Nolwen Berthier, a former competition climber, is having her best year ever and has done her second 8c+, La flûte en chantier in the Ramirole cave in Verdon. (c) Theo Cartier

"This line catches your attention from the first glance, its diversity of movements is exceptionnal, its climbing is tricky and demanding. In short, the very pure Kingline… Clearly, it’s for this kind of routes that I get up in the morning, train, climb!

During the first few tries, the crux seemed easy to me, but there were still three movements that I wasn’t able to do. I was really not sure that it could work with my size. I had to reinvent the sections, to try out absurd or wacky methods, to finally find sequences that work. Make an insane drop knee while holding an intermediate hold? Dyno into a gaston flake? Getting quartered between two flat tufas? Challenge accepted! All the moves were done, it’s just a matter of time… and relentlessness… and success… Okay, it’s still not a given, but it starts from there! The Summer passed, then the Fall came, bringing better conditions, but with a stressful timing: the rain and the resurgences were about to come… and the rumours of lockdown… In short, I had a little pressure! In rock climbing, the theory of merit rarely works, it’s better to bet on the alignment of stars! Yesterday, all the parameters came together for a good run: shape, conditions, desire, lucidity, determination,… Magic!" an hard and aesthetic 40 meters line in an overhanging prow with tufas, bolted by Antonin Rhodes. It’s her second 8c+

Gio Placci, who recently did Underground 8c+ (9a) on his 30s training day on, has done Biologico 9a in Arco. The 19-year-old says that he trained and prepared his body for five weeks and this time he actually took a rest day. "Yesss , my first 9a is done , 4 days of tries , 5th try of the day." (c) Pietro Vidi

Katherine Choong, who previously has done two 9a's, has done her 13th 8c, Jusqu'au bout du monde in Soyhières. (c) Hugo Vincent

"I didn't really like climbing in the Jura before but because of the Covid19 I was forced to climb more local. With a bit of patience I started to really appreciate the style of the area. But I couldn't imagine climbing routes at my limit because of the bouldery / powerful style of the routes. Jusqu’au bout du monde is ~ 20 meters, starting with a hard section and a dyno for small climbers (the crux for me), and continue with a resistance end. It is a route bolted in 1989 by Philippe Steulet, a well-known Swiss climber from the region. It's "only" 8c but the crux took me a lot of time and cost me a lot of tries. It was finally last Wednesday that I managed to stick the dyno and fought against the pump all the way to the top 😊"

Fanny Gibert reports on Insta, "➖French team just cancelled our participation to European championship taking place in 20 days ❌ ➕But pro athlete can keep training during lockdown."

Isabelle Faus has done her third 8B+ since this summer, The Emasculator in the Dick cave. It is a steep 7C+ traverse into Daniel Woods 8B, Circle Jerk. In total, the 27-year-old has now done 32 boulders 8B and 8B+. (c) Greg Mionske

"More importantly, everything is on fire...the park and the national forest is closed, and thousands of people are evacuated.. stressful time on the front range right now." Check her Insta for more info and a video of the fire.

Solveig Korherr has during ten days done eleven routes 8a+ and harder in Frankenjura including;
Klodike Cat 8c, "Wow! What a freaking good day! Definitely my style! Psyched to have sent it in my third try. First 8c in a day!"
Roof Warrior 8c, " Last day, best day! What a sick roof! It was so much fun finding all the beta and climbing through the horizontal and pumpy part of the route. Jon would have been proud of my kneebars :D"
Triebwerke 8b onsight,"I think more experience on rock over the last few years have made me much better at making decisions and reading the rock on the fly."

"My trip to the Frankenjura was rather spontaneous as I was only supposed to stay for two/ three days but in the end, I stayed for ten days and it couldn’t have been better. At the beginning, I just wanted to climb a lot of routes without any specific goal and pressure. I guess that was the key in the end to have a very successful trip and a lot of fun!" (c) Julian Bückers

"It was actually better than expected!" Adam Ondra did good links and found a knee bar during his first day on Alex Megos' Perfecto Mundo 9b+, bolted by Chris Sharma.

Vadim Timonov, who did four 8C's during a four weeks trip to Ticino last Christmas, has done the FA of Low Priora 8C/+ in Djan-tugan. "Powerful moves, hard work with underclings. 17 moves in total in 65 degrees overhang."

It starts right in the hole in the bottom of the pictures and tops out in Priora 7B, shown in the picture. The Russian also opened Focus failed 8C that tops around the corner to the left. Last year, Vadim got the bronze in the Euro Championship and next up for him is the Moscow Euro Championship.

So how is this new boulder spot and where is it located?
In 2017, it was a big mudflow and a large area with stones appeared. Really good world-class area. A lot of stones around but we haven't seen much yet. Need more time for exploring. We are thinking about boulder festival for next year. It is located 20 hours south of Moscow by car or 3 hours by plane.