South African winter is in full swing, which means that many of the world’s strongest boulderers are in Rocklands, sampling some of the finest hard problems on the planet. Amongst the wave of seasonal traffic is Michaela Kiersch, who has quickly dispatched just about every double digit she’s tried. According to her Instagram, Kiersch is trying to complete a V10 (or higher) every climbing day, but she seems to have done better than that: so far she’s publicly reported 20 problems between V10 and V14.
Kiersch doesn’t personally consider herself a born boulderer, but she’s the only woman in the world who has climbed both 5.15 (La Rambla, Victima Perfecta) and V14 (Hailstorm, Tigris Sit, New Base Line, Amandla). On this trip, she has already dispatched one V14 (Fred Nicole’s classic Amandla) and three famous V13s: Quinnessential, Master Key, and The Arch. Of the 20 hard problems she’s climbed in South Africa, Kiersch has flashed at least five.
Additionally, Tokyo Olympian Kyra Condie is “climbing for joy” out in Rocklands. Condie recently announced her ascent of The Vice (V13), her first climb of the grade. Along with this, she has dispatched at least six other double digit boulders, some of which she’d been unsuccessful on during her previous visit. Condie mentioned on Instagram that “I’m feeling really good compared to (my trip) in 2018, so I’m psyched to continue the redemption tour de blocs.”
As another Karakoram season nears its end, K2 is in the limelight. The Savage Mountain has seen no shortage of traffic this year, attracting both large guided expeditions and teams of visionary alpinists. Of the 175 or so permits issued by the Pakistan government, an estimated 50 climbers reached the summit—a 28 percent success rate. But the most notable success of the year goes to French alpinist Benjamin Védrines, who set an astonishing new speed record by climbing the Abruzzi Ridge route in exactly 11 hours—halving the previous record and marking a paradigm-shift in high altitude climbing.
Védrines began from Advanced Base Camp (5,303 meters) at 12:10 a.m., the same place former record holder Benoît Chamoux began his 1986 ascent. In his mad dash to the summit, Védrines brought minimal clothing, no backpack, and no supplemental oxygen. He reached the summit berm at 11:10 a.m., feeling uncertain about “who I was and how I got there.”
Védrines first attempted this same record on K2 in 2022, but he passed out at 8,300 meters and was found unconscious by other climbers, who roused him with supplementary oxygen, after which he descended safely. On Instagram after his most recent ascent, Védrines said that arriving at the place where he’d lost consciousness, “did something to me.”
Reaching the summit marked a bittersweet moment for the frenchman. “It’s hard to describe the feeling up there,” he wrote on Instagram, “I didn’t really burst with joy… I was feeling a little sad. At the same time I have gone so far in effort and commitment into this project that when I got up there, it all fell back. I shed tears.”
Védrines also holds the speed record on nearby 8000er Broad Peak, which he climbed in 7 hours and 28 minutes in 2022, before his first K2 attempt. He also became the first person to paraglide off the summit of Broad Peak.
Editor’s note: Also on K2: Two leading Japanese climbers died in a fall while attempting an alpine-style ascent of K2’s unrepeated West Face route.
Swiss climber Dylan Chuat has enjoyed a warm July in Fionnay, Switzerland, managing to complete a few important boulders. In a short time period, Chuat finished off the personally meaningful Compass North (V14) and established a new king line for the region: Big Nose (V15).
Chuat is a well-rounded climber with first ascents of V15, 5.15a, and national-level championship medals. But the last year and a half has been difficult for Chuat due to injuries. Near the end of 2022, he suffered a complete pulley rupture on his ring finger, and, at the end of 2023, he underwent a couple of major stomach operations due to an infection. Despite these setbacks, Chuat has kept the passion high. In 2023, he climbed Action Directe (5.14d), explaining that “I could climb it without using my finger, so it was a good choice.” He also snagged the first ascent of several routes between 5.14c and 5.15a.
Launching into the 2024 spring season feeling recovered and psyched, Chuat quickly dispatched Beyond (5.15a), a classic established by the French legend Seb Bouin. As the summer heat set in near his home, Chuat moved through some “easier” grades, repeating new-school gems and searching for his own lines. In mid July, he felt ready to get revenge on Compass North, the crimpy roof problem on which he injured his pulley many months prior. Chuat described the moment as “settling an old demon.”
Moving forward with confidence after this ascent, Chuat cleaned and sequenced a project with his friend Clement Lechaptois. After “extensive cleaning and method research,” Chuat found himself on top of an inspiring fresh problem. Though he was unsure how to fix a grade to such a long, cryptic line, he settled on V15, acknowledging that he did it in warm temperatures. “Without a doubt, it’s one of the most beautiful lines in Fionnay. It’s impressive, the moves are incredible, the holds are crazy, and the effort to link it all together is really cool!”
On July 24, Mellow Climbing released a short uncut video of Pablo Hammack repeating Terremer (V15). The intense crimp line—a sit-start to Terre De Sienne, a two-move V13—was established by Fred Nicole in 2005 and remains one of the most difficult boulders in Hueco Tanks.
Hammack, a low-key crusher from Santa Barbara, has quietly sent some of the hardest problems in the country over the past few years. In 2021, when he was 20, he established the first V15 in Yosemite Valley, Love Will Tear Us Apart. He’s also climbed V16, with ascents of Sleepwalker, in Red Rock, and Creature From The Black Lagoon, in Rocky Mountain National Park. Hammack also made the sixth ascent of Lucid Dreaming (V15/16).
It’s unclear how much effort Hammack put into Terremer, whose crimps are notoriously small and sharp, limiting the number of max efforts climbers can give. Terremer begins from the same starting position as Diaphanous Sea (V11), one of Hueco’s famous testpieces, but branches left into steeper, thinner terrain. The crux move revolves around a deadpoint from poor holds to a miniscule three-finger edge. Another hard move (or two) off this crimp leads to an easier finish.
A few strong crimpers like Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, and Dan Beall have put the complete line together, but ascents are few and far between. Terremer has gradually earned a reputation as “very good” and “very sharp.”
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