Historic Firsts, Hard Grades & the Stories That Stay With Us
Some Ascents Change the Conversation
October is delivering some remarkable climbing. Adam Ondra repeats Exodia and offers a different perspective on its proposed 9A+ grade, Lara Neumeier makes history on one of Britain's most famous trad routes, and Mei Kotake joins a very small group of women who have climbed 8C.
Meanwhile, the 2026 Boulder season comes to an end in Salt Lake City, with an unexpected winner and a tight battle for the overall titles. Away from competition, new lines are being established, old achievements are being remembered, and climbing continues to connect people and places in ways that go far beyond grades.
Two Decades of History, Four Days of Climbing & a New Generation
Adam Ondra completes the second ascent of Elias Iagnemma's Exodia in four days, suggesting 9A rather than the proposed 9A+ after comparing it with Alphane, Mount Doom and Soudain Seul. In Scotland, Lara Neumeier becomes the first woman to climb Rhapsody E11, twenty years after Dave MacLeod established the route, while Mei Kotake becomes only the tenth woman to boulder 8C with her ascent at the Gotthard Pass.
Salt Lake City delivers another surprise as Yonatan Katz wins Boulder gold on just his second senior start, and Janja Garnbret announces that her ascent of Bibliographie will become a REEL ROCK short film, premiering in US cinemas.
Adam Ondra Makes the Second Ascent of Exodia and Suggests 9A
Ondra needed four days on Elias Iagnemma's boulder in Val Pellice, using the same sequence as the first ascent. Iagnemma had proposed the world's first 9A+ after more than 200 sessions. Ondra suggests 9A but says the line suited him perfectly.
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Lara Neumeier Makes the First Female Ascent of Rhapsody (E11)
Twenty years after Dave MacLeod first climbed it at Dumbarton Rock in Scotland, the German climber is the first woman to send Rhapsody, the world's first E11 and still one of the most demanding trad routes anywhere.
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Mei Kotake Becomes the Tenth Woman to Climb 8C
The Japanese climber sent P.I.G. at the Gotthard Pass, a recent Stefano Ghisolfi problem, and added Quiet Storm and Hazel Grace, both 8B+, on her second afternoon in the area. She is the second Japanese woman at the grade.
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Yonatan Katz Wins Boulder Gold in Salt Lake City
In only his second senior start, the Israeli climber won the men's Boulder final on the last boulder, ahead of Max Milne and Rei Kawamata. Sorato Anraku secured the overall Boulder Series title.
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Janja Garnbret's Bibliographie Ascent Comes to the Big Screen
A short film about her ascent of Bibliographie premieres in US theaters as part of Reel Rock before going online later. Garnbret will be at screenings in Boulder, San Francisco and New York.
View post →From the notebook
The Levels Didn't Hold Inside One Gym Either
Last week I wrote about a friend who thinks gym grades don't travel from one gym to the next. On Thursday I was back at urban apes for the first time since the marathon, and it turns out they don't always hold inside one gym either.
The gym is running Get High, a four-week bouldering competition. I'm in league 2, where every problem is announced as level 4 or harder. Several of them felt clearly easier than a normal level 4 on the same walls, which really surprised me. The league 1 problems I tried were announced as level 6 or harder, and to me they were more like a level 5, if that. I was still tired from the race and climbed at reduced effort, so if anything they should have felt harder.
At the end of the evening I went back to the black level 6, the one that pulled my calf three weeks before the race. Four or five goes, and on the best one I got through the crux and fell off after it. There was no strength left.
I still read a gym grade as the gym's promise, and now I know the setters don't always keep it either. A level is a range, and sometimes even the people who set it land outside. The whole evening is in my logbook.
Autumn Conditions, New Lines & Grades Under Discussion
Yannick Flohé takes just three attempts to repeat Giuliano Cameroni's Solar Plexus in Bavona, suggesting 8B+ for a problem originally graded harder, while Jimmy Webb opens his season with the first ascent of Pig Skin Sit V13. Will Bosi establishes Beef Jerky 8B, and Whaley and Gerhardt add 8C+ ascents in RMNP and Little Cottonwood Canyon as cooler conditions return to the American bouldering areas.
On routes, Luca Bana climbs two 9as, Giuseppe Nolasco sends Trainspotting 9a/+, and Tom Pearce discusses the unusual experience of climbing two E9s in a single day.
Yannick Flohé Repeats Solar Plexus in Bavona and Suggests 8B+
The fourth ascent of Giuliano Cameroni's one move campus boulder on polished river granite went in three tries, finishing with a 7c topout above shallow water. Compared with Defying Gravity, Flohé thinks it is a grade easier.
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Will Bosi Establishes Beef Jerky (8B)
Bosi added a new 8B, or V13, and climbed it in two different adidas Five Ten models, the Hiangle and the Crawe.
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Jimmy Webb Opens His Season With Pig Skin Sit (V13)
In a zone he has been developing for several seasons, Webb added a low start to a line he climbed three years ago. The first move is by far the hardest, followed by a long V11 that is easy to fall off.
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Whaley and Gerhardt Climb 8C+ in Colorado and Utah
After a dry summer, two hard boulders went down in the US, 8C+ ascents in Rocky Mountain National Park and in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
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Two 9a First Ascents for Luca Bana and an 8c Flash for Tommaso Lamboglia
Luca Bana established two 9a routes, Tommaso Lamboglia climbed a 9a and flashed an 8c, Alex Ventajas sent Prima Classe and Giuseppe Nolasco climbed Trainspotting (9a/+).
Read article →Tom Pearce on Climbing Two E9s in a Day
In an interview with UKClimbing, Pearce talks about climbing two E9 trad routes in a single day.
Read article →Salt Lake City Closes the Season With a Few Surprises
Oriane Bertone wins the final women's Boulder event of the 2026 World Climbing Series in Salt Lake City, but Erin McNeice's silver medal is enough to secure the overall title. Mejdi Schalck finishes another season on the overall podium despite a frustrating final event, while Toby Roberts takes ninth place and looks ahead to winter training after finding his way back into competitive form.
For Nicolai Uznik, the weekend shows just how quickly things can change in competition: first place in qualification, followed by 16th in a closely contested semifinal. Sorato Anraku finishes the year as the men's overall Boulder Series champion.
Oriane Bertone Wins in Salt Lake City, Erin McNeice Takes the Series
Bertone won the last women's Boulder event of the 2026 World Climbing Series, ahead of Erin McNeice and Mao Nakamura. Silver was enough for McNeice to win the overall Boulder Series title.
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Mejdi Schalck Back on the Overall Podium
Salt Lake City was a frustrating end to his season, he writes, but he finishes third in the overall Boulder Series ranking for his second overall podium and is already looking ahead to new projects.
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Toby Roberts Finishes Ninth on His Return to Competition
One place short of the final, but three months ago he would not have believed he could be back at this level. Roberts says he feels like himself again and is more motivated than ever.
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Nicolai Uznik Tops Qualification, Finishes 16th
The Austrian won the men's Boulder qualification in Salt Lake City but finished 16th in a very close semifinal. Jan-Luca Posch placed 21st, which closes the boulder season for the Austrian team.
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Start with our guides
Plain English explainers on gear, grades and skills, so every edition makes sense from the first read.
All guides →Finding the Right Fit and Making Climbing More Accessible
UKClimbing takes a closer look at the Scarpa Crux 2, examining what has changed from the original approach shoe, while the FRICTION event in Crolles gives climbers the opportunity to compare shoes from more than twenty brands over two days.
The Balin Scott Miller Foundation also opens applications for its first grants, offering financial support for climbing equipment and footwear to young climbers. Applications remain open until December 1, with recipients announced on January 12, 2027, what would have been Balin's birthday.
Review: The Scarpa Crux 2 Approach Shoe
UKClimbing tested the second version of Scarpa's Crux approach shoe and found that it keeps what worked in the original and adds to it.
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FRICTION: Trying Climbing Shoes From More Than 20 Brands
For two days the Au Perchoir gym in Crolles hosted the second edition of Au Vieux Campeur's shoe test, where climbers of every level could try more than 20 brands with personal advice and join workshops.
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Balin Scott Miller Foundation Opens Gear and Shoe Grants
In its first year the foundation offers two grants, the Orange Tent Guy Grant for essential gear for climbers under 24 and the To Be Fair Shoe Grant for climbing and approach shoes. Applications are open until December 1.
View post →Mountains Carry More Than Climbing History
Nasim Eshqi and Sina Heidari establish Femicide Must End on Punta Achile in Corsica, the fourth route in Eshqi's When Mountains Speak project, which uses climbing to draw attention to women's rights. Meanwhile, Matt Segal and Emily Harrington attempt the second continuous free ascent of La Sombra del Chamán in Mexico, a 400-metre, nine-pitch route that demands far more than a single hard sequence.
Forty years after Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander reached the summit of Lhotse, completing Messner's journey across all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks, the achievement remains a defining moment in Himalayan climbing. Elsewhere, Renan Ozturk helps bring the story of Tenzing Norgay to the screen, while Alex Honnold talks with astronaut Christina Koch about how her experiences in climbing influenced her journey into space.
Nasim Eshqi Opens Femicide Must End in Corsica
With Sina Heidari, the Iranian climber established the route on Punta Achile in the Bavella massif in September. It is the fourth in her When Mountains Speak project, which uses climbing to draw attention to women's rights.
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Matt Segal and Emily Harrington on La Sombra del Chamán
On the limestone of El Salto, the pair attempted the second continuous free ascent of Mexico's hardest route, 400 meters and nine pitches of 5.14, after a month long journey to get there.
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Forty Years Since Messner Completed the Fourteen 8000ers
On 16 October 1986 Reinhold Messner reached the summit of Lhotse with Hans Kammerlander and became the first person to climb all fourteen of the world's highest mountains. Afterwards he said he felt neither a winner nor a hero.
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How Climbing Led Christina Koch Around the Moon
The astronaut became the first woman to travel around the moon on NASA's Artemis II mission. In the Climbing Gold podcast with Alex Honnold, she talks about how lessons from climbing carried into her path to space.
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TENZING Brings the First Ascent of Everest to the Screen
The film tells the story of Tenzing Norgay and the 1953 first ascent of Chomolungma (Everest). Renan Ozturk directed the climbing unit, and it is now streaming on Apple TV.
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