Niki Rusev has during a four weeks trip to Rocklands sent 23 boulders 8A and beyond including a flash of The Power of One (8B). ”It’s really hard to say how I feel about the grade because I felt like I had climbed it without too much difficulty but there were factors behind it. It fit my style pretty well but mostly if I hadn’t watched the crew climbing until I figure out the way I was going to try, I would have failed !! I’ve been trying to improve my flash go and for what I have no doubts it is a masterpiece and probably my hardest flash so far!”

Can you tell us more about your trip and flashing your first 8B?
After sending Spray of Light (8C) my focus moved to my side goal that was to flash an 8B.

I tried a couple 8B’s earlier in the trip, such as “Sky”, “Moon Shadow”, “Quintessential” and “El Corazon” but I was no where close to send in my first go. Second to last day we went to check out “The power of one” - another classic and amazing boulder in Rocklands.

Didn’t go with the idea to try it for a flash but when I saw the holds closer I thought it may fit my style and I should try anywayy. That day we were a big strong climbing group and we were able to discuss the holds and the moves. This helped me a lot to find the best beta that may work best for me and it worked for the first crux move but the last part was mostly freestyle and body instinct.

I also have mixed feelings about the grade, it’s difficult to say how I felt from just one try. I always want to give the best and honest opinion and not lie to myself but sometimes it is just too hard. I hope I get more experienced in the future!

I’ve never achieved the goals I wanted in my past rock climbing trips but Rocklands was definitely more than successful one!! But I also found myself being weak at short and sustained boulders. I do want work on this style and become stronger for next time. Besides climbing I had so much fun and I will try to come back for sure!

What are your upcoming competition plans?
I’m already back to Bulgaria and started training again for the World Championships in Seoul, Korea. I do enjoy training hard and take the most of every session, by this I will know I did everything I could to prepare the most!

Stefano Ghisolfi has climbed Hazel Grace Sit (8C) at Gottardo, marking his second 8C boulder of the summer. The Italian, known for sending over 60 routes graded 9a to 9b+, recently placed 11th at the Chamonix Lead World Cup. (c) Sara Grippo

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried the moves of the stand the first day, sent it the second day and tried the sit start a bit. On the third day I had some really good tries and on the fourth day I fell once at the end and then sent it!

How come you lately have been focusing more on bouldering?
In the summer there are many more places for bouldering than sport climbing, and also thanks to my wife Sara, she loves bouldering so we decided to do more bouldering trips and we are enjoying them. We will focus a bit more on bouldering this summer and maybe in the winter too.

Eva Hammelmüller, with 46 routes 8c to 9a under her belt, has done Folies Bergères (8c+) in La Saume. ”This route is CRAZY!!!! everything - the approach (you start at the 2nd pitch), the location (a perfect little ledge high above the ground), the rock quality, the moves, the slab climbing, even the runouts are absolutely crazy :D I think it deserves the plus compared to the other 8c’s in the crag and the 8c+’s I’ve done recently, but curious for more opinions!”

The following day the 25-year-old sent the 55m long Je suis vindicatif (8c). ”At first I was not sure whether I should try this route, as it links two routes I’ve already done, but the connection pary follows an obvious line which is amazing to climb!! Plus, the new moves are the hardest of the route, so you have a totally new crux section. Made myself the challenge of not checking out the upper part of Lou Merzou, and managed to retro-flash it on my send go!!! Really soft for the grade imo.”

Ryusei Hamada, the standout winner of the Boulder event at the Youth World Championships in Finland, continued his dominance by winning all three rounds in Lead as well. The other champions were Manato Korashiki, also from Japan; Geila Marcia Martin of Spain, who had previously claimed silver in Boulder; and Rafael Kazbekova of Ukraine, the younger sister of Jenya Kazbekova, who won gold 15 years ago. Team Japan once again emerged as the top-performing nation, continuing their long-standing dominance—particularly in the boys’ categories, where Asian climbers excelled overall. Notably, the USA, Austria and Italy each had only two finalists, while Germany had just one, compared to Japan’s 20. Full results here.

Mathieu Ternant has during a one month trip to Rocklands sent six 8B’s, Get Railed (8B+) and Monkey Wedding (8C).

Can you tell us more about your trip and Monkey Wedding?
I’ve been living on Réunion Island for a year now, and I mostly climb alone all year and mainly do first ascents (FAs), so I wasn’t really sure about my level. This trip was a good opportunity to see if the FAs I did were at the right grade.

About "Monkey Wedding"—I started trying it after some sessions on the rope in Get Railed (8B+). I did three short sessions (about 1 hour each) just to try the different sections. After sending "Get Railed", I could focus more on the project and spend some real sessions just working on the boulder. I was still trying other really nice problems between sessions on "Monkey Wedding", because there are just too many boulders to focus on only one...

After one very good session on the project where I managed to optimize all the sections, I felt like I could send it. But it was near the end of my trip, so I started to feel a bit of pressure.

I took three rest days in Cape Town and came back with good skin and full power. I spent three days in a row on the boulder—my last three days of the trip. On the first day, I was too stressed. On the second, I got really close and fell on the last move... On my last day, after a quick warm-up, despite bad skin and feeling tired, I sent it on my second go. What a feeling—I was so happy! It was more of a mental battle than a power one. But... last day, best day? 🤘

All in all, 7 sessions to send it. Really happy to have sent this masterpiece by Fred Nicole. Not the most beautiful line, but definitely a super interesting one.

Can you tell us more about living on Reunion and your FA’s?
I moved here for work, surfing, and to follow my girlfriend, who lives on the island. There are still a lot of boulders to discover—they’re just waiting to be climbed... and I’m trying to find some of them. I really love this part of climbing. I’m psyched to search for new rock, figure out the moves, and climb it… not just consume! It’s such a pleasure to climb something new every session, and it’s a real challenge.

But I have to admit—I also love consuming! Being here in Rocklands and trying hard problems that are already established is also super nice. This trip was a great opportunity to compare, to see if the grades of my FAs were accurate, and to evaluate my own level—because I don’t have many benchmarks on the island. That’s what makes it so challenging, too.

Arthur Ternant has done nine boulders 8B and beyond including The Finnish Line (8C) in Rocklands. We will follow up with an article about the possible strongest twin brothers in the world.

Can you tell us more about the trip and your hardest ascents?
This Rocklands trip was amazing. I came to South Africa with no expectations, because I had been injured for a long time this year (from December to the middle of May). So, no training and not much climbing. I wasn’t even sure I could climb without pain. But in the end, my shape and mindset were really good, and I surprisingly sent some boulders I had in mind really fast (Cosmic Artifact and Get Railed, both 8B+ and really cool) within my first 10 days.

After that, I decided to quickly check out the dream line “Finnish Line” and see how it felt—whether it seemed doable in one trip or not. I spent 3 sessions on the rope to work all the sections well, then came back another day to try it from the bottom. Amazing crew, good vibes, and perfect weather—2 tries from the ground! Such a good feeling. My best climbing moment!

Later, I decided to spend the rest of the trip climbing lots of amazing boulders in the 8A/B grade. And I finished the last week by sending “The Book Club” (8B+).

Max Bertone, currently #8 in the Lead WC, has done La moustache qui fâche (9a+) in Entraygues. The 18-year-old first made headlines doing an 8c+ at age 12. ”Happy to send this one ! I lost a lot of time with a bad hand sequence on the second crux of the route. Today I found it and top immediately after. With this beta I felt the route very soft for the grade. A solid 9a or a soft 9a+ I think.”

How many sessions did it take?
I did 3 sessions last year and this year I did it at the fourth because of a bad hand sequence on the second crux. I finally found the good sequence at the fourth session this year and I did it immediately after.

Can you tell us more about this years comps and what is the plan towards the World Championships?
My season went really well ! My goal was to make a few finals, and I managed to get on the podium in Bali and reach the final in Innsbruck, which was particularly meaningful to me. I’m also happy I had the chance to climb a bit outdoors during the short break between Madrid and Koper. The rest of the season will be a bit calmer: I’ll train in Paris and Innsbruck to prepare for the Koper World Cup in early September. Then I’ll head back to Réunion Island to take my school exams, and finally, I’ll be off to the World Championships at the end of September!

Gio Placci, who was eleventh in the Madrid World Cup three weeks ago, has flashed Last soul sacrifice (8c) and sent Trip tik tonik (9a) in Gorges du Loup. (c) Crimp Films

Can you tell us more about the trip and the routes you tried?
I spent a week in Gorges du Loup to reset a bit after coming back and training for the comps. My main goal was to try PuntX, but after a couple of days it was just too painful on the skin and maybe also because I’m not good enough on pockets…. So I decided to drop it and focus on some less intense routes instead.

One of my side goals was to climb some other routes fast. I managed to flash “Last Soul Sacrifice” 8c with some beta from a French climber who explained it… in French. Let’s just say it was a spicy flash — I speak French, but not perfectly, so I didn’t catch everything. Kind of a half-flash, haha. I think my shape in comps really helpd in this route. The holds were quite obvious so it was mostly about fitness.

After that I tried Hot Chili-X onsight, but unfortunately I fell on the last move…. I sent it second go. Then I gave a flash go on Trip Tik Tonic 9a — made a decent attempt, but it’s a very beta-dependent route on tufas, and the sequence I used on the flash go was completely different from the one I used to eventually send it.

Right before sending it, I actually broke a crucial hold. I was TRISTE I thought the route might not be climbable anymore. Luckily I found a new beta and sent it on the next go. I’m really sorry to the community for breaking an important hold… I hope the route still climbs well!

After that, I tried Kinematix 9a/+ I gave it two days but couldn’t make it happen. On the last try I opted for the easier finish an 8c+ variant called “Total eclatch”

Overall, it was a refreshing trip that cleared my mind and gave me new energy to train for the upcoming comps — which are my main focus until September with the World Championships in Seoul. After that… back to rock!

Ethan Salvo, with four 8C’s under his belt, has during the same week repeated Chris Sharma’s Dreamcatcher (9a) and Andy Lamb’s Event Horizon (8C+), both in Squamish. The 22-year-old is working full time in a climbing gear store.

Can you tell us more about the number of sessions needed and how it was to work two projects at the same time?
I probably spent over 100 sessions on Event horizon over the past 3 years, that’s a bit of a guess tho, I tried to make my sessions count instead of counting the sessions.

Dreamcatcher was a lot less effort, I’d kind of play on it from time to time over the years. Last summer was my first season really trying to do it, and I spent maybe a dozen days on it, but in the end I wasn’t in shape physically or mentally for it.

This spring I climbed on Dreamcatcher another handful of days before getting it done. Not really sure how it was possible to work both, I guess it was though? A year ago I wouldn’t have considered that I’d be trying both at the exact same time, let alone finish them both at the same time. It was kind of one of those situations where you just end up in it like “huh alright I guess this is happening and I’ll just go along with it and see what happens”.

I really tried to let go of all logic this year when trying to understand if I was ready for both. No questioning if I was in “sport shape” or “bouldering shape”, I just knew I wanted to climb on whatever I was psyched on, and it happened to be both at the same time and I’d just split my time between them. I guess the main thing they did have in common was power endurance, Event horizon is 16 moves and Dreamcatcher is around 29 moves (minus the slab). So I’m sure my power level on event horizon helped with dreamcatcher, and my fitness from dreamcatcher helped with event horizon.

I didn’t need much fitness for dreamcatcher either since I found last year it was easier for me to skip the rests and just climb through them. I’d often leave the rests after 2-3min feeling more pumped and tired then if I didn’t rest. On the send go, I think I made it to the headwall in about 2.5min, quite the opposite from how most people climb on it, I really tried to speed climb.

What is next?
I’m spending the summer time working on a new trad pitch on the chief that’s got some very hard boulder cruxes on it. It’s been cool to try and apply my bouldering base to something totally different and explore a different world. I’ll probably spend the rest of the summer and fall season hanging up there on the wall, trying hard and enjoying the views of town, or clipping bolts at sport crags around town. I love bouldering but I am excited to explore sport and trad climbing more over the coming years.

Sam Weir, with 14 boulders 8C or 8C+ to his name, has sent Will Bosi’s Brain rot (8C+) in Magic Wood. The 33-year-old sent it in just three sessions and logged it as an 8C. ”Stout little boulder. Great addition to Magic wood by Will 🔥.” (c) Sebastian Maflin

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Sure! It can be broken down into three moves one of which is probably in the 8B realm. I first tried the boulder with Simon Lorenzi a week ago and felt close but could not keep the tension on a terrible left foot and a non existent toe hook. I came back this week with colder temperatures and things felt the same. It was close but no real progress on the comprehension of the move. On a whim I got a friend to power spot me to test a body position I was thinking about and to my surprise my brain understood the move! Took a good rest, changed my left shoe to a soft no edge and next go managed to take it to the top. Grade wise: I’m not too sure honestly. I’m excited to see what others think but it’s the hardest single move I have done I think🤔

What about your 8C personal grade?
Honestly I don’t know for the grade. It’s my style… small box and static climbing. The 2nd move is hard. But I flashed the 1st and last maybe 7B and 7C+ respectively? Does an 8B move mean 8C+? One movers are hard to grade. Maybe it’s 8C+ I don’t know 🤷‍♂️.