Eduard Marin has done the first repeat of the Huber brother's Eternal Flame from 2009, which is a 650m 7c+ to the top of Nameless Tower (Trango Tower) at 6 251m in Pakistan. Already in 1989, a team including Kurt Albert and Wolfgang Güllich made it to the top but not free. The Spaniard, who won the Chamonix World Cup in 2006, did it in a single push and was assisted by his brother Alex and their 70-year-old father Francisco. Edu spent 28 days on the wall, out of which 13 alone sleeping at The Snow Ledge at 5 700, waiting out bad weather, most of them without leaving the tent. Edu made it to the top also in 2021 without freeing two pitches due to bad weather. More info on his Insta.

In 2019, the 37-year-old made the FA of the world's hardest multi-pitch, Valhalla 9a+ in Getu in China. The 17 pitches overhang 300+ meters and he projected it for some 170 days including 50 just bolting. In total, he has redpointed some 20 routes 9a or 9a+ and onsighted some 15 routes 8b+ or 8c. In other words, he has one of the most impressive multi-discipline track records in the world.

Allison Vest has done in RMNP (CO) after trying it for some four sessions. In the 8a ranking game, she is runner-up after Katie Lamb.

“I’ve always wanted to try this boulder since I saw the video of Shauna Coxsey doing it. After a very successful first session on it, I thought it would go down quickly but the very first move proved to be very hard for me. Regardless, was pretty stoked to put it down!”

Kwon Gaeun has set a new standard for youngsters by doing Ixeia (8b+) in . Last week, she belayed her father, using an OHM, who also climbed it. In total the 134 cm tall South Korean climber needed eight sessions for the send which was done in 36 degree (celsius) weather .

“It was my first time to come to Spain for a climbing trip with my dad and mom. I was so happy that I could make my project without difficulty on my first trip. The mountains and valleys of Rodellar are so beautiful that I was happy to have a good time every day. Especially, playing in the water every day and, I will miss the ice cream I bought when I walked back to the accommodation after climbing🥰🥰.

This spring she did her first 8b and her father commented. “She trains in my gym four days a week, about five hours a day. Three hours of endurance training (at her spray wall), one-hour bouldering and she does campus board training and cool-down stretching for an hour. She trains in the indoor gym like this on weekdays and goes rock climbing or on outdoor lead walls on weekend.”

How did you prepare for this trip and what is the next plan? We didn't prepare anything in particular. We trained in my gym as usual and have been climbing on the rocks in Korea. We will be onsight climbing for the remaining three days and plan to visit Sharma gym in Barcelona for two days before departure.

1. Tasei Homma JPN 2990 - Janja Garnbret SLO 4 000
2. Jesse Grupper USA 2 522 - Chaehyun Seo KOR 2 795
3. Colin Duffy 2 390 USA - Brooke Raboutou USA 2 560
4. Yannick Flohe GER 2 200 - Laura Rogora ITA 2 520
5. Luca Potocar SLO 1925 - Natalia Grossman USA 2 370
6. Sean Bailey USA 1 525 - Natsuki Tanii JPN 2050

Team ranking
1. USA 11 882
2. Japan 11 215
3. Slovenia 9 984
4. France 6 214
5. Italy 5 493


Until 2018, the IFSC Lead World Cup has been dominated by Europe and Japan with the USA normally around #8. The amazing progress by Team USA started when they began focusing on the Olympics and established a national centre in Salt Lake City run by Josh Larson. Noteworthy is also that all the four first WCs have been run in Europe and that two of the three remaining also will take place in Europe. (c) Lena Drapella/IFSC

Jesse Grupper got his first World Cup victory in after having won each round in Briancon. Previously in 2022, the American has been #3, #2, #35 (stepped outside the wall), #4 (in the World Games) and he is #2 in the overall ranking. This is of course a big surprise but on the other hand, he actually finished the 2019 season being #7 and #5. IFSC Insta interview and her is what he said in the live-streaming.

“I’m still pretty much in shock and super psyched! I feel like that was probably one of the worst climbed routes of my life in some ways, but also I was just so psyched to keep fighting through each move and it felt so good to pull it off. It was very intense and I was very nervous about this move, but I was just like ‘you just have to get this next hold and it will get better, you just have to go one more move’. I think just having that mentality paid off in the end.”

Runner-up was Taisei Homma from Japan, who leads the WC after having been #9, #1 and #2 in the first three events in 2022. Alex Megos from Germany got the bronze on countback against both Tasei and Yannick Flohé. Complete results
(c) Lena Drapella/IFSC

Janja Garnbret won her seventh consecutive Lead World Cup and in total, she has now won 24 WCs and WCHs. Out of the 42 such events the Slovenian has participated in, she has 37 times (88 %) made the podium. “I was really excited, at observation the route looked super cool and I really enjoyed climbing. Some sequences seemed tricky at observation, but then it was all okay – climbable and super nice.”

Runner-up was Chaehyun Seo from Korea just one hold after Janja and then Natalia Grossman got the bronze ahead of Brooke Raboutou, on countback. Complete results

David Graham reports on Insta has done the first repeat of Shawn Raboutou’s F*ck the System 8C+ in Fionnay, which is a direct start to Foundations Edge (8C) established by Graham in 2013. The 40-year-old says that the direct start has always been on his mind and that this season he completed it after five intense weeks.

Graham, who has been one of the world’s leading rock climber since 1999, has been peaking over the last seven months having done five 8C's and one 8C+. Three months ago, we asked him, "How are you managing to still progress after 20+ years as a pro climber?"

I feel stronger honestly! 😅😅😅, 🤔🤔🤔. Not sure why?? Maybe smarter??? Healthier lifestyle. Ah just eating better, no partying, lots of good rest!! Better attitude about climbing, more patient and also less concerned with conditions. Always finding new solutions, not getting angry. In the past, I would get much more frustrated when I would fail or not do well. These days I think I'm so used to failing that I'm surprised when I succeed. I do boulders that are really my antistyle too. So I assume they should be hard but I think it really helped my mental game, to push longer and harder. Never get pissed, it is not wise!!! I am feeling strong!! But four months of trying hard has been tough, I took the last two weeks kind of easy as the weather was finally bad.😅🤣

The Briancon Lead World Cup is on its way for the 12th consecutive year. Jesse Grupper and Chaehyun Seo won the qualification. In the semi, Grupper topped together with Luca Potocar. Among the females, Natsuki Tanii got highest win Janja Garnbret as the runner-up. Male results and Female results

Finals Saturday 8 pm

Alex Johnson has done RMNP (CO). "This went super quick for me this trip! It felt really good, I might feel the fittest on rock I've ever felt. I’ve tried this boulder in the past years ago, in 2009, and was super close but never topped. It was always on my life list to return to finish." (c) Allison Vest

The 32-year-old did her first Youth World Championship in 2003 and then in her World Cup debut in 2008 in Vail, she won. In 2019, after a three-year competition break, she did most of the World Cups trying to qualify for the Olympics and she was three times Top-13 in Bouldering. Alex did her first 8A+ at age 18 and actually, the last year has been her best ever for the 175 cm with five boulders 8A+ and harder.

Alex Ventajas has done in Nassereith after projecting it for five days. "I’m really happy about the work I made to send this stunning line. Differently from other times, this was a continuous and linear progression. I dedicated myself to refining every detail and minimizing the mistakes, falling higher every time. 🧗🏻 I managed to truly enjoy every single try, something that you can’t take for granted." More info on his Insta. (c) Daniele Coppola

What are your following summer plans?
I don’t have anything concrete planned yet. Here in Arco it’s really hot and I’ll probably spend next weekend between bouldering in Valdaone, doing some easier routes to keep in shape and hopefully, I’ll try some trad multi pitch routes in Dolomiti, a new passion I’m developing recently. Finally, in august, I’ll go for a couple of weeks to Rodellar and I’ll probably try something harder💪🏼

In 2005, David Graham made the FA of The Story Of 2 Worlds (8C) in Cresciano. The name reflected the new inflated grades of that time and Dave made a statement that pretty much stopped the inflation and later many hard-core boulders were actually downgraded to fit the "new 8C standard". In the video, Shawn Raboutou has added a new start from the left where he makes an insane dyno into an undercling, linking it midways into Dave's classical testpiece, establishing Story of 3 Worlds 8C+. Shawn, the sibling to Olympian Brooke, has been somewhat under the radar for some years, not updating his hardest ascent on Insta. One example of this is that Shawn has done two possible 9A's which 8a has reported but which Shawn has not posted. Including also, at least, six 8C+ the 24-year-old should be a contender to Daniel Woods to be the #1 boulderer in the world.

Carlo Traversi made the third repeat back in 2013 and comments. "I’ve always looked at the left start for the Story, but with the way that I climbed Story it always seemed unlikely to make the full link work. The discovery of many kneebars obviously makes this link far more doable than without using them."