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Vadim Timonov had an amzing trip to Rocklands this summer doing three 8C's, three 8B+' and a flash of The Guest List 8B.

Antoine Girard reports from his latest trip including a nice funny video. "Instead of the Rockland trip schedule for august 2021which was cancelled due to the COVID crisis, I spent one month in Switzerland. 2 weeks in Gottardo to discover this Wonderfull area and 2 weeks in Magicwood trying to succeed in the old project. I’ve planned to try all the classic boulders of Gottardo. Hazel Grace 8B+, Bonjour Finesse 8B and Stairway to Heaven 8B+ went pretty fast but The famous slab Kingda Ka never went. After these two first weeks I drove to Magicwood to try Power of Now 8B+/C but it was a little bit disappointing because the first mouv is morph and Simon’s beta is so much hard and painful. So I decided to change my plans and I tried Ill Trill which cost me 4 sessions. I enjoyed to did some 8Bs that I let last year and trying hard in Mystic Stylez. It will be necessary to come back in this magical place to finish old projects and trying some of the nicest 8Cs of this chaos when the conditions will be cooler."

Alex Garriga, who the last five months has done five 9a+, including a personal downgrade of a confirmed 9b, has done three more 9a's in Ilarduia; Harropuza, Escaqueo de Mulero and Celedon. The 22-year-old finished his University degree one month ago so there should be plenty of room for more and harder ascents. (c) Alfonso Martinez

"Ilarduia is one of the best crags in Spain. Celedon is possibly the best route, a perfect endurance route. Now I am trying to climb as much as I can. Let's see what happens in the next months 😂😂"

Japan and USA got three gold each in the Youth World Championship in Voronezh, Russia. If we give three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze, this is the ranking; France 18, Japan 16, Slovenia 15 and USA 14. It should be mentioned that Japan, which totally dominated in 2019 with 29 points participated only with one athlete per category, more or less, in 2021.


Interestingly is that only Naile Meignan won both the semi and final in Bouldering. She was also the only one to flash all for problems in the semifinal. Hamish MacArthur (GBR) and Anastasia Sanders (USA) won in both Lead and Boulder. Noteworthy is also that Aleksandra Totkova and Mejdi Schalck, who have made podiums in Lead and Boulder respectively in the 2021 World Cup, did not make podiums in those disciplines in Youth A.

France got both the golds in the oldest girls Boulder Youth World Championships in Russia. Naile Meignan first won the qualification and then she flashed all four problems in the semifinal before winning also the final. The 17-year-old has previously won six IFSC events in Bouldering and already in 2019, she was #6 among the seniors in the European Championship. Noteworthy is that she was probably the youngest junior competing as she is born December 18, 2003. Among the Youth A, Zélia Avezou (17) was #5 until the last boulder which she did second go getting the gold. Her mother Cecile was #4 in the World Championship in 2012, at age 40 and her big brothers Leo and Sam are regular World Cup climbers.

1. Naile Meignan FRA 34 - Zélia Avezou FRA 14 (2)
2. Emily Phillips GBR 24 - Sara Copar SLO 14 (3)
3. Lucija Tarkus SLO 23 - Alessia Mabboni ITA 13
Complete results

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Alex Megos has commented Stefano Ghisolfi's 9b+ suggestion of Bibliographie on Insta. (c) Ken Etzel

"At the beginning I thought the number of days you invest in a climb is the best indicator of how hard it must be. Therefore I thought trying Bibliographie for 60 days must be harder than anything I've climbed before."

One reason why this (Time Comparison Grading) did not work out is that he says he spent most of the time figuring out new beta. Furthermore, in the end, it turned out that Ghisolfi found better beta on both the cruxes and now Megos agrees with the new 9b+ proposal.

"I realized at some point I was so convinced that I had the right beta, that I stopped trying other things."

Personally, I do like the honest opinions of both Stefano and Alex on this delicate matter which they have handled as great role models. I have been reporting ascents for 20+ years and there are just so many times you know that it is not the correct grade that is presented in the headline. Let us hope this can inspire more high profile climbers to be more honest with the reported grades.

Moritz Welt, who previously has done 14 9a's, has done his hardest Thor's Hammer 9a/+ in Flatanger. On his Insta he describes the whole process. (c) Franz Kaiser

"My main objective of this trip has finally come down! And it turned out to be one of the biggest fights I've ever had, mentally and physically. For 3 weeks I only struggled with the first 10 meters out of the total 60. But since the rest of the route is still crazy hard, I didn't even know how it'll go as soon as I pass this first crux. Well, 3 days ago, after changing my beta multiple times I somehow managed to do so and surprisingly I made my way even through the second and third crux, and reached the final rail. I was afraid to fall there and that's exactly what happened, 2 meters below the chains, 5 moves of ~7a to go.

▪️ I didn't know if I would be able to pass all the cruxes again in only 2 more climbing days, but the will to send was stronger than the fear. On the next climbing day I came back, fell on the first crux once, and finally, on the second go of the day, I fought up the whole 60 meters to the top. ▪️ This is for sure the most rewarding send I've ever made, and another big step for me to reach a new level. Grade-wise, I will go for the 9a+, although some people considered it to be rather soft. It simply felt one step above any 9a I've done, so for me, at least the consensus of 9a/+ must be fitting."

What is next?
Just enjoying some fun easier routes on my last day here and then heading back home. I have to go for my mathematics study in the university again, so I'll mostly try my Frankenjura projects. But maybe a short trip to Austria soon.

1. Haruki Uemura JPN 29+
2. Mejdi Schalck FRA 28
3. Timotej Romsak SLO 27+
Complete results