Abigail Humber has done the FFA of Trebuchet (8c) in New River Gorge (WV). (c) Karen Lane

”To my surprise, it only took me six days to send Trebuchet! I have been taking climbing seriously and competing for five years, but I didn’t really discover outdoor climbing until all of the gyms closed when Covid hit. I’m so grateful that I was forced to go outside though because climbing outdoors has become one of my favourite parts of my life. This is my second 5.14 since then, and I have no plans on stopping!

Could you tell us about your plans for 2022?
I’m planning on continuing to climb outside while also doing comps, and following the psych! I want to climb more hard routes at the New, and hopefully, I’ll get the chance to explore other areas as well.

Full interview from one of her sponsors. "I had superglued shut a large gash on my finger from slipping while cooking the night before, and had taken some pain medicine to block out the pain. Halfway up, I noticed the cut had reopened and was gushing blood everywhere. At the rest below the roof, I tried as hard as I could to wipe the blood off on my pants, but it just wouldn’t stop bleeding. With the fear of slipping on my own blood in the back of my mind to say the least, I made the decision that I was going to try anyway. I’m so glad I did."

Japan has dominated the boulder competition scene for several years, especially on the men's front. Last year Yoshiyuki Ogata won ahead of Kokoro Fujii. Among the women, Japan had four girls in the Top 10 overall WC ranking. In 2019, Japan had three males in the Top 5 and eight in the Top 18. Typically, all participating Japanese male competitors make the semifinal, and it is quite normal for 50% of the male finalists to be Japanese. As Adam Ondra is not participating and it seems some of the other top male competitors have focused more on outdoor bouldering, my guess is that Japan will dominate more than ever, especially among the males, both in Meiringen and overall. Here is a prediction for Meiringen:

1. Tomoa Narasaki JPN - Janja Garnbret SLO
2. Kokoro Fujii JPN - Natalia Grossman USA
3. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN - Miho Nonaka JPN
4. Jakob Schubert AUT - Brooke Raboutou USA
5. Sean Bailey USA - Oriane Bertone FRA
6. Keita Dohi JPN - Seo Chaehyun KOR
7. Alex Megos GER - Futaba Ito JPN
8. Nathaniel Coleman USA - Fanny Gibert FRA

Interesting is that Janja two days ago reported on Insta. "Verified Stupid of me to think La Dura Dura is just hard when obviously it’s hard hard 🤔" Meaning she has focused on trying a 9b+ endurance monster just the weeks before the Bouldering WC starts. On the other hand, on Sunday she won the first cup of the Slovenia Championship together with Jernej Kruder.

He has prepared mainly outdoors as usual and is always a dark horse since he won the Euro Championship in 2020. ”I'm just doing my thing...going on a few obligational and selectional trainings, the rest spending outside trying some hard stuff. I wish I can still show the kids that experience count.”

Toru Nakajima reports on Insta that he has repeated Dai Koyamada's Epitaph in Horai. Due to several broken holds, he upgrades it to 8C+. However, it might possibly be 9A now since the crystal of the key hold broke on his send, which happened on his 13th session.

The 29-year-old did his first 8B+ at age 15. In total, he has done more than a handful 8C's and he is well known for his extreme projects. One of them, free-soloing a 500 meter waterfall. He has also made two trips to Finland in order to repeat Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams 9A. "I chose a strategy of doing short trip at a high frequency and training with replica holds in between. This was rather successful, and I think it was close on the second tour." Then Covid-19 came and four trips were cancelled and then a new missed trip two months ago.

Brooke Raboutou, who was #5 in the Olympics, presents a great video from her Ticino trip earlier this winter when she did Kings of Sonlerto 8A+, La Proue (8B), Heritage 8B (+) and Iur (8B+). On friday she will compete in the Bouldering WC in Meiringen as one of the favorites trying to defend her #4 position overall.

Loose rock is one of the biggest risks for climbers. Especially after the winter season when frozen water has expanded. It's not unheard of for seemingly solid sections that have been climbed on for decades to cut loose. Chances are you've come across a loose hold or feature marked with an X. One of the challenges is very few people take the time to properly mitigate new loose sections.

Due to many new routes being put up last year, and many gym climbers climbing outside for the first time, the risk of rock fall might be higher than ever. A newcomer might go further to the side of an established route or possibly dyno to the X hold. It is important that all experienced climbers spread the word about loose rock in order to avoid bad injuries, and do what they can to mitigate them whenever possible.

Another risk is that more experienced climbers are trying old forgotten routes as they have run out of climbs at their established local crags. Just last week, I fell into this category, as I tried to top rope an old-school mixed route and suddenly a one-kilo pinch cut loose on me. After further inspection, I realized the entire section was dangerously loose, and after 30 minutes of cleaning, we had removed roughly 20 kg of rock. Pictured is a separate, loose 50 kg stone that we had to put a bolt into in order to lower it, as it was found 50 meters off the deck, and just above a trail.

Lucien Martinez has done hist first 9a+, Papichulo in Oliana after some 20 sessions. Previously the editor-in-chief of the French Magazine Grimper has done ten 9a's. (c) Williclimb

Could you please say something about how you took it down?
I tried it on and of for several years (It was my side project of Fight or flight, which I failed once again this year). So quite a lot of sessions! I have done a lot of endurance training at the gym before the trip, with and without a rope. Maybe four sessions a week where I did endurance "a muerte", sometimes 15 routes between 7c and 8a+ in 3-4 hours at the gym. I think it's good training for a route like Papichulo which is more or less all about fitness.

How do you compare it to the other 9a's you have done?
I think it is my hardest. You really need to be in good shape to do it, so very very low end of 9a+, but still 9a+ in my opinion.

Zach Wilson, who did his first 8B+ last month, has done Sound of Violence (8C) in Joe's Valley (UT). On his first Insta for 15 months, he comments the posted video. "Had to sit down for 2019 due to nerve damage in my finger 2020-2021 I had multiple surgeries on my knee and shoulder. Didn’t touch rock again until last august."

Could you tell us about how much climbing/training you have had since 2019?
I got about three months of climbing/training in 2019 before the nerve injury in my finger I got from a slot crimp/finger jam. By the time it recovered I got two or so months of climbing in 2020 until I got the knee and shoulder injuries. In December 2020 I had surgeries on my ACL, Meniscus, labrum, and bicep. I got out of my sling and knee brace in the summer of 2021 and started bodyweight rehab then got to climb in the gym for the first time again in July 2021. So besides those few months split up between 2019-2020 I was not climbing/training at all, full no activity resting.

How did you get that bad injury in 2020 and are you fully recovered now?
An awkward fall while bouldering at my local gym. It was a dyno to a duel Tex grip and I slipped off at a weird angle while controlling the momentum. Yes, I’d like to say that I’m fully recovered now. I decided to try Sound of Violence to test the limits of my recently repaired shoulder and knee on its hard drop knee and gaston swing. So psyched to be back climbing.

The World Cup season starts once again with the Bouldering event in Meiringen in Switzerland. The qualification starts on Friday 8/4 followed by the semi and final on the weekend. From the starting list, we can see that there will be 17 competitors from Switzerland, 16 from Japan, 13 from Slovenia and 10 from France, Great Britain, Germany and Israel. There are also four competitors from Ukraine that will participate and as previously mentioned, Russians are not allowed to take part.

In practice, each country is limited to fielding five males and five females but extra spots are given based on the results from last year, and the host country is allocated extra spots. The big names not taking part are Adam Ondra, Jan Hojer and Shauna Coxsey (pregnant) and Akiyo Noguchi who stopped competing after the Olympic Games.

Friday, 8 April:
9:00 AM Women's Boulder qualification
4:30 PM Men's Boulder qualification

Saturday, 9 April:
11:00 AM Women's Boulder semi-final
6:00 PM Women's Boulder final

Sunday, 10 April:
11:00 AM Men's Boulder semi-final
4:00 PM Men's Boulder final