Jules Marchaland and Paul Jenft, #17 (Lead) and #12 (Boulder) in the Innsbruck WC last week, have done the two first ascents of Raide de toit (9a). ”Such a cool line! My friend Paul Jenft and I shared every attempt. He sent it just after me. It was an awesome process on a great roof with big vertical moves and underclings — a classic power-endurance route.” (c) Nicolas Violant

Debbie Carrasquer, who started climbing at age 27 in 2016, has completed Midtown Brown Low (8A+) in The Freaks, after having done the original 8A start two weeks ago. ”I guess I ended up coming for more. These extra moves made that first move on the original line so much harder for me. I had to use crappier intermediates. I am so done…”

The 36-year-old Spaniard did not fully focus on bouldering until 2021, having started with trad climbing in Yosemite before moving on to sport climbing, where she did an 8a+ in 2020.

Can you give us your full story about your PB ascent?
I’ve never been drawn to crimps, which limits options around Tahoe, so I prefer compression—and lately, roofs. If I was going to push my limits, it had to be on a style I loved. That’s the only way I’d keep showing up through the tough sessions and low points.

After an intense training cycle and some sessions at Priest Draw, I built the fitness to push myself at The Basement—a volcanic cave hidden in Kirkwood at 8,200 feet [2,500m]. The route has about 50 moves, and the rock is razor sharp, so early sessions were about managing skin and building endurance on easier lines. I’ve lost count of how many rolls of tape I went through, how many times I banged my back against the roof, got bitten by mosquitoes, or fell mid-route—but every moment was worth it.

What made this climb special wasn’t just the difficulty—it was the mental shift. Convincing myself I deserved to try, that I belonged there, that dreaming bigger was worth it even without guarantees. I let go of pressure and focused on showing up, even after draining 60-hour workweeks.

With every session, I watched the forest around me change—and somehow, I was changing too, shaped by the journey. Then, one day, it all clicked. The extension made the first move much harder, forcing a big reach from a lower position. I had to use a tough intermediate hold to make it work. The rest of the route had unique beta I’d pieced together, which added moves but made it more manageable. I usually get only three good tries per session—the send came on my third.

Afterward, I sat above the cave, taking in the same landscape I’d seen so many times before—but this time, it looked different—renewed and peaceful. Or maybe I was.

Did you climb it mainly by yourself?
I climbed it alone yes, so it was tough carrying pads up and down everytime. Since I moved to Tahoe area it’s been hard for me to build community specially with my working schedule, but either way I try to do the best I can with the time I have so I go out every chance I get even if it is 6-8am or 6-8pm.

How come you are working 60 h per week?
I have two jobs. One is full time related to HR and the other is Spanish freelance translator. I moved to the US as an immigrant with $20 in my pocket to built a new life so it’s been hard to save up from scratch to have a life in the US. I had very low paying jobs for a long time. So I’m trying to build up

Did you have any sort background when you started climbing?
Honestly growing in Spain was tough for me. My family was barely making it, we were below the poverty line, 4 siblings I was the youngest. There was no time for sports or hobbies so I knew studying would be my only way to have better life than my parents so I just studied until I got scholarships to start studying English.

Climbing was my first sport at 27 years old. So I am very motivated to finally get my opportunity to get outside and have fun even if it is as an adult.

How does a normal climbing week look like?
I usually have training cycles of 2-3 months in Winter and Summer then performance Spring and Fall. If the week is during performance I will have 3 performance sessions of 3h each and the rest I will do 2h hikes and some weights for maintenance like bench or isolate some muscles to be balanced.

If the week is during training cycle then it usually is 2-3 climbing specific sessions of 2-3h, 2 days of weight lifting (bench, squats, arms, legs) a lot of core and some cardio. Then 1 day outside for skin maintenance and volume and being at higher elevation and the rest 1-2 days of rest so go light hiking or fully chilling.

What is coming up next and what about summer plans?
In the future, I’d love to try the other 8a+ and maybe even the 8b in that cave. But for now, I’m going to indulge in a well-deserved Summer break! I have saved enough to go back visit my family in Spain after 3 years without seeing them so I am very excited to finally be taking some time off from work after so long. I will be swimming in the Mediterranean, visiting Basque Country and hanging out with some chilhood friends, oh and eating yummy food as much as I can. I will try taking a bit of a climbing break but I’m sure I will get on some climbing even if it is 100 degrees (40 celcius) haha.

Noah Wheeler, who started 2025 by sending his first two 9A’s, has had an amazing day in Cascade, starting with a second go ascent of The Hero of Ages (8C). ”14/15. Thinking a little harder than Final Empire? Would've flashed the stand but dabbed, then immediately fired the sit first go from start. Incredible to try hard climbs in my exact style!”

Later he flashed Inglorious Bastards (8B), giving it a personal 8A+ grade. ”Good one! Feels very consistent throughout.”, and redpointed Death's End (8C), ”Sent a few goes after Hero of Ages in one of my best days yet! Mostly a temp/light crux, where, as it was 80/90 degrees out during the day, I had to wait until 12:30 - 1am for good temps, upon which the darkness makes it difficult to light up the crux holds sufficiently. Undoubtedly a mega line on mega rock.”

How come you have not done any boulders the last six weeks and what about the night session?
Haven’t climbed outside in a while because its been so hot in CO! Summer is mostly just a period of training for me - board climbing over all else in order to ramp for Switzerland 2-3 months in the fall.

This trip to Idaho was a short vacation that happened to be near world-class bouldering, which we took advantage of. Since its so hot during the day, most of my sends came at 12-2am.

Jonathan Siegrist has done the first repeat of BJ Tilden’s Show Your Teeth (9a) at Wolf Point. ”Great punchy route with a variety of savage movement. Enormous stab to the pocket at the 4th bolt was my definitive crux and took me a while to figure out. So psyched to get it done just in time for deep summer to arrive!! Similar to Lion's Share in the grade, I think entry level 9a.” (c) Nate Liles

There are around 45 routes in total, with the longest reaching approximately 40 meters and nine of them graded 8c+ or harder. The topo can be find in the Vertical-Life App.

Can you tell us more about Wolf Point?
Wolf Point is a wild, remote crag near Lander, WY. It's a real Wyoming experience - 4x4 is mandatory for the road, there are rattlesnakes, bears and cougars around, and the hike is pretty brutal - being uphill both ways as you have to descend to a river crossing and then go back up the other side of the canyon. It was first found by Steve Bechtel and Todd Skinner many years ago, but it wasn't until 2012 and 2013 that the real motivation for developing the place began. In 2013 I spent the whole spring, summer, and fall in Lander - largely with the drive to develop routes at Wolf Point. It was an amazing time, lots of hard work from the crew and in the end we got a solid first round of hard routes put in.

Since then, BJ Tilden and prolific bolter Tom Rangitsch have mostly filled in the remaining walls. BJ has been a friend and an inspiration for many years. Because of his work - as a carpenter - and his family, he rarely gets to travel but instead puts a ton of energy into doing high level first ascents around Central Wyoming. He's the singular driving force for Wyoming being a true destination for very hard climbing in the USA. Wolf Point is maybe the most impressive of the crags he's helped develop but there are many other gems around the area too. This season at the Point was very special because of all the action - many folks teamed up and anchored into the June season in a serious way. It's for sure the most hard sending that the crag has ever seen. I was stoked to be a part of it!

Zach Galla, with four 8C+’ to his name, has completed The Singularity (8C) in Squamish. (c) Ryan Moon

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
At first glance this climb appears as a basic crimp ladder, but in classic Squamish fashion it requires a lot more subtlety and finesse than meets the eye. I spent a few sessions trying to sort the crux move last year with no luck. Coming back this time I managed to do the move twice on my first day back in town, and piece it all together my first try of my 2nd sesh. While i’m not entirely sure that I’ve gotten stronger in my time away, this climb has helped me realize that I’m still improving my climbing in other ways which feels pretty damn good.

David Bermudez Carbonell, with six 9a’s under his belt, has onsighted El excusómetro (8b) in Cueva del Arenal and Aluminosis (8a+) in Valdegobia. The 16-year-old started climbing in 2020 and already in 2021, he had done his first 8b. (c) Dario Rodriguez

Can you tell us more about these onsights?
Two weeks ago, I spent four days climbing in northern Spain with the Sputnik team. Before reaching our main destination, we stopped at Cueva del Arenal, where I managed to onsight Excusó metro. The route is very steep and features several kneebars, but I couldn't take advantage of them since I had forgotten my kneepads at home. I nearly fell on the upper section, but somehow I held it together and sent it. I think this might be my best onsight performance to date.

After that, we headed to Valdegobia, where I was able to onsight Aluminosis and managed to redpoint Kulu n'gelè (8c) in two days.

Han Seuran, who last autumn sent Puro Dreaming (8c+), has done Pura Vida (8A+) in Magic Wood. The Korean is a former competition climber who in 2011 three times made it to the final in the Lead World Cup.

Can you tell us more about the trip and Pura Vida?
I’ve been in Magic Wood for about 17 days and it’s my first time bouldering on European rock. Magic Wood was hotter than I expected. Interestingly, it was cooler by the rock side, and at first, I wanted to challenge One Summer in Paradise. I practiced a big move in the middle for over two hours, but it was hard to stick.

So, I ended up trying Pura Vida. The starting hold wasn’t good, so it was difficult to get a solid heel position. It was fun because the climb was made up of my favorite grips and moves.

However, during the last few moves, my balance collapsed, and I fell. I also slipped and fell because of the rain. Still, I really wanted to send it that day, so I focused more on the detailed moves and climbed it.💪🙂

What is next?
I have six days left on this trip, but unfortunately, there’s rain in the forecast every day. During the rest of my time here, I plan to work out the moves on a variety of difficult and interesting routes.

Nicholas Allan, who did his first 8C last summer at age 17, has done the first ascent of Whiplash (8C) in Topside. ”This is undoubtedly my proudest send to date and by far the hardest boulder I’ve ever done. So happy to have gotten the first ascent of this king line. What a crazy journey!” (c) Brendan Kuhnert

Can you give us more details about the ”crazy journey”?
I first tried this boulder in December 2023 and was blown away by how perfect it was. It had been a known project for a while and was definitely the next level for Cape Town bouldering and was (and still is) the hardest boulder I had ever tried. It’s a 12 move power endurance beast, with each move harder than the previous, that can be split into a 8A+ and a 8B+ with a low percentage dyno as the last move.

I spent the beginning of 2024 just trying to piece all the moves together but it was seeming out of my range at the time and I had to put the dream on hold to train for youth worlds and rocklands season.

The next time I went back to it at the end of 2024 I was feeling better than ever and was finally able to piece together all the moves. Season then came to an end and I was only able to get back to it at the beginning of this year were I was making promising links and started to give bottom rips. But then a fire came along and I wasn’t able to try it for a month.

On my first session back after the fire, while I was linking the crux to the top, I jumped to the lip but it broke and I landed head first on a rock, having to get stitches and take a little break from falling. After my head healed I then injured my toe and wasn’t able to put climbing shoes on for a couple of weeks. But as soon as I could fit my feet into my shoes I was back on the project and that session I managed to have a breakthrough and dropped the final move.

The next session all the pieces were finally able to align. As I pulled on for my first send burn of the day, I blinked and the next thing I knew I was standing on top of the boulder, exactly one and a half years, to the day, from when I first tried it.

Did you do any special training during the process and what about the landing?
I had to train lots of power endurance to get fit enough for the boulder, as you don’t get a good rest and I couldn’t imagine doing the last move from the ground. I didn’t build a better landing after the incident, just took more pads up for the next few sessions to be extra safe.

Sorato Anraku, 18, has now won all three Boulder World Cups he's entered. In 2025, he clinched the overall title ahead of the final round and stood on the podium at all six events.

Oriane Bertone becomes the first French woman since 2007 to win the Boulder World Cup. The 20-year-old has for several years been the best teenager in the world both outdoors and on the competition scene.