Marine Thevenet reports on Insta that she has done Antidote 8B in Rocklands. In total, the full time lawyer, has now done close to 70 boulders 8A to 8B. (c) Clément Lechaptois

"We spent three weeks in Rocklands in July which we had missed so much! It was our 4th trip there :) It was colder than our previous trip so we climbed a lot in the plain instead of the pass which allowed me to try new and différent boulders! I managed to climb Antidote in 4 sessions. The first move cost me a lot of trouble but once I did it I topped :)"

Did you do any other hard boulders?
I did Quintessential 8B, the best boulder of my trip; perfect rock, so pure! Two 8As, out of which, Light Saber quickly, and Stratégic balance (under the Finnish line) after several sessions. Really hard to find a beta for a short climber ;) I still have a lot to do next summer 😁

In the last World Cups prior to Tokyo 2020, very few of the Olympians participated. In the very last event in Briancon, only the gold medal winner Alberto Ginés López participated. In the coming Lead World Cup, taking place in Kranj 3-4/9, only five females and Jakob Schubert and Ginés López are registered to compete.

The registration to the World Championship in Russia starting 16/9 is not closed but it seems again few of the Olympians will participate. As an example, both Slovenia and the Czech Republic have listed their participants but Janja Garnbret and Adam Ondra are missing.

IFSC reports that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, “The IFSC Lead and Speed World Cup in Xiamen from 15 to 17 October, and the IFSC Boulder and Speed World Cup in Wujiang from 22 to 24 October, will no longer take place. Therefore, the World Cup in Kranj, Slovenia, will see the closing of the Lead season from 3 to 4 September, and the Boulder season will conclude in Seoul, South Korea, from 1 to 3 October.“

Moritz Welt has flashed his first 8c, Nordic flower in Flatanger. It took him 30+ minutes doing the 60m upside down climb and involved ten knee bars. (c) Franz Kaiser

"Just perfect. Planned to go for the flash before the trip, studied all the videos, watched some guys trying, gained endurance for 2 weeks and today finally executed it. Thx especially to Miro for the first pitch beta! One of the best routes I have seen!"

How did you like Flatanger?
The surrounding is totally impressive. Only rock and water. Some meadows and nice views. I think there's no need to say how impressive the cave is :) We also do some fishing here which is super fun.

Martina Demmel, who did her first 9a this spring, has done her fourth 8c+ in 2021, San Ku Kaï in Entraygues. (c) Malik Schirawski, who also did it. Amazingly, the 19-year-old, who was #15 in the Briancon World Cup, started to climb only in 2017. When it comes to onsight, she is #6 in the ranking game and #1 among the girls including one 8b+ and five 8b's.

"A double-send within half an hour of the most astethic line👑 in Entraygues with @malik.schirawski was definitely the best reward for all perseverance, doubts and still high expectations the past 2 weeks😋🤩🍻! Couldn't have wished for anybody else (including all the other guys trying it as well) to share this learning process with, to take a deeper focus into details, to trust in the small steps, to rethink about every beta and descision💭🧩 and mostly to always start climbing with a big smile because of the fun supportive atmosphare😊! " More details and pics on her Insta

What is next?
It's difficult for me to properly plan something because the engine of my car is pretty much dead and I don't know how far I can still drive...;) but apart from that I'm gonna enjoy the next few days around Briançon before going home next week after 2 months on the road now! Just in time to quickly switch back to comp mode for September😜🚀🙌🏼!

Janja Garnbret is the Greatest of All Time, by far, among all IFSC competition climbers. Her competition stats are beyond imagination. Out of 59 World Cups/World Championships in Lead and Boulder, the 22-year-old Slovenian has won 58%. Lead podiums: 19 - 9 - 5 = 33, out of 37 events, and Boulder podiums: 15 - 4 - 0 = 19, out of 22 events. Add to that 3 golds in Combined WCH/Olympics out of 3 events.


To fully understand her remarkable stats, we can compare her with Akiyo Noguchi, by many considered the second most successful female IFSC climber, who has made 74 podiums in Lead and Boulder. Out of 37 Lead and Boulder events, Janja has beaten Akiyo 33 times. We can also compare Janja with Adam Ondra, whose 63% of podiums are the most impressive stats among males. Janja has been Top-2 in 80% of her comps, out of which 58% golds. (c) Daniel Gajda

When it comes to youth comps, she won 13 golds in EYC out of 13 events and got 5 golds in Youth Worlds out of 6. She could have won at least three times as many, but since she was 16 she has almost only competed in the senior circuit. However, in the early World Cup years, she and her coaches deliberately chose not to do all events, as they did not want her to burn out traveling around the globe.

Outdoors she has only done one 9a but hopefully, she will focus more on rocks in the future. Based on the female 9a tick list, it would just be natural if she within a couple of years were to focus on rock climbing, and would do multiple 9b's and 9b+. If we take it further, speculating that it is in Boulder Janja has the biggest talent, then multiple 8C+ are possible. If so, she might become the most impressive female in the world in any sport and possibly a contender to be - Greatest of All Time, in all sports, as Climbing is unique when it comes to physical sports gender equality.

Andrea Chelleris, who did his first 9a last month, has onsighted his first two 8a’s. Amazingly, the 148 cm tall says there were no real difficult moves and they were not far apart. More pics at his Insta

” The first 8a is Herzklopfen and the second 8a is Herzklopfen/Zeitgeist in Landro, crag Franchi. The first 3 bolts are the same and easy (6c) with physical movements. The upper part is hard with technical movements. Both routes are bolted by Hannes Pfeifhofer.”

Nolwen Berthier, who did two 8c+ last year, has done her tenth 8c, Idée fixe La Saume after some ten sessions. (c) Théo Cartier

"I didn’t climb so much in La Saume in the past, but this summer I wanted to fix it. ‘Idée Fixe’ is one of the classic lines of this sector and I wanted to try it for a while ! I spend around ten days on the route, enjoying the fresh air of the mountain. After falling at the top with pretty bad condition during the last session, I came back a few days later and had to fight hard in the upper crux to clip the chain! Even if I really enjoyed this process and spending time in this magical place, the hundred climbers at the cliff made me reflect on our impact on nature, especially on ground vegetation we saw disappearing during our trip, and how we could avoid that..."

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Siebe Vanhee and Sébastien Berthe have made the FA of Histoire sans Fin, an 8b+ MP near Martigny in Switzerland calling it, "the best granite multipitch of the grade in Europe", Vanhee reports. (c) Fred Moix

"In 2001 Didier Berthod and Francois Mathey opened the famous second pitch off the ledge, a 45 meter long 7c+ splitter crack, naturally protected. One of the best! The splitter ends in the middle of the beautiful pillar, in the middle of nowhere – the “Never Ending Story”. The smooth granite above had to wait almost 20 years before Fabien Borter and Bertrand Martenet imagined an incredible bolted continuation of the route, following blank slabs and arêtes to the summit. Despite their great visioning, the climb had to wait until 2020 when they got help of Didier Berthod to find the missing link pitch, a beautiful orange arête graded 8b.

The end of June, together with Jean-Eli Lugon we found a small window to go and try ‘Histoire’. I got my ass kicked completely and was in a terrible physical state. Nevertheless, I realised it was one of the best lines I had ever tried. Last week I returned with Sebastien, physically in a way better shape but still intimidated by the line. I mainly went up to have another look and see how it would go. But with the sending vibe Seb brought with us on the wall I was quickly contaminated. We both worked the crux pitch until Seb strongly sent. I felt I needed little tries more to send as well but Seb’s time was running out for a ‘one day first day’ ascent. We continued and he pulled out a strong physical and mental fight, we topped out at night! This day Seb made the first free ascent. As always, he was strong and kept giving every pitch sending tries until he surprisingly did!

Three days later it was my turn, I returned with the support of Seb and Soline. this time convinced I could climb the route. I fired up the 7c+ splitter, continued the 7c traverse pitch to the base of the crux pitch. Suddenly I found myself in the crux of the 8b+ pitch, a super technical boulder problem where the right pressure on microscopic footholds makes the seemingly impossible moves possible. It’s all in the head, you need to dare and push on the feet. It went smooth, I managed to send on my first go. The 8b pitch, the slabby but strenuous arete, was a mental fight. Scary but magical, that’s what comes to mind when I think of that pitch. It felt so impossible on the first try, it’s scary to push so much on the feet but once you find the right pressure and balance, the magic happens. Again, I sent this pitch on the first go! The last challenge is a spicy 8a+ slab. I climbed well but nervous, a brain fart happened and I fell at the very last difficult section. Thanks to Seb and Soline, I relativized my lame fall, returned to the anchor and just cruised it to the summit!

It’s been an honour, really! An honour to be able to climb on a wall that beautiful, a route that magical, with the support and enthusiasm of Jean-Eli, Seb and Soline. But not only that, we both are impressed by the openness and kindness of the locals. We had the pleasure to meet Didier Berthod and Francois Mathey together with many others in the cosy ‘Cabane de Orny’ hosted by Yanik and his crew. It’s great to see how the climbing community lives in that mountain hut. Thanks to you all for the great vibes."