Giorgio Tomatis, who did his first 8c+ in 2017 and who was #3 in the Euro Championships last year among the 16-year-old's, has done his second 9a, Mistero in Andonno.

”It was graded 8c but after the break nobody had been able to climb it in the last 20 years. Trying it, I broke another hold making the route even more difficult. It is a very intense route of 40 movements with an uncomfortable rest. I had a lot of fun trying it. It’s a very fun climb and it took me a month to close it.”

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Oriane Bertone, #2 in the female Bouldering ranking game, has done the FA of Panonoramix et les cyclopes 8c+ in St Léger. ”Incredible connexion between "Panonoramix" (8c) of Antoine Maire end the third hard section of "Le Mur des Cyclopes" (8b/+). I pre-clipped first two quickdraws because of the dangerous and hard start. Logically it could be 8c+... to be confirmed.”

Marine Thevenet, #7 in the Boulder WC in 2014, reports on Insta that she has done the third ascent of Stage Divers 8B in just four sessions. It was opened by Tony Lamiche in 2005 and (c) Clement Lechaptois got the first repeat last month. Previously, Marine has done some 40 boulders 8A and harder.

"The first session I only did the stand start (7B) and tried to find the holds of the sit start; the 2nd session I tried to keep the position but I was unable to do a single move! In the 3rd session I did All the moves; I did some good links and that was the first time that I thought it could be doable. So the following friday, after work, I managed to climb the boulder during a night session."

How did you train and stay motivated during the lockdown? I rested a lot! And then I did a lot of stretching and smartboarding! I tried to focus on my weakness to take advantage of this period ; It was a little bit hard to put on my climbing shoes again, but after two or three sessions it was ok!

Loic Zehani, who previously has done 18 routes 9a to 9b, has done the FA of À contre courant 9a in Orgon. "It is an old 8b bolted by my father over 15 years ago, which had chipped holds. I noticed that it would be possible to pass without these artificial holds by shifting the line a little. With the agreement of my father, I filled all the chipped holds and that gave a very pretty 9a (or 9a/a +), almost completely natural but two at the very start. First, there is a really hard section of ten movements approx 8A+ on small holds in a steep overhang (with a hard-clipping in the middle!) Then directly after a dozen hard movements. It is the most beautiful and natural hard route in this sector. It took me 3 or 4 sessions to do the movements and 2 more to do the route."

Oriane Bertone has done Panonoramix 8c in St Léger and added some interesting comments. "The first section is quite dangerous, and I did it with the rope in the first two quickdraws. In this case, I think it's a soft 8c. If you pre-clip the third and fourth quickdraws you are safe but it's a bit easier energetically. In this case, I think the grade could be hard 8b+."

Oriane's comments go in line with the 8a 8a Practice and Ethics which says, "Two or three pre-clipped carabiners if it is for safety." In practice almost all the ascents with a hard start are done with pre-clipped quickdraws which is good as many injuries have been avoided. One ethical dilemma is when different climbers use a different number of pre-clipped carabiners as this could mean that the difficulty of the route changes, as Oriane points out. At the same time, it is impossible to set a fixed standard as there are so many possible scenarios with "Yellow card - Ethical Dilemma".

From a safety point of view, possibly a bolt should be added in order to avoid potential ground fall because of a hard third or fourth clip. In any case, great to see the ethical comments by the 15-year-old.

Max Bertone has flashed his second 8b in just three days, Le mur des cyclopes in St Léger which actually most have recorded as 8b+ in the 8a database. "Thanks to my friends Liliy Abriat and Sam Richard to have put the quickdraw and explained the beta and details about the holds. Very happy to flash this long and beautiful line!"