Eva Hammelmüller, with eight routes 8c+ or 9a under her belt, during the last year, has repeated Jonathan Siegrist’s Crise de Panique (9a) in Bas-Valais. The Austrian IFSC competition climber is #1 in the ranking game. (c) Felix Mast

”100% Dreamline! Hard moves in the beginning on sidepulls and underclings including a crazy crossmove, then it‘s all about not getting pumped too much in the middle section ‘pour avoir assez de jus’ to fight through the last beautiful crimp section. Double send with Seb [Bouin] on my third day of trying the route!”

David Firnenburg, who last week sent his second 8C, has done Monkey Wedding (8C) in Rocklands. David has been on the road for nine months with and plan to add another two in ZA. ”Cool fingery, technical and powerful climb with different betas throughout the boulder. Dropping three times on the last hard move in my second session. Today first go from the bottom. Happy to have this one in my send bag!”

Can you tell us more about the trip?
ZA is fun. Many strong people around and good weather🌞 We spent already almost 3 weeks here, time flies, staying in an apartment together with my partner Andrea Kümin, Michael Piccolruaz, Nicolai Užnik, Thilo Schröter, Sofya Yokoyama and some others. It’s good vibes climbing and cooking together. We’ve also been to the sea side at Lambert’s Bay for the well-known fish grill there. Beautiful sunset!

Climbingwise, I have some projects in mind, mainly in the 8B+ and 8C range, but also good side projects and just fun climbs. There is so much good climbs around here and since my last visit in 2015 ten years ago the area grew with many new sectors and gems I haven’t heard about before. And there is a bunch left to explore. Seems like too much for a single climber’s life. I know of some people who come here every season for the past 10-15 years and still scout for new boulders.

Bayes Wilder, who sent 8A+ and 8c+ at age 10, is on a trip to Rocklands and during the first week he has sent The Arch (8B) and flashed Awunda (8A) as well as Barracuda (8A). His father Matt Wilder, gives us the story of the start of their trip.

”We’re having a fun trip in Rocklands. Bayes has been having a good trip. He was really psyched to do the Arch, his first 8B. He had worked it once a couple days back and got all the moves and had one or two links to near the end. When he came back, he refreshed the moves and then gave an attempt from the start and fell on the last slopers above the lip. After a rest, he did it on his next go. He was very excited to top it out and celebrated with a jump into the creek pool just above the climb. On this trip, he’s also done two cool 8A+ climbs (CoCo and Law and Order). He also flashed Awunda and Barracuda and did a few other 8A’s. He doesn’t have his sights set on any specific problems for the rest of the trip, but he’s psyched to try more hard stuff in the week we have left.

He’s here with his friend Beckett Hsin also from Colorado and Beckett’s brother (and Bayes’ comp coach) Samuel Hsin. Both of them have been crushing as well with Beckett sending a few 8B’s and flashing a couple 8A+’s. Sam pulled off a flash of the Arch, a quick ascent of El Corazon among other sends.

Nathan Phillips and Simone Tentori, who both did their first 8C+ some months ago, have repeated Jimmy Webb’s Khoikhoi (8C) in Rocklands.

Phillips [pictured]: ”Possibly the best hard boulder I’ve ever done. Incredible trip. I can’t think of many hard boulders in this style. Ninja Skills is the closest and it’s for sure harder than that but feels a little easier than some of the other 8C’s I’ve done. Very hard 8B+ or low end 8C does seem right. I wish there were more hard blocs in this style! Thanks Jimmy for giving this gem to the world.”

Tentori: ”This one is so special. The line, the rock, the moves, just perfect. I found a new beta that makes the sequence a little bit easier and straightforward, imo, so upper-end 8B+ might be right this way?”

Autumn Lloyd has matched her mother [Ashley Lloyd] by sending Super Kind (8A+) in Emerald Lake.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Superkind was a line I very much wanted to climb partly because I greatly enjoy lowball traverses and partly because it had some familial history to it. Back in 2007, when I was 2, my family was living in Fort Collins and my parents were regularly climbing in Rocky. My mom also loves long traverses, and as a result got psyched on Superkind. She managed to snag the FFA and was one of the earliest ascents of the full traverse of the Kind boulder’s face.

I’ve watched the video of my mom doing Superkind many times, and as a result the climb was priority #1 when my sister Sierra and I took our first trip to RMNP last week. I managed to send the Kind Traverse on day 1, but had to come back on day 2 for Superkind. I really enjoyed the movement on this climb, and am so so psyched to have finally gotten out to Rocky to try it.

Lucia Dörffel, who was 16th in the Paris Olympics, has repeated Giuliano Cameroni’s Hazel Grace (8B+) in Gottardo. The 25-year-old German has previously climbed routes up to 8c and boulders up to 8B. (c) Elias Arriagada

”I had this boulder in my mind for quite some time. It’s a beautiful line in one of my favourite places, and it means a lot to me. Due to some health issues, I missed a lot of training and had to skip the entire World Cup season. But that also meant more time for rock climbing. I was really excited about this trip and spending time outside. From the very first session, checking out the moves, I knew I could climb it. By my fifth session, I was already really close, falling on the last hard move. So we decided to extend our trip by two more days. I had one rest-day and tried the next day again. The weather started to change, and it began to rain a little. But I kept trying and the conditions were actually good for me. Everything came together on my send go. It was perfect. Standing on top of this bloc, having climbed my first 8B+ was a great feeling and I’m so psyched for more.”

Jennifer Wood has done Adventure Time (8c) in Kilnsey. The 29-year-old finished her competition career in 2023 and works nowadays as a coach. (c) Mario Grabinski

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Honestly I only thought I’d try this one because I hadn’t got my last few quickdraws out of the top of epic adventures yet 😅 this route Adventure Time adds a 30m 8b to the epic adventures crux at the last 4 bolts. It’s really cool because you do a super techy crimpy 7c+, into a really burly 8b with big moves on undercuts , then blast out the crux of epic adventures straight through the roof making a really varied line with a lot more hard climbing than the original. I put the draws in and did it next go! Very surprised! I was screaming my way through the top crux but I think I just had it dialled in on muscle memory !

What is your next plan?
Hoping to keep working through the hard stuff at Kilnsey :) before heading back to Kalymnos in October.

Tyler Thompson, who has climbed ten routes graded 9a and above in the past two years, recently sent Moonshine (9a) at The Remuda. Just four days later, he followed it up with an ascent of Mutation (9a) at Wild Iris Main Wall.

Can you tell us more about your latest two 9a’s?
I had been climbing for a few weeks at Wolf point but, as the season got warmer, the decent days there have been harder to come by. Wild iris is over 1000 feet higher and good on warm days so I started trying Moonshine around two weeks ago. I made steady progress and on my fourth session I fell 5 times in a row on the crux dyno. The next climbing day I sent on my third try.

A few days later, after sending Sheep Eye at Wolf point, I went back to the rodeo wave to check out the ending section of Mutation, which climbs Genetic Drifter into an 8b+ route. I did the 8b+ right away after checking the moves and making sure I had good beta. I decided to try from the bottom, which is a bit complicated because it involves a rope and belay swap due to the huge traverse. My first try I fell in the last few moves of genetic and managed to get through that section on the second try. I rested well before the 8b+ and desperately pulled through the redpoint crux at the very end, much to the dismay of myself and my belayer(s)!

Lee Dohyun claimed his first Lead World Cup gold in Madrid, following three previous victories in Boulder events. It was a tense finish, with the five climbers who followed him each coming within just two holds of his top score.

”This feels unreal, I can't believe it. I'm just happy! When I finished my climb, I didn't think it was worth a gold medal, I would have expected fourth or fifth. It was a good experience for me. At the end of the Boulder season I was a bit confused, I was disappointed in myself for my results in finals. I started thinking about how to improve myself, everyday, also in Lead, I tried and did my best. Now I'm happy.”

Annie Sanders, who won a Boulder World Cup victory last year, was the only climber to top the semifinal as well as the final route, earning her first gold medal in Lead. Remarkably, the 17-year-old has reached the final in all but one of the 15 World Cups she has competed in over the past two years.
”I'm honestly still in shock right now, I'm super excited to have executed well enough to win the gold. I didn't know what to expect at the beginning of the season, but after the first Lead World Cup in China I know I was capable of doing this, and I'm glad it finally happened.”