Stefano Ghisolfi, who this spring has done five boulders 8C and beyond, has completed The Raststaman Vibration (9a) in Céüse.

Can we have your story behind the ascent?
I tried the route for two days back in 2022 when it was still a project, then I haven't been back to Céüse until this year. With a good bouldering training the two cruxes felt OK, and I started doing some attempts on the fifth day of this year, and sent it yesterday on my 8th session in total.

What is next and when are you going to Flatanger?
Flatanger in August and September. Now a bit of training and bouldering again!

Caroline Minvielle, with eight 8b+’ under her harness, skips 8c and does Cosi Fan Tutte (8c+) in Rodellar. Over the years, the 36-year-old has given onsight climbing a lot of focus and in total, she has onsighted some 50 routes 7c+ and beyond.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
I tried the route for 3 years and this season it went down in just 2 tries 🤯 I trained specifically for 2 months this year in order to achieve it and it seems the training payed off ! I am super happy and surprised of all the emotions I could experienced during the send. What a moment !

What about that successful training?
I worked with Andrea Cartas and we focused on finger strength, arm strength and core as well as climbing hard boulder with tiredness. Globally I was physically stronger than before and that helped me to handle the first boulder of the route. I kept my climbing continuity by climbing on routes, no specific training. Same for kneebar technique.

Pepa Šindel has completed Clash of the Titans (9b) in Götterwandl. ”FA’dby Alex Megos in 2017 as a 9a+. Upgraded by Jakob Schubert in 2023 to 9b. Same start as Jaturna but in the rest turns left. Could 8b/8b+ into a bad rest into a 8B/8B+ boulder. But I am not a boulderer. So I could be wrong. My First 9b!!!! 5 trips, 2 seasons… I fell on the last move which was for me the hardest by far around 50 times.” (c) Marco Zanone

Can you tell us more about the ascent and your mental struggle falling 50 times on the last move?
It was very frustrating but for me… It was all just about that one move. For me the last hard move from the undercling was by far the hardest from the crux unlike for Jakob for example. I could do with 0 effort separately. But from the ground it was completely different story. But I knew once I pass it I am not going to fall on the last jump. Luckily I didn’t 😆

The first time I tried the route was last summer, when it was a candidate to become my first 9b. I couldn’t do most of the moves in the crux, but I knew I would come back. And I did — three more times that year. With every trip, I got closer to sending, but the last hard move from an undercling stopped me every single time.

Going into my final trip in November 2025, I already felt that something was wrong with my finger, but I ignored it and convinced myself that I just needed to train harder. That ended with multiple fatigue fractures that became displaced around the finger. It meant a two-and-a-half-month break from climbing.

This year, I really didn’t know what to expect. Could I recover before it got too hot? Could I get back into good enough shape for the route? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until autumn?

When the trip finally came, I felt in decent shape and already had two good attempts on my first day. Then, on my second day of climbing, I did it — on my second try of the day.

Laura Rogora has had an amazing weekend up in the Dolomites at 1700 m altitude in Passo Fedaia, creating a ticklist worthy of several months for any elite climber.

Redpoint: Affinità elettive (9a+), Absinthium (9a) 2nd Go, and Attraverso lo specchio (8c) 2nd Go
Flash: Wrangler (8b/+)
Onsight: Tinnitus (8c)

The 25-year-old Italian extends her number one position in the annual ranking game, ahead of all males. When it comes to onsight, only Adam Ondra has a more impressive annual all time onsight ticklist. During the last year, Laura has onsighted ten routes 8b+ to 8c+.

Can you tell us more about the most memorable ascents during the weekend?
I first discovered this crag through Andrea’s [Milani] film, which was presented at the Trento Film Festival. I was immediately fascinated by both the place and the route, so last weekend, with the heat in the valley, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go and visit it.

All the routes I climbed were beautiful, but the two ascents that gave me the greatest satisfaction were Absinthium 2nd go and the 8c onsight. Absinthium because it is very long and, with so few chalk marks, I couldn’t really remember the moves om my second go sot It turned into a long mental battle.

The 8c onsight was also very special because the rock is not easy to read, so finding the right sequence and making the right decisions on the go was a challenge. 😄

The first ascentionist of all routes Laura did, Andrea Milani, pictured on the 9a+, describes the routes and her ascents. (c) outThere Collective

”Watching her climb there was truly something else. Knowing the routes and remembering how much effort it took me to climb them myself (just a poor ordinary climber, haha), seeing her ascent was quite extraordinary.

The routes Laura climbed were all first ascended by me, and she made the first repeats of them. They are all extensions of, or link-ups between, existing routes that were originally bolted and climbed by Mario Prinoth, who, together with his brother Luca, discovered the crag and established the first routes there.

The most iconic route is The Search (8c+). It was first climbed by Mario in 2009 and was then repeated only by the strong climber Luca Zardini. For many years afterwards, the wall was largely forgotten until I repeated The Search and began bringing the crag back to life together with a group of friends.

Absinthium is the extension of the search and Affinità elettive is the link between Wrangler and Absinthium. All routes are around 50 meters beside Wrangler which is 15 meters.”

Katherine Choong, one of the best female multi-pitch climbers in the world, has done the first female ascent of Ravage (8b+/c) in Basler Jura. It was put up by Marc Le Menestrel in 1986 as the first 8c in the world.

”Ravage is a route I had been wanting to climb for years. First, for the legend: it was the first 8c in climbing history, and at the time, considered the hardest route in the world. Even though it was later downgraded to 8b+/c, which I think is fair, even though it still demanded a lot from me, it remains iconic. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the first ascent, achieved in 1986 by Antoine Le Menestrel, who “won the race” to the first ascent at the time against the route’s bolter, Wenzel Vodicka, who went on to make the second ascent.

It was also important to me personally to climb it because the third ascent, three years later, was done by Philippe Steulet, a pioneer of professional climbing from my region, whom I personnaly knew before his passing at the Eiger. And, well, the route is just 30 minutes from my home, at Chuensiberg in northern Switzerland, so I really had no excuse not to try it.

Ravage is a very short route, about ten meters, brutal, with extremely polished footholds. The first time I tried it, I honestly didn’t like it at all, mostly because I could barely execute any moves: everything felt too reachy, and thus impossible for me. But after spending quite some time figuring out the solutions, adapting the techniques to my height, and falling again and again on the same dynamic move (well, “dynamic” if you’re under 1.60m tall with short reach ;-) ), I finally clipped the anchors on May 2. Without kneepad of course ;-)

And I think that the moment I reached the anchors, I truly understood the meaning behind the name Ravage that Antoine had given his route: "After climbing, there are no more thoughts left. No overthinking. At the top, I felt destroyed and happy. No thoughts remained. I felt free."

As a little anecdote, I went back later to film some footage and ended up climbing the route again. It just goes to show that once a move is fully integrated into both body and mind, everything feels easier.”

Cameron Hörst, with 14 routes 9a and beyond under his harness, has done the first ascent of Big Bone (9a+) in Utah Hills, which was equipped by Joe Kinder. ”Joe and I always thought this climb would be 9b. Over the years, however, we optimized every possible move and sequence down to its easiest form. So maybe just high end 9a+ is where it should lie.” (c) Daniel Teitelbaum

”This climb was the north star of my life over the last few years. My hardest and longest project. That being said, what I take away from the multiple seasons spent in the cave was the the close-nit experience Joe and I had together, while rolling the dice on this thing. Which only we can fully wrestle with meaning of. Hard to believe this chapter is done, but looking for the next north star. Also...def higher-end 9a+. hehe.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
It was my longest and hardest project. Joe and I first began working on it in the fall of 2022, shortly after I moved to Salt Lake City. At the time, the route felt completely beyond us.

Over the following years, we made sporadic trips during the spring and fall seasons, gradually inching closer to the send. Some years we spent long stretches of time in the cave; other years, short seasons and poor conditions limited our efforts.

This spring was different. Joe kicked off the season by establishing a new route in the cave, Bone Saw, while I arrived believing I was finally in the shape required to send Big Bone (and I did a few weeks later). What made this project so significant was not just the novelty of the climb itself, but the role the Fynn cave played in the development of my friendship with Joe. It became a kind of time capsule—an isolated space where the events, challenges, and milestones of our lives were shared and processed over countless days spent pursuing a common goal. Looking back, I suspect the send itself will fade in intrinsic significance. What will last is the friendship that was forged over those years and ultimately transcends climbing altogether.

How many sessions are we talking?
I honestly lost count of session. I have so many days in the cave over the last 4 years, likely close to 100 now. Probably north of 50 sessions on big bone.

Elias Iagnemma sent Exodia last November after 211 sessions during 4.5 years, suggesting it to be the first 9A+ in the world. It took him 160 sessions before he could do all moves. "First part is 8B+, 45 seconds bat rest and 8C+.”

Sorato Anraku, who has won the Boulder World Cup for the last three years, claimed his third straight 2026 gold medal in Madrid. In total, the 19-year-old now has 15 Boulder World Cup wins under his belt. ”I don’t feel the pressure, I just love Climbing.”

Erin McNeice, who last year won the Lead World Cup, got her second Boulder WC gold by winning in Madrid. “This season has been so difficult, to come back and win a gold medal, I can’t even describe how it feels.

Olivia Ogier, who last year sent her first 8c+, has done the first ascent of Yellow Sun (9a) in The Fortress of Solitude. ”My favorite. My hardest. Still finding the words. I owe a big thank you to Nicholas Millburn for bolting this extension to Tommy’s iconic Kryptonite. The feeling of clipping the chains after doing all 50 meters is not something I’ll forget. One of the absolute best.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and what went into completing it?
The route is an extension to Kryptonite, which Tommy Caldwell established in 1999 as America’s first 5.14d and the first route at the Fortress. That climb has such a huge history in American sport climbing, so being able to contribute something to that wall felt really meaningful to me from the beginning. The extension was bolted by Nikolas Milburn , finishing all the way at the top of the steep. It turns an already massive pitch into a full 50-meter route, and what makes it special to me is that it really adds to Kryptonite. After climbing all of Kryptonite, there’s still a real fight left- a hard boulder problem involving a terrible sloper and a stacked mono, and another long section of easier but committing climbing when you’re already completely exhausted.

I first tried the route in November, and honestly I remember being intimidated. The wall is incredibly huge and conditions dependent, so most of the process became this constant cycle of preparing, waiting, and hoping the pieces would line up. I spent the entire winter coming back to it. I work a full time job, so I could only go on Saturdays and Sundays. My life was work, train, drive to The Fortress, repeat- but I wouldn’t change it. A big part of the challenge was learning how to stay mentally steady through the process. This route forced me to become more patient and I had to have a bit of delusional self belief to keep showing up. On the first warm day of the season, everything finally came together. The name “Yellow Sun” comes from Superman lore. Since the first pitch is Kryptonite, I wanted the extension name to connect back to that. Superman’s powers come from Earth’s yellow sun, so it felt fitting for a route that continues past Kryptonite and finishes higher on the wall.

On the grade, I believe Kryptonite now sits at the very top end of 8c+ with modern beta and a few broken holds over the years, but not quite 9a anymore. Yellow Sun adds enough difficulty and endurance after Kryptonite that 9a feels appropriate to me. What means the most to me is probably the process behind it. Spending an entire season focused on one line taught me a lot about commitment and trust in the process, and I feel incredibly honored that the route now stands as the second 9a established by an American woman.