Joe Kinder has done the FA of Tiger Kween (9a). "Bolted by my wife Lindsey and one of the more unique routes I've done. VERY unconventional climbing. Goodbye cave... you've been good to me physically and mentally. I LOVE ROCK CLIMBING! There’s not a whole lot of pump which I kind of enjoyed. And the difficulty is in two different bolder problems. One is around V8 (7B+) and the other one is about V12 (8A+). "

Bolted by your wife, what?
Lindsey saw the line, aided up it and got one of the best FA’s I’ve had the pleasure of climbing. It took her about a day. There weren’t many adjustments either which was so nice. She has climbed up to 8b and bolted some ten lines. We were both developing more at that cliff during the pandemic. It was a place we could hide out and be alone and we put up some amazing routes. Basically, the two I sent recently are siblings. Mammajama and now Tiger Kween. (We will follow up with an article about Lindsey's bolting, as it's great to see more women developing routes and crags ).

BJ Tilden has done the FA of Monkey From Hell (9a) in Sinks Canyon (WY), which is a sit start link up to an 8b+/c route he did in 2005. Insta video of the added sit start. The 41-year-old has previously done seven 9a FAs.

"The full line is 25 moves with no stopping. I didn’t even wear a chalk bag haha. There are actually three starts. The original 8b+/c starts standing on the granite Boulder at the base and reaching high to a slot.

Start Standing on the ground adds a three-move V11 (8A) to get to the slot, 8c+.
The sit start adds a 7 move V9 (7C) to get to the stand start, 9a."

How do you stay in shape at 40+? How much do you train?
Honestly not sure. Just staying psyched! I usually only climb two days a week, but I am a full-time carpenter which is great cross-training.

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Adam Ondra won the European Boulder Cup in Prague after lots of drama where he, as the last climber, topped out the last problem. Runner-up was Edvards Gruzitis followed by Tim Reuser. Complete results (c) Petr Chodura and comments by Ondra.

"One of the best comps I have remembered for years. Climbing out last in front of the home crowd was just amazing. I definitely got excited and I got this hunger to compete again."

Among the female, Eva Hammelmüller, who was #6 in the semi, was the only female to make two boulders in the final. Last year she was Top-22, four times out of five, in the Lead World Cup. The 21-year-old did her first 8c+/9a in 2021 and just three weeks ago she did an 8A+. Interestingly Eva is 167 cm but has an arm span of 180 cm. Sabina Van Essen got the silver and Lana Skusek got the bronze. Complete results and Full video.

Bayes Wilder did Lethal Design 8A+ in Red Rocks in March and here is the video. Here is the article from March where his father commented. "He did the problem probably with about an hour or slightly more of work. He worked out the moves on several different sections quickly but the first third of the problem gave him some difficulty. He tried several different ideas and eventually found a good sequence. He did one link from relatively low through to the easier section. Then he started trying from the bottom. On his first couple of attempts, he had things go wrong but learned subtle beta changes. Then he got through the lower crux and climbed the rest of the problem to the top."

In the Boulder World Cup in Meiringen, pictures of the boulders were shown in the isolation and climbers including Alex Megos protested. Before the semifinal, Megos talked to the athletes and informed officials that they did not want any topo pictures in the isolation and the officials listened.

This weekend, there is a European Cup in Prague and there are no pics in the isolation. The chairman of the rules committee in IFSC has informed the athletes and the coaches that the new rule with pictures has been withdrawn.

Megos comments, - Cool! That's nice to hear. 😊👌🏼Thanks for considering our opinion IFSC 🙏🏼

Alexis Guerin has done the FA of Un dernier petit coup de Ju! (8c+) in Tilff, located 15 min from Liege in Belgium. "This project was bolted in 1996 by JC Vittoz and JL Putz and known as Suce-Pandus in the old guidebooks. The name Suces-Pandus is written at the bottom of the route over a big yellow painted stripe, so the route is easy to find. The route is a power endurance challenge of 22 moves. Once you passed the crux in the middle, you need to be very precise and every move you add can possibly make you fall. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as me."

How many sessions were needed?
Around 20 sessions, the time to understand the moves, clean the rock (some holds broke, in the beginning, the route was easier) and then put the tries. The end of the route is very sustained and it makes you feel as if the send was close. But every move you add after the crux can make you fall, so it took more time than expected.

Why do you think it has been a project for 26 years? Are the bolts OK?
Yes, the bolts are still ok as it was rebolted afterwards. The rock looks a bit brittle so it might also have discouraged some people to try but now that the route is cleaned the quality of the rock is good.

How many other routes are nearby?
It’s a small crag, next to my FA there’s a hard 8b, two 7c+ and a 7a+. There’s a big slab 100 m from that crag where there is an 8a and a project. I've bolted a project in a cave nearby, but haven’t tried it yet

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who did her first 9a last year, has done Zipayorik ez! 8c/+ in Margalef. "It was an end of the day project that I had for the past week and today I finally finished it after trying it fresh. Now I’m back to trying Víctimas Pérez 9a and hopefully before the season ends I can finish it!" (c) Adri Martinez

How is a normal climbing week for you?
I have been living in the van climbing around Margalef with Jorge Diaz-Rullo. We usually climb 2 days on and 1 day rest. The season has actually been pretty bad, the weather hasn’t been great, but we still enjoy the time we have by climbing our projects in Finestra!

What are your summer and autumn plans?
Céüse in August where I would like to try my project Pornographie 9a and back to Australia in October.

This Australian has been a lifestyle globetrotter since age 9. Amazingly, her parents did not climb but supported her big interest by doing nine 1-3 month trips to Europe and the USA until she was 16.

Katie Lamb does her fourth 8B+, The Penrose Step (8B+) in Leavenworth (WA) in just two sessions. "Mini trip up to visit the fam - rained out for all but two days. Got it done in the eleventh hour w some try hard and stamina I didn't know I had. Incredible line and special moment with Keen and Andy."

The 24-year-old did her first, out of ten 8B's, less than two years ago and her first, out of four, 8B+ nine months ago. For almost one year, she has been the #1 in the female ranking game.