Jakob Schubert, the best male Lead competition climber in history who got the bronze in Tokyo, reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Chris Sharma's Alasha 9a (+) in Mallorca. (c) Sebastian Marko // Alpsolut.pictures

Chris started working it from the bottom but after having fallen 20+ times from around 18 meters during five years, mainly alone, he rappelled down and found out that the upper crux was like 8B. In the end, Chris did not grade it but thought it was more or less as difficult as Es Pontas 9a+ which he also did not grade. Great video from the FA.

Gabriele Moroni and Lorenzo Bogliacino have done the first two repeats of Naturalmente 9a+ in Camaiore. It was bolted by Marcello Bruccini/Stefano Zanchetta, finished by Luca Lucchesi and freed by Adam Ondra in 2017.

Moroni, has previously done some 30 routes 8c+/9a and harder including Speed Integrale in Voralpsee, which he also did last week. Bogliacino, who previously has done two 9a's, comments.

"The first time I touched the holds of Naturalmente was two years ago, after the send of La Terza Età, my first 9a, but I couldn't reach the chain. I immediately understood that the difficulty was on a completely different scale. This May, after a good winter spent bouldering in Varazze with my girlfriend Elisa, I went back on the route and I could do all the movements, but my stamina was very low.

This summer I travelled and climbed a lot in France, before in Briancon and then in Verdon. After making the first repetition of Maxitraxion 8c+ in my home crag Pianbernardo and the majestic line of La flute en Chantier 8c+ in la Ramirole, I understood that I was in a good shape so at the beginning of September, I went back to try Naturalmente. Despite the night shift my job allows me to climb every 2-3 days per week, so, thanks to Elisa and all my friends in Tuscany (and of course with countless thousands of kilometres and a lot of money) I could often try the route.

After 14 days of work on the route with terrible conditions and a lot of fun with the most motivated people that I know, the last days were crazy. Last Thursday, Gabri Moroni made the first repetition of the route and on Saturday, thanks to the cold wind that blew in the crag, it was my turn! About the difficulty, for me it is much higher than the 9a's I have climbed and one of the most beautiful routes I've ever done; simply, for me, it is a dream that comes true!"

Franziska Dietz, who started rock climbing in 2017, reports on Insta that she has done her first 8c, Headcrash in Frankenjura. Prior to beginning climbing, the 23-year-old had just been dancing and boxing for a while. Within two years of climbing, like five days a week, she did her first 8b. (c) Markus Jung

How can you explain this amazing progress?
I think passion and ambition are my keys to success 😊. I just try to have fun and to make the best out of every session 😊.

Did you focus on outdoors directly from the beginning?
Yes definitely! One of my friends showed me how to belay at „Freudenhaus“ :) I‘ve never climbed toprope 😊.

Do you follow a training program or just climb as much as possible?
I would say climbing as much as possible but I like training strength and bouldering aswell. But I don‘t have a plan:) I started an education as physiotherapist in September so I just climb whenever I can :)

Toby Roberts, who got the silver in the Combined Euro Youth Championship this summer, reports on Insta that he has done the fourth ascent of Steve McClure's Batman 9a/+ at Malham. "I've not much to go on for the grade - but it's definitely harder than Rainshadow in my opinion and others agree 🤷‍♂️⁣". The grade comments relate probably to that UKC called it 9a when recently reporting that Josh Ibbertson had also done it. (c) Marsha Balaeva

How was the process taking it down and what is next?
The process went pretty quick. I was on redpoint goes after only a few days and was feeling pretty good on the route. After feeling it would go down pretty quick I fell on the last move around ten times which was hard because it felt so close.

My hardest previous was Rainshadow (9a) that I did last year. Next is definitely Rainman (9b) which starts up Rainshadow and connects into Batman around halfway, which feels really hard.

Francesca Medici has done her second 8c, 5 Uve in Arco. "I think that this route was a sort of "unfinished business" because I injured myself exactly two weeks after my first 8c so I always felt like a sort of need to came back at the exact point where I left two years ago."

How can you describe the route and how was the process taking it down?
It's a physical route with a lot of powerful moves and three kneebars. The first part is easiest if compare to the last 3 quickdraws where is the crux of the route. I think that for me it was more a mental game than a physical one.

I injured myself really bad in May 2019 and needed surgery. Then I started climbing again at the end of 2019 but due to pandemics and my degree in Medicine, I wasn't so motivated to train hard again. Then I started a new job in February 2021 and decided to try this route again in April of 2021 and it became my obsession and in order to do that, I begun training again between my hospital shifts and my motivation slowly came back. So it's easy to say that the reason why I still climb today is because of this route 😅



What kind of accident and surgery did you have in 2019?
I dislocated my elbow in the gym. I fell really bad on the mattress and broke all the ligaments in my elbow's joint. So I needed surgery in order to rebuild both my medial and lateral ligaments. The incident happened in May 2019 and I had surgery in July. Then I started climbing again some months later but due to exams and the pandemic, I didn't have the real-time for a proper recovery. Then I graduated in Medicine in July 2020 and after that, I returned to climb with a little more time. In February 2021 I started my internship in Anesthesia in Padua and I started climbing more seriously again thanks to the beautiful gym that I found there.

What are your winter plans and what is your long time ambition?
I don't know about my winter plan. It all depends on my hospital shifts and how much time I am able to climb. In the next weeks, I hope to find a new project. Maybe some slabs but I don't know really. My only long time ambition is to continue to enjoy climbing as much as possible and to find other routes that can inspire me to improve myself, regardless of the grade 😁

Anak Verhoeven reports on Insta that she has done the first repeat of Patxi Usobiaga's Patxitxulo 9a/+ in Oliana. "This one is a linkup between an 8c+ and a 9a+, creating a nice line with cruxes of both routes, no big rests and cool moves all the way." (c) Ezra Byrne

The 25-year-old Belgian has previously done eleven routes 8c+/9a and harder which is second-most in the world after Laura Rogora. She has won three World Cups and was runner up eight times, almost always behind Janja Garnbret. She stopped competing in 2019 after having had an elbow injury since 2017 and in 2020, she ruptured a pulley and had to do surgery.

Charles Albert watched some Patrick Edlinger videos at age 14 and then started to experiment climbing barefoot. Some four years ago being 18-years-old he did his first 8C. Later he has done another five and also the FA of No kpote only which later has been down graded to 8C+.

Nacho Sanchez, who previously has done a dozen 8C's, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of El Muro sit 8C. (c) David Redondo Vegas

"It is a very crimpy line of the best limestone, located in La Collada de Quirós, a small but great area in Asturias (northern Spain), where there are other hard problems as "Demogordo" or "Cucumber". The crux is a lock-off to a small crimp, but there is another hard move after it, going from the small crimp and a gaston to a better but far away crimp."

Slovenia dominated the European Youth Cup in Soure in Portugal, getting three golds.
02: Lucija Tarkus SLO - Marco Davide Colombo ITA
04: Sara Copar SLO - Emil Zimmerman GER
06: Anna Bolius AUT - Gorasz Jurekovic SLO
Complete results