Enrique Beltran Blasco has done Priorato de Sion (9a) in Alquézar. Daniel Fuertes bolted it and later in 2008, Ramon Julian made the FA suggesting 8c+ but as with many of his FA's, the repeaters have upgraded it.

Can you tell us more about this route and your send?
This 9a is the one that has cost me the least of all my three 9a's, about 18 attempts. It is a short and hard route with small crimps and a boulder with inverted holds. Happy to share the send with Dani Moreno and Dani Fuertes. They have done it previously and going to the sector with them was perfect. They came to belay and push (my) motivation.

Katie Lamb has made the FFA of Dave Graham’s iconic Spectre (8B) in Bishop (CA), logging it as 8B+ for herself. ”Freaking out. With the jump method - hardest single move I've done and proudest ascent to date. Never thought I'd have a chance. Doesn't get any better!!”

The 25-year-old has, during the last 12 months, done five 8B’s and two 8B+'s making her #1 in the 8a ranking game for the third year in a row.

Tyler Thompson has skipped 9a and gone straight to 9a+ by climbing Full Metal Brisket (9a+) in the New River Gorge (WV). The line was bolted by Lee Robinson and Jonathan Siegrist did the FA in 2021. (c) Hansac Ho

“Wow. Huge endeavour for me starting back when it was still an open project. Last fall I spent every weekend trying and the occasional Thursday when I could skip my lab. Wasn’t able to do it then but this week I was blessed by the weather gods and we got several beautiful coliseum days. Tuesday, during a breezy short sleeve day in mid February I clipped the chains! 30+ sessions. What do I do with my life now….”

When did you start working the route and how did you manage to skip 9a?
I started trying two years ago when the route was still a project but put more serious effort in last fall. And, I’m a student so it’s hard for me to travel somewhere to project a route. The New is only 3 hours away so I could work the route for an extended time. I thought this route was inspiring and that the moves were really great, so it was the route I wanted to put serious effort into. The 9a route nearby didn’t inspire me in the same way that Full Metal did.

Can you describe the route and what you liked so much about it?
The route is crimpy and body tension oriented. I’d say it suited my style well which was motivating. The holds are pretty bad for the entirety of the extended boulder problem that defines the route. The body positions are very specific because of how bad the holds are and I found the process of dialling in the sequences and the process I felt even after 20+ days was still very rewarding.

James Pearson, one of the globe's leading trad climbers, has made the FA of Bon Voyage, in Annot, France. He has not yet suggested a grade but based on his comments below, it seems safe to think it could be 8c+ or harder. (c) Raphaël Fourau

"I found the line in 2021 and have been actively preparing myself for it since then. It felt like quite a step up from other hard trad routes I’ve tried over the years, but I’ve really enjoyed the process of developing new skills and strengths to be able to stand a chance. After the split with Le Voyage, a first boulder problem takes you to a couple of good pockets (the final protection of the route) and a marginal rest. From here there are 20 hard moves to the finishing ledge, almost exclusively on shallow pockets and tiny crimps. The route is definitely run out, with long falls, but you’d be unlucky to hurt yourself providing the protection is well placed. Annot has some of the blankest rock I have ever seen and the walls can often be sandy and loose, meaning most of the routes stick to crack systems. Bon Voyage follows a diagonal layer of bullet hard sandstone dotted with tiny pockets... a true miracle of Mother Nature and a reminder why all the years of searching were worth it.

This route took me longer than any other route or boulder I’ve ever tried. Both in terms of days actively trying it and time preparing myself for it (~ 20 days over 2 years and 10 redpoints). I spent more actual redpoint attempts on this than on Tribe, and all of my other 9a sport routes. I had to train specifically on a fingerboard to be able to do the moves and link the intense, fingery crux section. Around the same time I made the first ascent, I climbed a couple of 9a's in a similar length and style. These took me around 4 sessions and 4 to 5 redpoints. These sport routes are both slightly more overhanging with easier moves but worse rests, and shouldn’t suit me as well. But I’m also aware that:

It’s a First Ascent, and they always feel harder than a repeat. Of the 20 days, at least 4 of them were spent brushing holds and trying to understand if the line might be possible. It’s slightly off-vertical which is a really difficult angle to grade. The holds are so very small and poor, that the moves feel difficult at first, but can quickly feel much easier as you learn the subtleties of each position.

The route is on pockets, which I believe to be one of my weaknesses. However, the pockets are so shallow (less than half pad) that they are more like crimps (my strength), and because of the sides of the pocket, you can’t use your thumb so you are forced to half crimp (my strongest grip type). It leaves me questioning: Did I need to train specifically just to reach an average level, or did I train to make my best strength even stronger? The answer to this question changes everything. The crux move is very low percentage. I fell many times on this move before passing it - counting significantly towards my number of redpoints, but with a bit more luck I might have passed it sooner. Still, even after passing it I still fell 3 times in the 2nd to last boulder, and almost fell on the final technical arête! It’s definitely not a one move wonder.

At the moment I don’t feel able to give this route a definite grade, which always sounds funny to me as a grade proposal should be just that, a proposal. In theory I should simply say what I think, leaving future repeater’s to give their opinion, and eventually we settle on a consensus. Perhaps I’m more sensitive than the average person but in practice I’ve seen and felt that it doesn’t quite work like that.

I could go with my gut and remind myself that at 37 I’m really too old to worry about things like this. I could also under grade it, effectively downgrading it myself before anyone else gets the chance, but this has a tendency to lead to grade stagnation like we’ve got with trad routes in the UK, and doesn’t do anyone any favours. However, both of these options would rely on me having a fixed grade in my head, which for all the above reasons - I simply don’t, yet. Before offering a grade I’d like to try a few more hard sport routes to better gauge my level, and also climb at Annot with other high-level climbers. Hopefully this will give me a better idea."

Thijs van Delden reports on Insta that he has done The Big Island (8C) in Fontainebleau, projecting it for a dozen or so sessions.

Can you tell us more about this send and your climbing background?
Last year I started trying the Big Island, although it's not completely my style, I felt that it was possible and started to devote some more time to it. In January I stayed in Font for almost three weeks which enabled me to try when the conditions were good. In my experience, climbing hard in Font is 50% being strong and 50% having good conditions. Luckily this trip both were right, and I managed to climb my first 8C, something which I am rather fond (proud) of!

I have been climbing since I am 12, so around 10 years, first I focused on comps but later I changed course and only trained for outdoors. This was mainly due to a shift in preference. In addition, my experience with comps was that it takes a lot of time and preparation whereas outdoors you can still train effectively and make progress while allocating much less time. This allowed me to focus on other things besides climbing, such as studying, reading, working, and playing chess. During the week I mostly train 5-6 times a week, somewhere between 1.5 to 2 hours a session. I often climb on the Kilterboard or spray wall, depending on my goals I also do some strength exercises such as weighted pull-ups and rings. I can do this all at Keiboulderhal, a climbing gym five minutes from home, which makes training very easy and efficient!

Currently, I am writing my thesis and doing a full-time internship at Deloitte, so there is not much climbing in the upcoming months, unfortunately.

William Bosi, who previously has flashed six 8B or 8B+, has made an amazing flash of Graceland (8B+) in Allgäu. ”First pull on rock in Germany so very surprised and happy to get the flash of this amazing bloc. Super cool shoulder move. Grades are impossible to know when you flash but I reckon it’s more on the 8B side than the +? Hopefully more people will go and try it soon :)” (c) Band of Birds

How did you prepare for the flash?
Was a fairly unprepared day as I was only free from 2pm and don’t know the area so we looking up what seemed like a cool and steep crag and headed to just have a look. As it had been snowing so much I didn’t think anything would be dry and we didn’t have pads. So I was very surprised to arrive at a really cool looking wall which was dry and had two stashed pads under it! I wasn’t really able to tell exactly where the lines went so I messaged Dominik Bösch who is local and luckily he was free and then popped over. He showed me the lines and his beta once he got there. So after going through the moves in my head a good few times I sat down and went for Graceland first! As it has a weird shoulder move I really wasn’t expecting to flash it, but somehow I was able to do the move well and just stay on.

How did you warm up and just how cold was it?
It was around -5 to 0 I believe and I warmed up by pretty much just doing arm swings and then feeling some of the holds around, my first pull of the floor was on Graceland.

What is next?
I’m back in the UK now but just training to hopefully return to Arco for Excalibur (9b+) in the coming weeks!

Michaela Kiersch, who just last week did the 35m endurance test piece La Rambla (9a+), reports with Insta videos that during her first two days in Brione she has done Fake Pamplemousse (8A), Entwash (8A) and Frogger (8A). (c) Tina Johnson Hafsaas

In the La Rambla interview, the Doctor of hand therapy, explained how she had prepared for her Euro trip. "I did a really regimented training block of about 6 weeks following my trip to the RRG (Red River Gorge). It included moonboard, kilterboard, circuits, and hangboarding. And, sauna every day!"

How long did it take to get into the groove of bouldering after having focused on endurance in Siurana?
On my first day I did Entwasch and Fake pamplemousse, so it didn’t take long at all! I had one gym session in Barcelona, it's close to the airport. It’s a nice surprise to be here and having fun in the forest. And less windy ;)

As it stands, the 28-year-old is a contender for having the All-Time High best Combined route and boulder tick list. In just the last year, she has done around 30 boulders 8A to 8B+. In previous years, she was more of a route climber having completed a dozen routes 8c+ and harder.

Michaela was #22 in her Boulder World Cup debut in 2010 at age 15 and the next year she was #18 in a Lead World Cup. From there, she put competitions to the side, and chose to focus on rock and University. Michaela did her first 8c and 8c+ at age 21. Interview from last summer.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Mejorando la Samfaina in Margalef. (c) Adri Martinez

The route is a connection that links Mejorando Imagen 9a+/b and Samfaina 9a+ which, according to Jorge, is his most difficult route to date. The 23-year-old has previously done nine 9b's.

As Jorge suggested 9b+ for it, could possibly mean that his big project, Cafe Columbia, to the right on the same wall, might be 9c. The Spaniard has logged 130 days on his mega-project and commented last week to 8a, "I am sure it is the hardest route that I ever tried."

Jo Nesbø, a global bestselling crime writer, who has sold 50+ million books in 50+ languages, has done Elephant (8a) at Unknown Crag. (c) Hanna Jordan

"I'm not going to pretend this short route isn't a big deal for me. At the age of 59 I decided that I would give it all I had to push my limit from 7b+ to 8a with a two-year dead-line (as a goal). It took me three. Given my old bones and limited talent, this is my last time doing a personal best redpoint, I'm hereby going to start my descent with a smile on my face." At age 17, Jo made his first appearance in the Premier Soccer League in Norway but an injury stopped his professional dreams. He has a Master's in Economics and worked as a stockbroker prior to becoming a writer. He is also a singer, songwriter and musician.

Can you give us the scoop on your impressive journey towards 8a?
Three years ago I had started planning to write a book called “Up” about why we climb and about two climbers who pushed the limits both for themselves and for climbing in general. Those two were Lynn Hill who made the first free ascent of The Nose and Hans Christian Doseth who made the first ascent of the east wall on Great Trango Tower. I soon realized that in order to get into the heads of these achievers, I needed to push my own limits, to set a goal that bordered on unrealistic. Three years ago I was – and still am - a mediocre climber. I had tried climbing in my 40s, but I didn’t start climbing a lot until I was 50, and at 59 my max level was 7b+. So, what if I decided I would give my all to do what would be my equivalent of The Nose and Great Trango Tower, namely an 8a before I turned 62? I asked Stian Christophersen, a 9a climber, if he would help me. I told him I had my age and my limited climbing talent working against me, but that I possessed a certain and sometimes annoying tenacity working for me. That was all he needed to hear, he said and accepted the challenge.

For two years I put climbing first, neglecting my job as a writer, my band, my social responsibilities, and most of my sweet vices. Now, the point of the experiment was to try as hard as Hill and Doseth to reach my goal, actually sending an 8a would be secondary. But to do this kind of method acting, you also must really want to reach your goal. So I became that awful creature, the self-absorbed, mono-focused athlete belonging to – according to a famous American study – the mad majority who would take the deal of winning an Olympic gold medal and then immediately die. Well, almost. I had to write and put out the book about it first. When deciding which 8as to focus on, Stian and I ruled out 8as that were hard for the grade or so soft that the grade which would be put into question. We found a route in Norway (“I godt selskap”) that Stian – who more often than not onsights 8a – needed two days and several attempts to send, and a route that might suit me – Elephant on Ton Sai, Thailand that Stian had sent, but not onsighted.

There were of course injuries along the way, like a broken elbow and a painful finger that still needs injections of cortisone, but all in all I trained continuously and hard. I climbed 7c, more 7cs and then 7c+ and then another 7c+, and I got closer and closer on both 8as, but after two years I still hadn’t sent any of them. It was tempting to declare victory when I sent a route in Kalymnos that according to the guidebook and the majority of ticks is 8a. But at that point I had already climbed a 7c+ that felt much harder, and the Kalymnos-route was definitely easier than my 8a-projects. “In your heart you know” the saying goes, and much to my dismay my heart knew so I had to downgrade it. Damned I was!

Time was running out, it was February 2022 and my last day and last attempts at Elephant. It had gotten dark but my friends brought headlamps to the beach in front of the bouldery route. It was fun, with cheering, beer and bats, and quite touching. My climbing friends showed me the way, literally and metaphorically. After having failed once more I promised I would give it one more year.

Before going to Ton Sai this year I had been training even harder and I had been in Colorado, doing the last interviews and climbing with Lynn Hill. She had given me useful tips for the dynos at Elephant, and I was in good shape. Then I discovered I had hernia, probably due to some of the harder core exercises. So when I got to Ton Sai I was still recovering from the operation, not being allowed to climb or exercise for six weeks. It really put me back. That is one of the problems with turning 60, if you stop training, you lose power and stamina so much quicker. Then again, if you’ve been on a certain level, getting back there is always easier than getting there the first time. I climbed easy routes, trained and got stronger every day. And there was something else and more important, I was simply a better climber than the year before. I started on Elephant again, a shock at first, but gradually my muscles remembered. At my 100-something attempt over three years on this short route, I was strong, but probably not at my strongest ever. But, I was at my best ever. My daughter, now 23, was visiting. She is not into climbing and has never seen me climbing, except for a few times when I’ve put up rope for her. She has now seen me climbing 15 meters and for 2 minutes.

I was surprised how overwhelmed I was by the send. Not so much with clipping the anchor as with the warm and earnest response from everybody who was there, most of them friends, but even from people I didn’t know. Climbing is joy. It is only important to the people that decide to make it important, and that freedom to make playing important is the greatest joy. That goes for Hill and Doseth and that goes for a mediocre, old guy stalking a personal goal. Sending an 8a is of course not making history, not even climbing history. I think the reason why strangers smile at you when you are lowered from an anchor, why we read stories like this one or stories about true climbing achievements, is we all can relate to struggles, hard work and personal triumphs, no matter how insignificant in the big picture. On a day on a crag with a dozen climbers anyone can supply us with a happy conclusion, a moment of bliss we can share. I’m sometimes asked by young climbers if I’m sorry I didn’t discover climbing until so late in life. To me it’s the opposite. I’m glad I didn’t eat this dessert in life for starter.

My plan – after having put out “Up” – is to hopefully slowly descend through the grades with a smile on my face, back to where I came from. But no, I don’t plan to write (a sequel called) “Down”.