William Bosi, who was #11 in the Lead World Championship last month, has been on a bouldering trip to Switzerland where he flashed two 8A+'; Red Snapper and De Lucifer, redpointed Foundations' Edge 8C as well as another four 8B+'. Amazingly, the 8C took just two hours with the FA Dave Graham supporting the beta and three of the 8B+' in just one hour each.

"These boulders are absolutely incredible, so just being able to try them was great fun. It was hugely rewarding to get them sent fast as well. Definitely shows my training has been paying off and that I am in a good shape. It gives me more confidence in the FAs I did at the beginning of the year in Spain but it is back to training now for future projects next year!”

Iuri Reusa has done his second 8c+, Up forever in Falesia del ghëddo. It was put up by his 14-year-old son Michele this spring. Iuri started to climb some 25 years ago and did his first 8c+ in 2017, a couple of years after his sons got into climbing. The family has been developing the crag and Matteo (13) has also made an 8c+ FA here, which is still unrepeated.

"I am not as strong as my children since it took them only a few days to make that shot while it took me many more days, even months. Up forever is a resistance route along a big overhang with a still difficult final passage. It is located in the crag we are equipping and where there are even more difficult projects to free. We are waiting for strong climbers to come up against these routes.

I think I went up to try the pitch for twenty days. This year we have climbed a little on the rock but we have climbed a lot in the climbing gyms. Given the proximity of the cliff from our home, we can often go in the evening."

What are the winter climbing plans for the family?
I think Michele and Matteo want to climb a lot in the gym. We would like to start bolting another small winter crag. Then let's see... we still have many projects in Piedmont.

Giuliano Cameroni did the FA of Hazel Grace Sit 8C/+ in June after 38 days. "The full line from the sit. Very obvious start. Took so long to figure out a very tricky heel hook and all the positions needed to stay on the wall. Really hard to give an opinion about the grade because there is a super tricky heel hook. Physically it felt 8c but technically 8c+. Could be both, let's see what other repetitors think."

Sergei Skorodumov, who previously has done four 8B+, has made the FA of Hungry Dog 8C in Tiversk. "We tried this boulder last year, but almost nothing worked. This year I decided to try to take it apart which took several days. The weather was perfect and everything worked out. Boulder 6-7 meters high, slightly overhanging on bad crimps." (c) Leo Zhukov

The Russian has been an active competition climber during the last ten years and his best result is getting the silver in the European Championship in 2019. In the world Championship last month, he was 21.

Before being a rock star and member of the Rolling Stones, 15-year-old Mick Jagger demoed climbing shoes with his dad ;-)

Camilla Moroni, the silver medalist in the world championship last month, has done Salamandre 8A (+), in just one session, and two more 8A's in Brione, as well as a 7C+ flash. " Really cool boulders, happy to send them! I hope to come back the next weekend to try new boulders."

How was the experience getting the sensational silver?
My experience at the World Championship in Moscow is unforgettable. I have to admit that I didn't expect to qualify for the finals after the results in World Cups. But the day of the semis I climbed really focused and giving all myself on each boulder, I knew I was making a great comp. Once I made finals my goal was to make the podium and I climbed hard for that. I have never felt these emotions before, it was a blast! Now I'm enjoying some rock climbing before I start training again for the next season, it's really motivating reading the next season calendar!

Laura Rogora reports on Insta that she during a "super weekend" in San Rocchino has onsighted Obi one kenobi 8b+ and No comment 8b, as well as redpointed La Terza Etá 9a (8c+). The 20-year-old has now done 20 routes 8c+/9a and harder which can be compared with ten for the runner-up, Anak Verhoeven, on that list. (c) Luca Andreozzi

She did her first 8b onsight when she was 14-years-old and this was her third 8b+ onsight meaning she is tied #1 in this discipline, together with Charlotte Durif.

Vita Lukan, who was Top-6 in all her five Lead WCs in 2021, has onsighted her first 8b+, Geminis in . It is one of the most classic routes, originally graded 8c, in the area and this was the second onsight out of the 183 ascents in the 8a database. Previous, only a handful females, have onsighted 8b+ before and Charlotte Durif is the only one to have onsighted 8c. The next day the 20-year-old also onsighted Gladiator 8b. (c) Nace Gosnik

"This was actually my first time rock climbing this year😅. Since the first time I saw this line my goal was to onsight it therefore I was a little bit nervous before my try. I knew it's gonna be hard because I am not the most familiar with climbing with kneebars and I haven't climbed much outside this year due to competitions. But when I was up on the wall a felt pretty good and suddenly I realized that it is possible. This is when I got a bit nervous and my feet started shaking. Last few meters I had to fight really hard with the pump and even clipping quickdraws felt quite hard. Honestly, I felt quite relieved when I clipped the anchor of this beautiful route. I think I was climbing for around 20 or 25 min."

What are your winter plans and what about the next comp season?
I will take two weeks rest right after I come from Spain and then I will start with my preparations for next season :) for next season I would like to improve my bouldering skills. In Lead, I would love to repeat or even beat my results from last year

It is quite logical that a first ascender does not always find the optimal beta and thus the climb is later downgraded. However, history shows that for certain periods, countries, crags and climbers some 50 % of the original hardest grades have later been downgraded. In some cases, the beta explanation is used but even so, also the old sequences could have been downgraded as the original beta was the optimal beta for the FA.

Most probably, we will see many more downgrades of older steep routes once they will be re-climbed by the new generation having better knee pads technical skills. In this case, we should not blame the FA, what so ever, but in general, how many % downgrades are acceptable before we talk about climbers, and areas that have been promoted, and benefitted, from inflated grades?

Personally, I think it is perfectly ok with a track record of some 20 % downgrades for FAs, but as we all know, it was actually a higher percentage for the first steep boulders and also in some crags in Spain etc. On the contrary, we should give credit to climbers like Adam Ondra, James Webb and Seb Bouin who have helped out the community reducing inflation with their honesty. For some reason, climbers suggesting personal downgrades have by some been called egos or even worse. Just the last month, Cedric Lachat commented on Insta, in regards to Sébastien Berthe having suggested a personal downgrade on one of his routes.
"So if you want some advice accept that you are strong and try not to be too much of an asshole if not you will end up like xxx and hated by everyone!"

As it stands, old school routes are in general harder graded and there are many more climbs that need to be downgraded in order to reflect the real grade. This is also a reason why most FAs, in general, should suggest the lower grade when in doubt. On the contrary, when it comes to Ramon Julian Puigblanque, he should always suggest a higher grade when in doubt :)