Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done his second 8c onsight, White Zombie in Baltzola, on his third day on. The super steep route is mentioned in the record books for the first-ever 8c onsight, performed by Yuji Hirayama back in 2004. It should, however, be mentioned that later some have given it 8b+ and Jorge comments on Insta, "But I really have to say that now it's a little easier with kneepads than it was before 🤔 although I did not see many of them 😅".

During the last month, the 20-year-old has done six routes 9a to 9b and he is getting superior in the 8a ranking game. Photographer, Carlos Padilla has followed many of his hardest ascents and comments,

"He is undoubtedly one of the best climbers of the moment, not only because of the level he does but also because of the number of hard routes that he is able to send in a few sessions and without rest. Motivation is without a doubt one of his strengths, he never gives up. He also has an extraordinary capacity for recovery that allows him to climb many days in a row, always at the highest level. It continues to amaze me the ability to do his maximum level, several times a day, several days in a row. He has an exceptional assimilation capacity. He has certainly not peaked. He seems for us like a real X-Man...😜"

Jakob Schubert, the best male competition climber the last ten years who did his first 9b+ last year, reported on Insta that he had tried Alex Megos Bibliographie 9c in Céüse. We asked him for some further comments and surpricingly he could quickly do all moves. (c) Katha Saurwein

"I spent three tries on Alex Megos’ Bibliographie right after the competition in Briancon and it’s an amazing route actually. Alex was there himself, so he shared all his precious beta with me, which was obviously very helpful. In contrast to many other routes in Céüse Bibliographie doesn’t have only pockets but also some crimps which I definitely prefer. Alex’ description of the route might be pretty accurate when he says it‘s an 8b+ route into a hard 8A+ boulder; from there you have a really bad rest and then you have a 9a to the top.

I’m really happy I could do all the moves on it, so that was actually kind of surprising. I thought in a 9c I might have to work on the moves a lot more. Besides one at the very end with which I’m still kind of struggling with, the moves are all pretty ok. Connecting all these moves is obviously a different story but I’m psyched to return at some point. This year the season will be over quite soon, but I hope there’ll be time next year."

Martina Demmel, who was #24 in Briancon, has done her ninth 8c in 2020, Dures limites in Céüse. On Insta she says it was her probably hardest 8c as the others did not fully test her limit. In the 8a ranking game, the 18-year-old is #2. (c) Malik Schirawski

"Was a 100 percent sure to fall on these for me low percentage moves right before the top many times, but surprised myself by actually never missing any of these pockets🙈... It was like this one magic go when everything suddenly is feeling so flow almost effortless, even though it still was a big battle😻💭!"

Triglav the Rock Ljubljana run the final over the river in the city center in Speed mode footless. The format idea was Jernej Kruder's who also won among the male on a route that should have been at least 8a. "Actually, I am the ambassador of this comp and the whole idea for the finals was mine. When campusing it's hard to grade- big holds, big moves. Water was OK, maybe the air got a bit colder later in the night. It was good to compete again and that people actually stopped by and cheering up...it was also good to climb over the water again 😊"

There were 150 participants in the street edition qualification that should have climbed on different buildings, but bad weather forced them to go indoors. Among the female, climbing on extra holds in different colors, Vita Lukan won. More info to come.

Mejdi Schalck, who was #7 in Briancon, and Paul Jenft, who was #10, have done their first 9a, Shortcut in La Balme. Schalck (c) Aurele Bremond comments, "Very pleased to have done this route. I was going crazy as I kept falling 6/7 times in the final part."

Gonzalo Larrocha, has done the 60 meter route XL 9a in Baltzola, after 7 or 8 days of projecting. In total, the 36-year-old has now 18 routes 9a and harder out of which six the last 12 months. "Good end of the summer, sending it on the penultimate day. I fell twice in the White Zombie area."