next weeks, but I will for sure keep on climbing hard stuff since I’m ultra psyched !! 🤙🤙🤙

Oliana is one of the most famous hard-end crags in the world. Last June, a wildfire partly destroyed the wall and most of the fixed gear. Svana Bjarnason has led the restoration work including getting sponsors and also running a crowfunding campaign.

"As the village, the local organizations and brands hadn't really planned to do anything with the crag, my friends and I (more or less a group of 12 people) decided to try and take care of it. I put up crowdfunding to get a bit of money for all the work and contacted some brands to try to get some gear. We properly started working at the crag at the end of November. Since then we’ve all been working hard to try and “rebuild” the crag, try to make it a safer place and try to get the routes back to their initial state. Our to-do list was/is quite large:
- Take off burnt quickdraws and place new steel ones
- Check bolts (rebolt if needed)
- Check routes safety (flakes breaking and falling spontaneously)
- Clean routes (reinforce holds with sika if needed)
- Place new anchors
- Rebuild the trail
- Build pit toilet

We’ve been making a lot of progress but there is a lot of work and we are not that many helping so it’s a long journey. I’m very happy with all the work we’ve accomplished so far tho. The few people who are here are super motivated and efficient and I can’t thank them enough. They’re all taking on their own time and energy and it’s amazing to see how dedicated to the crag we all are. These days we’re in the rebolting phase, we’ve got 200 bolts for free from a Greek organization called Lappas climbing and from the French organization Greenspits, we also got a fantastic amount of gear from Edelrid and we’ll get some from Petzl. Apart from that, we’ve been using the money from crowdfunding (big thanks to those who gave money) and the rebolting of one route was financed by the organization Fanatic Climbing (France). I am very grateful to all of them, it has helped us a lot.

I would like to raise awareness about the ongoing work, we are still in the process and there’s still a lot to do. New quickdraws on a route don’t necessarily mean that the route is completely safe. Better ask us before coming and climbing there, so we can advise you on what is ok to climb on. The wall is also full of static ropes because we need them to work, we’re still cleaning some of the routes, and we still need to rebolt most of them. DO NOT take it down. And it’s also very important for people who want to climb here that Oliana is not what it used to be, it is not a safe place because of the risk of rock falls. We’re doing our best to try and clean and make it safer but it will never be safe because of the fire it suffered. It altered a lot the rock formations and nature around so the risk of holds breaking and trees falling from the top is high, especially after the rain. Please make sure to be aware of this if you go to the crag. And if anyone wants to come and help we’d be happy to have you 😊"


How is the status with the classic routes?
Most of the routes on the main wall are unchanged, in some a few holds broke. The most affected part is the left side of the wall. All the easier routes (in the 6th grade) were destroyed. The 7a and 7b on the left side were also affected but after cleaning it is still possible to climb. Might be a bit harder but not too much. The 8b+ Crimptonite is completely destroyed as well and we're not even sure we will be able to make a new route out of it. Then T1 Full Equip (8b+) was also altered, we still need to check it properly. And the classic 8a Mishi was also damaged, so we'll see how it is now.

Staša Gejo sent Mécanique élémentaire (8B+) in Fontainebleau last November and now the mini-doc video is out. "After 3 sessions last week, and falling at the swing around 5 or 6 times, I did it with frozen fingers, pumped and exhausted. It was a battle to remember. I was incredibly happy though. I had so many people support me and push me till the end."

Melissa Le Nevé did the first female ascent of it in 2017 but otherwise, besides Oriane Bertone, no other females have sent 8B+ in Font. In 2021, Gejo got the bronze in the World Championship.