NEWS

Two 8c's by Manon Hily
26 February 2023

Two 8c's by Manon Hily

Manon Hily, who previously has done three 8c+, has during the same day, sent two 8c's and flashed three 8a's in St Lรฉger.

Stay kratom stay safe (8c) - "Long and athletic movements on medium holds. The crux works, thanks to an intermediate, for the shorter ones. Soft."
En Attendant Ernest (8c) - "Super nice line to the left of the Cadafist. The start is still hard. Rest and no block + resi section behind. The rating is to be confirmed, it seems very soft to me and at the same time not easier than Stay safe... it lacks repetitions to be objective." (c) Antonin Rhodes

The french has been an active IFSC competition climber since 2009, winning nine youth medals. Last year, she got her first senior podium when she got the bronze in the European Lead Championship.

Pol Roca Lopez flashes two 8Bs.
Pol Roca Lopez has had a very impressive day of flashing in Tamajรณn, including two 8Bs, Unforgiven (8B) and Sacamuelas (8B). (The latter he gave a personal 8A+ grade.) During the same day, he also did three more boulders 8A to 8B. (c) Eric Lรณpez

Up until 2021, the 27-year-old had only flashed one 8A, but over the last ten days he's flashed seven boulders 8A to 8B. Currently, the Spaniard is #2 in the 8a flash ranking game after William Bosi.

What's the story behind your recent flash success?
During the last years I did not try to climb in flash mode. But from the Mother Night (8B) I'm excited to try to flash all the grades. I always climb new boulders doing FAs but when I go to a new sector I always try to flash the boulders. The first go is always the best go! You can give the 100% but at the same time, it is hard haha.

What kind of beta did you get for your flashes?
No videos. My friend Eric Lopez knows the place and he did the boulders before me. I just tried to flash and this day was really good.

Jonathan Siegrist FAs Back to the Future, 9a/+
Jonathan Siegrist has done the FA of Back to the Future (9a+) in . (c) Ryan White

"The last remaining Joe Brooks project from over 20 years ago! And I can see why... Climb Atlantis, and then blast directly -no rest- into an outrageous, heroic roof boulder problem. It felt SO good to finally stick the blind campus move. Elated! I lost track of the days, but as far as effort invested it is on par with anything I've done in the cave. Word on the street is that Big Frank fell going for the lip in the early 2000's... so impressive. No kneepads. 9a/+." In 2001, Francois Legrand published an article about their USA trip.

Did you any specific training for the send?
No specific training just trying to make time once or twice a week to try it, as Iโ€™m prioritizing my training for spain right now. I leave for Catalunya on Sunday. Canโ€™t wait!

Olivia Ogier does Lethal Design 8A+
Olivia Ogier, who did her first and only 8A last November, has done in Red Rock (NV).

Can you tell us a little more about Lethal Design?
I first got on Lethal in December, and I only gave it a couple of tries as it is very sharp and I had other goals. I came back to it a couple of weeks ago and fell on the last hard move, and I got extremely motivated to go back, but the weather kept me from trying it until this past weekend. I decided to make a solo trip out there, arrived at the boulder to find that most of the stash pads had been taken, and I had to make 4 small pads stretch across the whole boulder, including the highball top out ๐Ÿ˜…. I fell 8 times at the last hard move in the morning, almost gave up but decided to try again in the evening and I sent with no warm-up!

What's your climbing background?
I climbed competitively from the ages 9-15, then decided to only focus on outdoor climbing, with my hardest sends being Rodeo Free Europe 5.14a (8b+) this summer and then Lethal this weekend. I also in the past year decided to start competing again, with intentions of doing the 2023 elite USA climbing circuit.

โ€œClaret is a really historic crag in South of France and I bolted two new routes in the main wall there. Guerre future (8c+) is a cool variation on the big prow of the crag. Guรจre de bruit (9a) is going on the wall with tiny holds. Young rockstar Thรฉo Blass joined me during the process on "Guerre future". It was cool to work the routes with someone else and share the experience of route development with the next generation!โ€

Florian Wientjes gets Off the Wagon (from the sit) 8C+
Florian Wientjes, who previously has done nine 8C's, reports on Insta that he has done Off the Wagon Sit (8C+) in Valle Bavona. "I started trying it on a short trip last Dec. The plan was to try the stand but after that went down pretty fast I started trying it from the low start. I did all the Moves and also did my first links which gave me confidence that this Line is absolutely doable for me. From session 2 I always fell on the big move and the mental battle started. 6 more sessions came and went with close calls and new "Highpoints". It was mentally really hard climbing to the big move just to fail another time on the same move as the 60 times before."(c) Xaver Quintus

Dave Graham started working on it in 2005 and the next year, Chris Sharma and Nalle Hukkataival began projecting it. Six years later, Nalle did the FA of the stand start calling it 8C. Two days later Jan hojer did the first repeat, calling it 8B+, which was later confirmed. In 2018, Shawn Raboutou made the FA of the sit start and it has also been done standing from the ground, in both cases using the same starting holds.

Did you do any specific training?
I worked hard on some moves on the spraywall which required a lot of contact strength. I also made some replicas for the big move.

Why not do the sit-start project from the ground?
For me, Off the Wagon and the cart is part of its aesthetic. Moving the wagon to start from the ground is for me not as attractive as starting sitting on it.

What's up next for you?
Actually no plans ๐Ÿ˜…. Back to training I guess and (let's) see what's (to) come.

Gado 8b flash and Silver Smile 8a+ OS by Eva Hammelmรผller
Eva Hammelmรผller has had a great day in Arco where she onsighted Silver smile (8a+) and flashed Shantaram (8a) and Gado (8b). (c) Felix Mast

Could you tell us more about that great onsight/flash day?
I didn't expect much from yesterday, as I've been ill the last few days and I didn't feel 100% fresh. Yet, trying the routes without much pressure or expectation turned out to work pretty well, and I onsighted one 8a+ and flash another one. Thanks to @paul_lewandowski95 and his perfect beta, I could also flash one 8b, which he sent a few tries and one broken hold later - nearly in the dark.

Do you have your sights set on sending 9a?
I focused a lot on training the past month, so I couldn't check out another 9a - but the day before yesterday I tried 'Pungitopo', a cool 8c+ first ascended by Adam Ondra, and I am really psyched to try this route again!

Elias Arriagada Krรผger does Dreamtime (8C)
Elias Arriagada Krรผger, who has previously sent four 8B+ boulder problems, has done Dreamtime (8C) in Cresciano. (c) Xaver Quintus

โ€Dream come true!!!! Had a few sessions over new years with bad condies, so I came back now for a 3 day trip to finish it. After getting super close on it on the first two days, I climbed it on my third climbing day in a row in my first go, but dabbed the tree at the very end. Like WTFFFF!!!! So I had to climb it again. Thatโ€™s where the mind game started. I started to give some goes again, but all of the sudden I started to slip out of every move from the bottom part, which wasnโ€™t a problem before. It got warmer and warmer, my goโ€™s got worse and worse. And then, with a huge fight, I managed to climb it again and this time without a dab. What an intense day! Beyond happy to have climbed it!!!!โ€

Katie Lamb has done Meadowlark Lemon Stand (8B) in Red Rock (NV). โ€So fun, pretty bloc, more than a little sandy.

The 25-year-old has done eight boulders 8B to 8B+, over the last 12 months, and is #1 in the ranking game.