Nolwen Berthier has done La théorie des cordes 8c in St Léger. "I have always wanted to do it even if the bottom does not fit my style. I challenge myself to do this route while trying my big project and I decided not to focus on that route. The process would have been faster with another strategy … But the bet was won! To be honest, I don't really know how many session because it was not my main project and I tried it always at the end of the day."

Until 2018, when she was #14 in the Briancon WC, her focus was competitions. During the last year, the 27-year-old has done five 8c's and two 8c+'s and her long term project is Supercrackinette 9a+.

Piotr Schab reports on Insta that he has onsighted Darwin Dixit which due to a broken hold is "probably closer to 8c now" and made the first repeat of Tom Bolger's recent Wild West 9a/+ in Margalef. The Pole has previously onsighted nine 8c's meaning that he is one of the Top-10 best onsight climbers in the world. When it comes to 9a and harder, he has done 28, meaning he is Top-15 in the world.

Wild West: "New addition to Espadelles first ascented by Tom Bolger. Shares first few moves with Enemigo Publico, then goes right to Pal Oeste. I've tried it for two days in January, fell at the very top and now finished it off in the second go. Very my style but very good too. Those last moves of Pal oeste can be heartbreaking :)"

Stefano Ghisolfi has done his third 9a+ FA the last twelve months, Terapia d'urto in Padaro, near Arco. It is a link up in between L'arciere (8c) and and Goosfraba (8c+) with no rest bolted by Marco Erspamer.

What is next and what about comps this year?
I'll stay around Arco until the situation gets better, and maybe Céüse in May, I'd like to try Bibliographie. I'd like to compete this year but just in the lead circuit.

Martina Demmel continues her rampage in Oliana by doing Fish Eye 8c and El Gran Blau 8b+/c on her second go. The 19-year-old also onsighted her second 8b in a week, Marroncita. (c) Toni Mas Buchaca

”Another Oliana gem went down way quicker than expected without any warmup! Luckily the wind got stronger and the grip better the higher I got:) somehow managed to read all those tricky bouldery sequences just perfect that I was literally cruising up the climb with the pump kicking in while lowering down;) deserves more than 5 stars!

In the Top-10 onsight game, the 19-year-old is #6 but counting Top-50 onsights last year, she is a surperior #1.

Please say something about your onsight strategy and tricks having the pump under control?
I don't know a trick which works for everybody but for me it's climbing relativly slow and always trying to be relaxed in the whole body especially the face but this doesn't always works while doing a hard move but at least when arriving at the next hold, I try to immediately relax again. The mind plays a big role in regulating the pump as well😉. But mostly climbing on long endurancy routes for weeks is probably the best trick😜🔥

Climbing shoes should be tight but sometimes they are just painful, and kids' feet grow. The easiest way to make the shoes a bit larger is to make a cut on the side in order to reduce the pressure of the often very bent forward heel cup. The shoe in the picture increased one full size due to the cut on the side.

Remember that brand new shoes will increase in size as you use them. Note also that cuts could destroy some types of shoes. It works best for kids that get pain in the heel.

Lucie Hrozová, who started bouldering less than a year ago, has done her third 8A+, Je to boj! in Petrohrad. As can be seen on the still from her Insta video it was raining heavy.

"I was doing warm-up and had already set the camera. Then I felt the winter and rain were coming super strong. I stopped warming-up and run over to the boulder and I had my shoes on. It was starting to rain so it was like right now. I had a few seconds to send it or to go home ;).

The nice and funny part was that at the moment I was starting to climb a friend did show up. I know her from the gym in Prague and she started to cheer me up, so that felt really nice :)"

The 32-year-old has won 14 medals in the Ice World Cup and done possibly the hardest mix route in the world, Saphira 15-. Almost four years ago she had to stop due to a serious shoulder injury, and after a long recovery period she began sport climbing. Then she had problems with compartment syndrome, meaning that you get pumped quickly, so last May she begun bouldering.

How does your shoulder injury affect you in bouldering?
I can't climb all Boulders. Some moves hurt me even in easier climbs and on some moves I am very weak and sometimes I need a lot of rest. So at least I am not over trained :D like. Some days it hurts bad, so I took two weeks to rest from climbing and then again climbing like three weeks and then like one week rest. I had already so many surgeries also on my knee and ankle that I am just trying not to think on pain since I am so addicted to climbing 😅 . Some times it happened that I stopped climbing for several months and the pain felt even worse than in normal life ;)

Alex Megos reports on Insta with a very impressive tick list from seven days climbing in St Léger: three 8c's, three 8c+'s and two 9a/+'s. He also did the FA of Et pour quelques dégaines de plus 9a+, bolted by Quentin Chastagnier. (c) Jenya Kazbekova

"On the first day, I went up one time in the sun, touched all the holds, didn't do any moves and came down again after 10 min. A few days later with more motivation, I tried it again twice. Came back the next day, went up once to check out one clip, then gave it a try half an hour later and did it."

How many tries did you need to take the others down?
Two 8c's second go after a close flash and the one 8c+ second go after a very close flash and the other routes second or third go. Some of the 8c and 8c+ I knew parts of. I did La Castagne 3rd try one day, 9a+ in the guidebook. I think 9a/+. Cadafist took 3 days, 9a in the guidebook. I think 9a/+.

In total, the 27-year-old has done some 95 routes 8c+/9a to 9c. Next up is the Bouldering World Cup in Meiringen in a month. Here is a short Olympic preparation interview from last month.

Moritz Welt has done his sixth 9a in the last 12 months, Martin Krpan in Osp/Misja Pec, uncut video. "Kind of a mental battle, after doing Konec mira quickly I thought it would be not that hard, but the first part got me more pumped than expected and the polished footholds made every try quite unpredictable - relieved to finally put it down today!"

During the last three weeks in Osp/Misja Pec, the 19-year-old has also onsighted five 7c+'s and 8a's. In the 8a ranking game, Moritz is #9. "I'm still in Slovenia and already checked out some more hard routes in Osp and Mišja Peč. So I'll go for those next."