Moritz Welt, with 13 routes 9a and beyond under his harness, only in Frankenjura, has done Unplugged (9a). (c) Daoud Sadlowski

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
I am currently having my annual spring home season. As I have done most of the established routes in Frankenjura I'm interested in, I am recently more focused on developing new lines here. But as most of these are so hard that I am not ready to give send tries yet, I need to try something else in the meantime that feels actually doable :)

Luckily there are still a few classics missing on my ticklist, and Unplugged was one of them, maybe even the most prominent one. It's the second 9a in Frankenjura (FA by Markus Bock 2003), so notably the first one after AD, which was established 12 years earlier! I had tried it before but was a bit intimidated to try again, because there was this last boulder that felt quite hard for me. Turns out this season I was finally ready! Took me 2 sessions to do the top crux from the left (which makes it a hard 8c) and 3 more to finally link everything together from the Unplugged start! :)

Andrea Lostia di Santa Sofia, who did his first 9a in March, has made the first repeat of The Watchtower (9a) in Lecorci. ”The queen of Ulassai, hardest line I ever climbed.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
I started trying this route last september, after sending the last 8c+ in Ulassai I wanted to look for something harder, this route caught my eye. Initially I wasn’t sure the route was possible, nobody had done it and the wall looked blank. The only reason I didn’t give up is because this feeling reminded me of the first time I tried ‘Fear Is The Mind Killer’ in Lecorci, which I then first ascended, I knew not to trust the part of me that told me it wasn’t possible.

In november my friend Giorgio Tomats came to visit and we tried the route together, we worked the moves and found solutions, in that trip we also made some FA’s in Isili such as Terzo Tempo 8c+ and Free Bronx 8c+, but The Watchtower was still too hard.

Giorgio decided to come back to sardinia just to send it, and he did, claiming the FA to Ulassai’s first 9a, during this time I kept trying the route, always falling on the same move from the ground.

It was extremely frustrating and I considered giving up multiple times, which had never happened to me before on a route. Just when I was about to abandon all hope, I stuck the move and fought my way to the top, battling numb toes and pump.

This is my second and hardest 9a after Estado Critico, and it’s very important to me as Estado Critico was the first 9a climbed by a sardinian, and The Watchtwer is the first time it happens in Sardinia.

The route is a prow towering above Lecorci, it follows a black stripe. The hard section starts after a kneebar with a phisical boulder followed right after by an extremely tricky 2 move boulder, where I fell for months coming from the ground. Stuck the move there is a third and final boulder on small crimps leading you to a rest before the final, potentially heartbreaking, easier section.

Marco Müller, who in February sent his first 8C+, has done Power of Now Direct (8C) in Magic Wood.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
Power of Now (8B+) was at the top of my list to try this spring. Surprisingly, it went down in the first session. I then tried the first move a bit and knew the direct start was possible, but my skin was already worn and the power was fading.

It took me three more sessions to climb it from the direct start. It only adds one move, but for me the launch into the second jump felt much harder, as I couldn’t quite hit the holds perfectly. Plus, I felt more tired for the last jump coming from the direct start, where I fell a couple of times.

Yannick Flohé has repeated Nathaniel Coleman’s No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) in Thunder Ridge, giving it a personal 8C+ grade. The first repeater, Hamish McArthur comments on Yannick’s Instagram post. “The downgrade seems to make sense.” Last year, Yannick became the first boulderer to flash 8C. (c) Griffin Appel

“I came to the US for a Red Rocks trip but had to change my plans due to an unexpected heat wave. My specific goal was to get my hands on Shaolin (9A) as it looks very much my style and I was also looking forward to climbing somewhere different than Switzerland where I spent most of my bouldering trips the past years. I found out that March was supposed to be the best season not too warm but not too cold. I don’t like climbing in the cold as I’ve got very dry skin and can’t try hard with too many layers on.

The weather in Vegas turned out to be the opposite though. Unlike last season, March sucked. 35 degrees Celsius in the city and sandstone that never cooled down already ended my plans on the first day. I decided this was not the time to get into a long term project and I spent a week on vacation, before heading to Colorado – without any specific projects in mind.

On my first day I checked out Defying Gravity (8C) with Daniel and Collin. Defying is in the middle of nowhere, about two hours driving on small and dirt roads from Denver followed by another 45 min hike. After a pretty good first try I tried a couple of grip types for the campus start move and sent shortly after. After the send I started playing around on the low start „No One Mourns The Wicked“. NOMTW adds around 8A into Defying Gravity and I immediately got psyched. There’s no really hard single move but the main crux for me was getting into the stand start position and keeping my feet on the wall to execute the Defying move.

Hamish and Nathaniel used a high right heel for the move into the stand and the big crux move. The heel felt too reachy for me so it took me a couple of sessions switching between different betas to find the way that suited me best. I ended up using a micro foot to give me a little push for the campus move. The main challenge was dry conditions, crazy wind and my dry skin which made climbing on this glassy polished rock very challenging. I’ve had days with 15% humidity and crazy wind where I couldn’t even do the stand moves and other days with clouds and rain that felt so sticky that I was able to do the Defying move multiple times in a row for warm up.

The day I sent I walked to the crag in the rain with low wind and very high humidity which made the holds much stickier than in the sessions before. From the first day I was sure that I could send NOMTW, but in the end it took me 7 sessions. Anyway I don’t think that this climb is 9A considering this was more a battle against conditions and dry skin than the boulder. I’ve not sent 9A yet but I know what other 9As feel like and therefore I would suggest 8C+. For sure a magical place and one of the best boulders in the world."

Cy McInto$h, who repeated his first 9a+ in January, has made the first ascent of Fox-like Creature (9a+) in Natural Bridge.

”This routes been f-ing me at a 45 degree angle for the past four months. Fell off the same move almost every try. First it was a skin battle and then head game. Learned a lot. I love all my friends who climbed out here with me this winter. Thanks Tyler Sweeney and Frank Dusl for the bolting and vision. Grading such a cruxy route is stressful but calling this 9a wouldn’t feel right with all the time I spent on it. So fug it 9a+ it is.”

Can you tell us more about the head game respectively physical training behind the ascent?
I didn’t do much specific training for it because it’s so technical I thought climbing on it a lot was the best training. The head game on it was super tough because I was falling on the same move for months which really messed with me. I realized that every go I was so certain that I should send that I was climbing with a fear of failing rather than being open to what could happen. The time I did it my head was so clear. It was a crazy feeling.

Laura Rogora, the number one in the Vertical-Life male/female ranking game, has onsighted Continental (8b+) and redpointed Mascella Serrata (9a) in Arco. In 2025, the 25-year-old onsighted a dozen routes graded between 8b+ and 8c+, a remarkable yearly tally, surpassed only by Adam Ondra in the history of climbing. Last year, the 152 cm-tall Italian also secured a bronze medal at the World Cup. The 2026 Lead season starts next weekend in China.

Can you tell us more about the ascents?
I’d been wanting to try this new route near Arco for a while, but with all the training I never had the chance. A couple of weeks ago I finally got back on rock, and after a first reconnaissance go and a second attempt where I forgot a foot in the starting boulder, I managed to send the route on my third try. Then I also onsighted Continental, a beautiful endurance pitch.

How has your training been in the weeks leading up to the World Cup?
It really depends especially in these weeks. I have been recently in Koper and Innsbruck and I did some Italien comps to prepare for the beginning of the season. I just landed in China, let’s see.

Mattea Pötzi, who made it to the semifinal in all her seven WC’s last year, has completed Resistance (8c) in Schleier Wasserfall. ”Started trying in fall 2024 and struggled a lot with the bottom part (also the very start). Got past the crux move once back then but messed up the middle part...took me 1 1/2 years to return to this beauty today. Conditions were great, everything was dry and after checking the moves again I sent "2nd go" of this year :) Guess I got somewhat stronger :)”

What is next and what about comps this year?
My plan is to do the whole world cup season and fit in some climbing in between, maybe Céüse again this summer.

How does a normal training week look like?
I train 5-6 times a week, often twice a day. Usually I have 2 strength and 2 lead sessions per week and then I do max boulders or longer (15-20 moves) boulders the other sessions.

Yanik Chassain, who last year won the European Youth Championship, has repeated Fred Nicole’s L'isola che non c'è (9a) in Amden. It is a hybrid route where you clip in to a rope halfway up the 34 moves. ”Absolute masterpiece Route! Took some sessions and was also hard mentally but proud of the progress and the process I had on this route!”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind it?
When I first tried the route in January this year, it felt impossible - even the opening 8A boulder problem seemed out of reach. My shape also wasn’t at its best at the time. By my second session, the first 8A boulder section went down easily. In my fourth session, I started making solid links into the 8A+ crux boulder, and at that point I began to believe that I could eventually climb the whole route.

During my fifth session, I gave it two serious send attempts because I felt strong, but I still struggled with a few details that needed adjusting. After a short training camp with the German National Team, I returned one week later - but heavy rain the day before had left everything wet, and even the first 8A section was impossible to climb. Three days later, I was back in the cave. This time everything was dry and conditions were perfect. On my first try, I fell in the 8A+ crux boulder.

After a good rest, I went again. This time I immediately got into the flow: I moved quickly through the first boulder, managed to recover a bit at the heel-toe cam rest in the middle, attacked the 8A+ crux, fought through the hardest moves, and eventually reached the good holds and the lower-off at the end of the route.

With seven sessions in total - though only two of them in truly good and dry conditions - it became my longest project so far. I’m super happy that I managed to stay motivated, trust the process, and keep believing over the past months.

What is next?
What is next? The main focus now is the upcoming lead season, especially the World Climbing Youth Championship Arco this summer. Until then, I’ll hopefully get a few more days outside to enjoy the rock, having fun, and climb some beautiful routes.

Sorato Anraku, the Boulder World Cup winner the three last years, got the gold in Keqiao in China. ”I’am very happy, it’s unbelievable. I was so happy to send the final boulder for the win. The crowd was great tonight here in China, it gave me a little extra and I felt powerful hearing them.”

Interestingly, six of the eight finalists were Asian, including two climbers from China for the first time. Moreover, Anraku and Mejdi Schalck were the standout performers in the semifinal bouldering round, as they were the only two to top all four problems, while just two other climbers topped more than one.

Zélia Avezou, who won silver at last year’s World Cup Salt Lake City, claimed her first World Cup gold at Keqiao in China. The 22-year-old scraped into the semifinals after finishing tied for 23rd in qualification as the last climber to advance, then placed sixth in the semifinal. In the final, however, she rose to the occasion, drawing level when it mattered most and securing victory before Janja Garnbret had even started her final boulder. Across the competition, Garnbret topped 10 of the 13 boulders, while Avezou managed five but it was enough to seal a breakthrough win.

“Honestly, I’m just wondering what has happened. I think I will fully realise later maybe. I just took it one boulder at a time. I thought the boulders were pretty easy apart from the first one, and the last would be really important.

I didn’t really think about the win, I just thought that if I got ten points on the final boulder I can get in a good position. Maybe I didn’t think I could top it honestly, but it was nice to do a physical boulder for once in my life.”