YouTubers, world class athletes as well as drones and fixed cable car cameras are all covering the excitement of the Red Bull MP Duel ascent. Magnus Midtbö presence, along with his 1.5 million subscribers, and the media attention and access might make this one of the most viewed climbing events.

”I am thinking 24/7 about how I can take my youtube channel to the next level. I am editing 12 hours a day and I am just as motivated and obsessed as I was trying to be the best competion climber in the world. It is also about brain storming and in a way moving into new areas. Next week, I will start training with the Norweigian military and I will be part of storming a war ship. The possibilities for creating content is endless.”

Magnus climbed the six pitch 8a+ route together with Cedar Wright meanwhile the other YouTubers on hand are going for the three pitch 7b route.

Magnus, how was the MP experience?
It was fun. Cedar was falling and screaming all over. The route was actually better than expected. It will be a nice video ;)

Drew Ruana, who previously has done four 8C+, reports on Insta that he has done The Ice Knife (sit-start) (8C+) in Guanella Pass, commenting that it is his hardest send ever and that he projected it for some 35 days. (c) Alton Richardson

Drew is a former successful competition climber who was #8 in the World Championship in 2019. He stopped competing after he failed to qualify for the Olympics. Since then the 22-year-old has been one of the very best boulderers in the world. In total, he has done more than 80 boulders 8B+ and harder. Here is an 8a interview with the full time Chemical engineering University student.

The stand start was put up by David Graham in 2011 as an 8C. Then Daniel Woods repeated it giving it a personal 8B+ grade and when he later did the FA of the sit-start he proposed 8C, saying it was his hardest ever. In 2016, Daniel upgraded it and some other of his hardest boulders and here is his logbook comments.
“The sit adds in a powerful and awkward 4 move 8A+ into the 8B+ with no rest. The style of this boulder is different than anything I have climbed on. The holds require good friction and the movement is off balance and weird.

Cathy Wagner has done Esprit de vi (8b) in Bellver, on her second go, giving it a personal 8a grade.

”A must-do 👌. A perfect overhanging route packed with knee-bars working for both moves and rests. Hard 8a seems fair to me.”

In total, the 57-year-old has 866 routes 8a and harder in her logbook, the first one being in 1994. Without personal grades, she has probably done close to 900, which is more than any other female has climbed. She shows no signs of slowing down, having had more or less the same 8a score for 25 years straight. During the last 12 months, she has logged 36 routes 8a and harder.

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who did her first ever multi-pitch, was teamed up with experienced Sasha Digulian. “The first two pitches were so intimidating that I just surrendered to the wall. Honestly, this is one of my best climbing experiences ever. I am so exhausted and I want to do it again but I do not think we qualified for the finals.” Sasha commented that she thinks she has never been so pumped in her forearms ever.

On Saturday, there will be the big, as well as, the small final but mainly the athletes are just talking about the cool experience and that the six pitches routes were so fun and challenging. Red Bull does not want to draw too much focus the prize money as "it is all about bringing together some of the best athletes in the world to share the experience".

World Cup winner, Luca Potocar, and Olympic winner, Alberto Gines Lopez were as amazed talking about a unique experience, but also saying that they wanted harder routes. "We are World Cup climbers and so used to doing crazy moves on plastic but it is anyhow exhausting combining (more than) two pitches together."

The finals will be live-streamed on Saturday. There's no lack of cameras and drones covering the 180-meter routes which the route setters have been working on full-time since mid-August.

16 of the very best climbers in the world will compete in 8 teams up two identical 180m six pitch routes up to 7c+, in the qually and 8b in the final, on the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland. The qualification will take place on the 26-27 October and the final on the 29th after a rest day. More info, including a presentation of all the athletes. 8a will cover the event and make interviews at the site. © True Color Films/Red Bull Content Pool

- Sasha DiGiulian (US) and Angie Scarth-Johnson (AUS)
- Mélissa Le Nevé (FRA) and Katherine Choong (SUI)
- Petra Klingler (SUI) and Louna Ladevant (FRA)
- Barbara Zangerl (AUT) and Jacopo Larcher (ITA)
- Alberto Ginés López (ESP) and Luka Potocar (SLO)
- Domen Škofic (SLO) and Jernej Kruder (SLO)
- Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA) and Marcello Bombardi (ITA)
- Shawn Raboutou (US) and Matty Hong (US)


Shauna Coxsey and Pesche Wüthrich tested the route and made the FA. Shauna said, "I had so much fun with all the different moves – and the teamwork with Pesche was also great. He really made it cool – I've never climbed multi-pitch before, that was a first."

Jain Kim has won 30 World Cups and in 2014 she won the World Championship in Lead. In the Asian Championship, two weeks ago, she took bronze in Lead after having had an almost three-year-long break since she became a mother. In a recent interview by the Korea Alpine Federation the 34-year-old says.

"I think my challenge as a climber who is also a mother has just begun. My current plan is to go for the qualification to Paris 2024, no matter if I can qualify for the Olympics or not. Of course, I gained massive courage from the IFSC Asian Championships. I’m not sure if I can keep my performance at the same level I used to, but I want to do my best not to give up till the end."

Elnaz Rekabi from Iran climbed without a hijab in the Asian Championship. For this, she apologized on her Insta, although it is not known whether or not this was done under duress. Four days ago she posted on Insta, which has grown from 80' to 542' followers, that she was thankful for everyone who came to the airport to welcome her. Yesteray, Elnaz posted an Insta story.

"These days my heroes are people who pay a heavy price to have a normal life. Having a safe, normal and free life is the right of all human beings."

Alex Megos, who the last three weeks has done five 9a to 9b routes in Margalef, reports on Insta that he has done three more 9a and harder FAs. Furthermore, three 8c+, out of which, two FAs and a flash of Patan el Villano 8c. (c) Javi Pec

Chan Chan Bastards 9a+/b: ”The Journey P1 into the unfortunately chipped top of Café Colombia"
Pink Patatas 9a+: "The first part is a sit start boulder problem that checks in at around 8A+ (V12) and finishes on a good flake from which an 8c+ route starts. Climbing the boulder into the route adds up to about 9a+ I'd say. 50 moves in a roof make it very pumpy for sure 😅."
Patatas Pantera 9a: "I put my focus on a new cave found and bolted by Tom Bolger."

Obed Hardmeier has done , which is an extension to that follows a beautiful black strip up the iconic wall in . (c) Rainer Eder

"Two years ago I tried the route for the first time. Last year I seriously projected the route as far as it was possible and I had to end the season without an ascent. This year I already had some good attempts in spring which increased the motivation again. On Sunday there was a lot of Foehn wind, which is quite rare in Gimmelwald - in the first attempt of the day I was able to send the route immediately and was overjoyed.

As for the difficulty of the route, I am not sure. In any case, I find the route significantly harder than the 9a "Jungfraumarathon" and "Alpenbitter" next door. Further ascents will clarify..."

What is next?
Currently, I don't have a new goal yet I first have to find another project or finish smaller existing projects. What is for sure is that the season in Gimmelwald is slowly coming to an end. At the end of September, I started my Master's degree (civil engineer ETH Zurich) and still work about 20% besides my studies - so maybe my next goal/challenge is to find a way to combine full-time studies, work and climbing ;).

Sebastien BOUIN, who previously has done nine routes 9b to 9c, has sent Jumbo Love (9b) at Clark Mountain. It took him ten days and now he is working on a more direct and harder variation. (c) Clarisse Bompard

“An old dream came true last Wednesday. This king line has attracted me for a long time. It was a true inspiration to see the footage of Chris Sharma on it. I started climbing around 2005 and it was one of the most incredible climbing films I had watched at that time. Jumbo Love looked like everything I like in Climbing: A perfect huge orange steep wall in the middle of the Mojave desert.

I knew this line and this wall will be my pure climbing style. Climbing on this line is something I have been waiting for, for several years. And I am definitely not disappointed. It's an amazing line with perfect moves. But, Jumbo Love is not just a hard line, it's a whole adventure. I totally underestimated the total process, the drive, the off-roading, and the hike in. We changed our car three times because it was not good enough to get to the crag. We also changed two tires due to off-road driving incidents,... The 1h hike really takes it out of you. I am used to climbing for many days in a row. But, here, that would be a mistake. We had to preserve ourselves. And keep our energy and motivation up. We were sleeping some nights in the desert, so as not to drive every day. I did the route on my 10th climbing day.

My overarching objective would be to do the Direct variation of Jumbo Love, which is supposed to be harder. My approach was simple, find the best betas possible in Jumbo Love, in order to have the highest chances possible to send it coming from the direct (adding an 8c+ route before the 9b). In this process, I used kneepads for the send, in three places. This kind of rock (orange rock with pockets) is actually not the best for using kneepads, but I still found it helped a little, with some tricky ‘expert ++’ kneebars. I was falling half of the time, slipping from kneebars. I almost gave up with these kneebars at some point because it was to sketchy. I was thinking the route a bit more powerful without kneebars, but way more secure if you have the strength required.

Yet, I was still thinking about how to approach the direct version. With the normal start, you are coming into the jumbo Love crux really fresh because there is not so hard climbing before (around 8a to reach the crux). So I still had a lot of power reaching the crux from the original start. Yet, in the objective to start from the direct (which add an 8c+ route right before the crux) I would need to find some less powerful beta, even if it's more technical. That's why I stuck with my kneebar beta. The kneebar help so in this route, I don't think they are changing the grade. It's not like "Iron Curtain" or "Change" where the kneebars are making a big difference. I think Jumbo Love stays on the same level, with or without. This route is really stunning! Incredible and futuristic vision from Randy Leavitt to bolt this one in the 90's... Thanks for the futuristic vision and the line, and thanks for the inspiration Chris Sharma and Reel Rock.”