Alexander Rohr reports on Insta that he has done Pirmin Bertle's Meiose in Charmey which originally was graded 9b. As previously Alex Megos has said, Rohr thinks that what Bertle did was a 9a+ elimination. (c) Jan Virt

"Well, I did it in more or less two sessions. On day one I was focused on giving some beta for Alex to give his flash try on Chromosome Y. So I climbed on that one a lot and later I put in the draws on Meiose. We then returned for that one the next day and he sent and I blew the last move into the mono. I spent one week in France for some climbing and returned for Meiose. I put in the draws and sent it the next try. We both did the exact same beta which is probably 9a. The one Pirmin used is good, but not logical, as my opinion is that a route should be graded based on the easiest method and not some made up cruxes."

It should be mentioned that when Adam Ondra did the first repeat he called it a "Low end 9a+" after having done it on his third go. This was in 2018 and then Pirmin responded on his blog, "I clearly refuse a downgrading of Meiose. Using it as a 9a+ reference for Switzerland would mean to block the way further up for almost every actual 9a climber of the country."

Vita Lukan has during a two weeks trip to done 17 routes 8a and harder out of which eleven onsight or flash. Her hardest were Cascavel 8c/+, Welcome to Tijuana 8c and Florida 8c. During the first week, the Slovenian onsighted one 8b+ and one 8b. In the 8a ranking game, she is #3 and actually, only her sends the last two weeks would have put her as #4.

How was the last week?
In the last few days, I was mostly working on my project Cascavel 8c/+. It is located in the same sector as Geminis but it is a little shorter with some powerful moves. It took me 4 days and 11 tries to connect it from the bottom which made it my longest project so far. Although my main goal was to top this route I was still climbing other routes in different sectors. Welcome to Tijuana was on my wish list since we have arrived and it was a pleasure to climb such a legendary route.

I would like to mention that Welcome to Tijuana was a team ascent - also Mia Krampl and Domen Škofic sent it!

Attila Zsombor Radics, #4 in the Combined Youth World Championship, has done his first 8B+, Non Plus Ultra (low), after six sessions. "After a semi-successful competition season, I was ready to jump back on the rocks and have a good time in nature. I needed to find a new project and I happily set my eyes on this one. This boulder has a pretty technical and unique style. I had to acquire how to toe- and fingerjam properly in the roof and how to accept the failures throughout the process. I think I had had the decent power from the beginning but I didn't have the proper technique and it took me quite a while to figure out the best beta of every move. Finally, after a long and tiring school day, I could get to the crag and managed to climb this project and not just the feeling was 'non plus ultra'."

What are your winter plans?
Climb as much as I can and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to climb around Europe as well and of course to find a new project 😉

In the video, the bronze medalist in the Olympics, said he has done Es Pontas 9a+ and that he had to struggle much more then on Alasha 9a, which he did like two weeks ago. Full video is coming up.

Marcello Bombardi, who has won one World Cup, has done the FA of La Cura 9a in Ollomont, bolted by Massimo Bal. "After 7 days of work and many falls at the last move I managed to clip the chain and do the FA of this open project "La Cura"! 30 moves with no rests on a slightly overhanging wall."

What is next?
I have two other projects close to home, one of which is quite hard, but we have the last national comp in two weeks so I will focus on that one first.

Manuel Brunn, who previously has done two 9a's, out of which the last one in 2013, has made the FA of X-Drive 9a/+ in Allgäu. It is a link-up of two FA by the Bindhammer brothers and it took him some 30 sessions. (c) Fabi Buhl

"This is the more logical and better line in my eyes. The process took quite a long as I have to squeeze my climbing into my daily life with kids and work. I’m also quite old turning 43 this year and need more and more rest days compared to the younger generation. Overall I tried the route for 2 seasons."

Did you do any special training or just climb on the route?
No training. I’m climbing for 30 years and for the last ten years I didn’t train at all. I just go outside. Motivation and knowing when to try hard is the key…