Dylan Chuat, who's already done 16 routes graded 9a to 9a+, has repeated Seb Bouin's Beyond 9a+ in Pic St Loup, giving it an upgrade to 9a+ due to a broken hold. The same day he also sent Moksha (9a), which he says might be 8c+.

Can you tell us more about Beyond?
This is one of the 5 most beautiful routes I’ve ever climbed in my life, that’s for sure! I’d never have thought that such a small hold on such a big overhang could work and not even be that extreme! A very smooth approach [intro section] to climb, a first major boulder that finishes by jumping onto a tufa, then a transition to a second huge boulder and all this while finishing on the most beautiful colonette in the south of France, apparently! I think that’s the perfect definition of a king line, right? I’m glad to be back in shape after my operations and to be able to climb routes like this again! Now that the vacations are over, I hope to be able to get back on some really hard routes soon!

You mentioned an operation?
It was appendicitis that went wrong, and I had to be operated on twice because I was having septicemia, so they opened up my stomach twice. The first one in the beginning of December.

Serra da Leba is a sandstone quartz mountain range located in the southern part of Angola, around 50 km west of Lubango. The cliff height ranges from 200 to 600m above a river cascading down the canyon in a series of waterfalls. Nathan Cahill, who lives in Luanda and was inspired by an article from 2016 on Vertical-Life [8a], and has carried out the first two exploratory trips and together with some friends they have thus far put up 18 routes.

"We are going for another hundred or so during the climbing festival here in August. If properly developed, I could see it becoming a premier climbing destination in southern Africa, right up there with Rocklands and Waterval Boven. There's easy potential for a thousand routes. The cliff band here is about 5 km of unbroken walls. Most of the rock is around 6 pitches tall. The character of the rock is all face climbing, there are a few walls that overhang 15-20 degrees with potential for some quite hard routes.

Further preparations were made for the first-ever Angola Climbing Festival happening there on August 16-25th. We opened over three kilometres of new trails and four new cliff sectors: Yuba City, Jungle Run, The Cave and Corner Pocket. A mix of sport, trad and multi-pitch lines ranges from 4c to 7c, with a lifetime of potential for more routes. Festival registration is open at climbangola.com"

Leigh Dearle who was part of the first exploring team says: “Serra da Leba has some of the most beautiful climbing we've seen in all our years of travel in an absolutely epic location. To be a part of the recent route development team was an incredible experience. Without a doubt an up-and-coming international climbing destination. Sport, trad and big wall, this place has it all.”

Loic Zehani, who has already completed 14 FA's 9a+ to 9b, has done the FA of Les nymphes (9a) in Sainte-Baume. "Nice crimpy route. A hard approach on varied grips, then a "campus board" section with crimps. After that, the second part is easier but still demanding. Fortunately, there is a rest before. Unexpected ascent because my main project was not in good condition today but this route was! So happy after a big fight."

Can you tell us more about your project?
Phoenix is ​​a project a few meters to the left of Les Nymphes. This is a route that I have been trying for a few sessions, I have already fallen 5 times at the end of the crux so I think I can succeed quickly.

Jabee Kim, older brother to one of the world’s most successful female competition climbers, Jain Kim, has climbed La Révolutionnaire (8C+) in Fontainebleau after projecting it for nine sessions during a month batteling bad conditions.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
After my ascent of Monkey Wedding (8C) in Rocklands last year, I was looking for a new hard project. In Korea, we have some good strong climbers like Jongwon Chon and Dohyun Lee but they always focus on the Olympics. Other Korean competition climbers also only focus on competition, so Korean climbers have never climbed an 8C+ boulder route and this became my goal.

Somehow, I saw a video where Ryohei Kameyama sent La Révolutionnaire and there were some crimps on the roof. At that moment, I thought 'OK, this is it.'

I spent three sessions of the first week on each move but it was hard. Not only for the climbing but also for the weather as it was raining a lot. The second week it wasn't raining but I had to wait for the holds to dry up. On the third week, I tried to link the moves, but it was so hard. I spent three more sessions linking the moves but it never happened. I changed beta before the last crux and it fitted me better. After two more sessions, the weather was perfect, my body condition was perfect, and everything was so good. I tried the blind dyno for warm-up and it worked easily. In the first three attempts I fell on the middle part, and in my 4th attempt, every move was so smooth, somehow I was on top of the boulder. In total, I spent nine sessions and one whole month on this hard project. I never regret that. It was the most valuable time for personal growth.

Alfons Dornauer reports on Instagram that he has done the third ascent of Companion of Change (9a+) in Bergstation. Jakob Schubert did the FA in 2015 and then Alex Megos made the first repeat in 2017. Dornauer started trying the route more than a decade ago but abandoned it as it felt too hard. This year he completed it after a couple of further days' effort. (c) Michael Piccolruaz

Can you tell us more about the route and your ascent?
The route is only slightly overhanging and consists of an 8a+ route followed by a very specific 8A++ boulder on crimps. Back in the days, it was one of the ultimate projects at the Petzl Rock Trip, in 2009, in Zillertal. It's not a boulder to just fight through with strong fingers but especially footwork and the right amount of body tension needs to be in place! Compared to the past, this time the boulder immediately worked out pretty well which gave me the confidence to send the route! It's just an incredible piece of rock with just enough holds to make it work!

Elias Arriagada Krüger, who was #37 in the Boulder WC two weeks ago, sent From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico one month ago. (c) Benjamin Weber

” Few weeks ago I drove to Ticino for a super short trip, to get a little rest from training and to refresh my mind before the comp season starts. I was going to Brione, but something in my head told me, I should go for another session on “From Dirt”. I’ve tried this boulder a few sessions before, but never really focused on it much, as I never felt really close on climbing it. This time, I had the right energy, the weather was perfect and it just felt right. After falling 4 times on the mantle, on my last go I made it happen. I felt like it was meant to be. And, regarding the bloc itself and don’t think I have to add much. Simply an incredible line, in particular the crystals!!!”

What has been your focus the last months?
Well, the last couple of months I mainly focused on comp climbing, but obviously, I also trained a lot on boards to improve my power. I did a lot of that with other strong climbers like Yannick and some of the Austrians. But of course, I couldn’t completely skip the Ticino season and [and so I] did short trips to Ticino.

What is next?
I’ll put some work into training again and spend some time at home, because I haven’t been home and I a while, haha. But yeah, next objectives is some rock climbing soonish and probably the Innsbruck WC.

Martin Stráník, with 18 8C’s under his belt, has flashed Bitter Sweet (8B) being out in Salachtal on a solo mission.

The 34-year-old Czech climber has been an active IFSC competitive climber for 20 years. As a junior competitor he won several Euro Cups and in 2007, he took home the silver medal in the Boulder World Championship. In 2021, he had his best year in Lead making the WC podium twice. Last year he finished up by placing #9 in Wujiang; earlier this month he was #17 in the same venue.

He plans to do the Olympic Qualifiers, European Champs and most of the lead World Cups.

Can you tell us more about flashing your second 8B?
My goal was to try Zunami (8C), but nothing changed and I was still not able to do first move. So I moved to Bitter Sweet, without expectations. When I saw the holds, I was convinced that it is flashable and studied the video on Janeclimbs YouTube and I did it.

Martina Demmel has onsighted Stiquel man (8a+/b) in Saint Léger. ”Maybe being very limited with my right knee due to a recent injury helps me commit faster... stoked that I fully took the risk to fail. (c) Felix Bub

The 22-year-old competition climber onsighted her first 8b, out of ten, four years ago when she had only been climbing for three years. In the 8a ranking game she is #7 in the onsight ranking, all men included.

Can you tell us more about your injury and how it made you climb faster?
In qualis in Wujiang, we had a pretty aggressive heel-toe-jam where my calf dislocated for a short moment and injured the capsule. It's not as bad as it sounds because it completely heals by itself in about 6 weeks but now for the first few weeks, I'm very limited with the use of my right leg (no heel-hooks, dropknees, twisting, high steps, pushing, pulling with the toes - so standing on it frontally is ok).

I guess while trying a hard onsight especially in steep bouldery terrain, there isn't plenty of time to choose the ideal footholds. Not having several options for the use of my right leg helped me decide quicker, hesitate less and just commit to the obvious beta right away by taking more risks. I hope to apply this more even after my knee is healed again. I definitely feel my upper body getting much more tired than usual...