The Big Island, 100 Times 9a & the Last Golds of 2026
This edition covers two weeks, since I took last week off.
The headline belongs to Oriane Bertone. Two weeks after winning in Salt Lake City, she went back to Fontainebleau and made the first female ascent of The Big Island in five sessions, on a boulder she says was never seen as a women's line because of its morpho moves.
Jonathan Siegrist reached 100 routes of 9a or harder and closed the count with a 9b first ascent in Las Vegas. Pietro Vidi made the first repeat of Drifter's Escape in Squamish, and the World Climbing Series ended in Santiago.
Further down: a piece about the people who set the easiest boulders in your gym, and a gift idea for climbers who are picky about gear.
Five Sessions, Fifteen Sessions, Sixteen Years
Oriane Bertone needed five sessions on The Big Island (8C). Pietro Vidi needed fifteen on Drifter's Escape (9a+), the first repeat of what may be the hardest route in the world protected only by gear. Jonathan Siegrist needed sixteen years for his hundredth 9a and finished with Video Killed the Radio Star, a 9b first ascent at the 5G Wall.
In Santiago, Janja Garnbret was the only woman to top a route in any round, and Jonas Utelli turned fourth place after the semis into the first gold of his career.
And two Canadian head setters explain why the easiest problem in your gym is often the most deliberate one.
Oriane Bertone Makes the First Female Ascent of The Big Island (8C)
Two weeks after winning in Salt Lake City, Bertone topped the Fontainebleau classic in five sessions. She says the morpho boulder was never seen as a women's line, much like Gecko before it.
View post →
Jonathan Siegrist Climbs His 100th Route of 9a or Harder
Sixteen years after the first one, Siegrist reached 100 with a first ascent of his own: Video Killed the Radio Star (9b) at the 5G Wall in Las Vegas. Climbing talked to him about the route and why he logs every hard ascent.
View post →
Pietro Vidi Makes the First Repeat of Drifter's Escape (9a+)
Vidi needed 15 sessions on Connor Herson's trad line on the Stawamus Chief in Squamish and sent it on October 13. If 9a+ holds, it is the hardest route in the world protected only by gear.
Read article →
Garnbret and Utelli Win the Last Lead Final of 2026 in Santiago
Janja Garnbret was the only woman to top a route in any round, her 34th Lead gold from 54 starts. Jonas Utelli turned fourth place after the semis into his first career gold. The Lead Series titles went to Suzuki Neo and Annie Sanders.
Read article →
How Gym Setters Turn Beginners Into Climbers
Two Canadian head setters, Karlo King and Max Summerlee, explain how the easiest problems in a gym are built to teach one move at a time, and why easy should still mean interesting.
Read article →From the notebook
Asked on Reddit: A Climbing Gift That Fits
Someone in the r/climbing question thread asked recently what to give a climber for Christmas. Most replies said the same thing: don't buy gear, climbers are picky about it. That's fair, shoes and harnesses are personal.
My answer was a resole voucher. It gets around the problem, because the shoes are already his. He chose them, he broke them in, and new rubber gives them a second life for much less than a new pair.
I have my own shoes resoled regularly, and it's the one climbing purchase I've never had to think twice about.
Looking for more ideas? I put eight of them in one place: Gifts for Climbers
Kneebars, Last Moves and No Rope
Claudia Ghisolfi went to Gorges du Loup to get better at kneebars and came away with Alone (9a) and Abyss (8c+).
Drew Ruana fell off the last move of Gateway (8B+) several times before the first ascent, and Shawn Raboutou opened Chau Putos (V14/15) in El Chaltén. Michael Reese took about six minutes off Dean Potter's 2015 record from the Mist Trailhead to the top of Half Dome.
And Aleksandra Taistra, 44, free soloed Margarites (7a+) on Sardinia, by her own account the hardest solo of her life.
Claudia Ghisolfi Sends Alone (9a) and Abyss (8c+)
Ghisolfi went to Gorges du Loup to work on her kneebars and came away with Pierre Le Cerf's Alone (9a) and Abyss (8c+). She had already climbed Trip Tik Tonik (9a) there at the end of 2025.
Read article →
Shawn Raboutou Opens Chau Putos (V14/15) in El Chaltén
Raboutou made the first ascent of a project local climbers showed him in El Chaltén. He had spent a month there last January, climbing and getting to know life in Patagonia.
View post →
Drew Ruana Makes the First Ascent of Gateway (8B+)
A compression line between flat edges, with plenty of toe and heel hooks and a hard 8A+ intro. Ruana kept falling off the last move, in summer and again in the fall, before he finally topped it out.
View post →
Aleksandra Taistra Free Solos Margarites (7a+) on Sardinia
On October 29, the 44-year-old Polish climber soloed Margarites on Monte Oddeu, one of the hardest known free solos by a woman. She calls it the hardest solo of her life so far.
View post →
Michael Reese Breaks Dean Potter's Half Dome Speed Record
Reese ran and climbed from the Mist Trailhead to the summit of Half Dome in 1:12:58, including a free solo of Snake Dike. That is about six minutes faster than Potter in 2015.
View post →How a Season Ends
Zhao Yicheng opened the Speed season with gold in Wujiang and closed it with gold in Santiago: 4.74 seconds in the final and his first Series title.
Sorato Anraku finished sixth in the last Lead final and wrote what athletes rarely write: no win, no podium this year, and no promise to come back stronger.
The Para Series stopped in Gunsan, where Korbinian Franck and Daniel Wiener reached the podium. World Climbing Europe has already published 2027, with the Lead youth championships in Augsburg and Speed in Leipzig.
Zhao Yicheng and Deng Lijuan Win Speed Gold in Santiago
Zhao won the final in 4.74 seconds and took his first Speed Series title after opening the season with gold in Wujiang. Deng beat Emma Hunt in the women's final, but Hunt had already secured her second Series title in a row.
Read article →
Sorato Anraku Closes 2026 Without a Win or a Podium
Sixth in the Santiago Lead final, fifth overall and five finals in six events. Anraku writes that he cannot promise to come back stronger, and that what happens in 2027 will be decided this off season.
View post →
Close Finals at the Para Series in Gunsan
The fourth Para Series event of the season brought tight results across 17 sport classes. Germany's Korbinian Franck took bronze in men's RP1, Austria's Daniel Wiener silver in RP2, and Melissa Ruiz won her fourth RP1 gold of the year.
Read article →
World Climbing Europe Publishes Its 2027 Calendar
26 events from Lleida in April to Toulouse in October. The European Youth Championships in Lead go to Augsburg, which signed on until 2028, and Speed to Leipzig. The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden host for the first time.
Read article →New to climbing?
Start with the guides
Plain English explainers on gear, grades and skills, so every edition makes sense from the first read.
All guides →For the Dark Months
The evenings are getting short, so UKC tested three Black Diamond headtorches: the Cosmo, the Spot and the Storm+.
If your MoonBoard app stopped loading, the old version is no longer supported. A fresh install fixes it, and your logged climbs stay where they are.
Lattice has a trick for the one-leg squat that hard slabs keep asking for.
UKC Tests Black Diamond's Cosmo, Spot and Storm+ Headtorches
UKClimbing reviews three of Black Diamond's headtorches, the Cosmo, the Spot and the Storm+, just in time for the short days and the walk-outs in the dark.
Read article →
MoonBoard App Not Loading? Moon Explains the Fix
Older versions of the MoonBoard app are no longer supported. Delete it, install the latest version and log back in. Your account and logged climbs are stored on Moon's servers, so nothing is lost.
View post →
Lattice on the One-Leg Squat That Hard Slabs Demand
Lattice Training shares a trick for standing up on one leg on slabs, with three more in its new video about harder slab climbing.
View post →Concrete, Limestone and an Old Sea Arch
Adam Ondra spent a session in Innsbruck with Pete Whittaker, who half jokingly convinced him that concrete cracks are the future of crack climbing.
Alexander Megos writes that new lines in the Frankenjura are rarely good and almost never exceptional, then shows one he calls great, bolted by Philipp Warda.
Chris Sharma went back to Es Pontas twenty years after the first ascent. And Jimmy Chin's Everest: The Other Side, about Jim Morrison's ski descent of the north side, is now in theaters.
Adam Ondra and Pete Whittaker on the Concrete Cracks of Innsbruck
Ondra spent a session on urban cracks in Innsbruck with Pete Whittaker of the Wide Boyz, who has him half convinced that concrete is the future of crack climbing. The full session is on Ondra's YouTube channel.
View post →
Alexander Megos on a New Line in the Frankenjura
New lines in the Frankenjura are rarely really good and almost never exceptional, Megos writes. This one, bolted by Philipp Warda, is an exception, and he wants to get back on it before it gets too cold.
View post →
Chris Sharma Returns to Es Pontas 20 Years After the First Ascent
Sharma spent a day back at the sea arch off Mallorca where he made the first ascent two decades ago, exploring new lines with friends. His verdict: still as good as it gets.
View post →
Everest: The Other Side Is Now in Theaters
Jimmy Chin's film follows Jim Morrison's first ski descent of Everest's north side. In a live episode of Climbing Gold, Morrison and Alex Honnold compared notes on risk, their films and grief.
View post →Don't miss the next edition
You just read one weekly issue. Join free and get every edition, the ascents, comps and stories worth your time, straight to your inbox.
Free. Weekly. Unsubscribe anytime.