Michaela Kiersch has sent her second 5.15a, Víctima Perfecta, at the Raco de la Finestra crag in Margalef, Spain. She also made her first 5.14a onsight with Crimptonite, in Oliana. Víctima Perfecta, a link-up connecting Victimes del Passat (5.14c) into Gancho Perfecto (5.14d/15a), was established by Spanish phenom (and notorious sandbagger) Ramón Julián Puigblanqué, who initially graded it 5.14c. Subsequent ascensionists Jorge Díaz-Rullo and Tom Bolger, however, have suggested 5.15a, and it would not be the first time one of Julián’s routes have seen a double upgrade; he suggested La Bongada ..read more

At age 11, Leo Cea Bliedtner has completed the second ascent of Tecnoking (5.14d), in Las Chilcas, Chile. Should the grade stand, Leo is now the youngest person to have sent 5.14d, a record previously held by Théo Blass at the age of 12 in 2022. Tecnoking was established in January 2024 by local climber Ronny Escobar Ortega. Located an hour and a half from Leo’s hometown, Valaparíso, and just 50 minutes north of Santiago, the 80-foot link-up is a punchy traverse across conglomerate, offering a mix of smooth dishes, slopers, edges, and pinches. It links Me Gusta Cuando Callan (5.13d) and Si lo ..read more

Hotshot American D.B. (“Diamond Boy”) Vernon has been on a tear lately. He spent last fall ticking off a long list of V15 and V16 problems across North America and Europe, and now has scored his first proposed V17, tackling the previously unrepeated Shawn Raboutou line Megatron last week. “It was really sick,” the 21-year-old told Climbing. “I tried really hard, and then I did it.” Located in Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon, Megatron was only the second proposed V17 in the United States, after Daniel Woods’s Return of the Sleepwalker. It is one of five currently proposed worldwide, the other three ..read more

Seán Villanueva-O’Driscoll made history in February when he completed a stunning solo traverse of the Paine Towers in Torres del Paine National Park, Chilean Patagonia. His skyline traverse, named Travesía Doble M (5.11 A2; 2,200m), is the first time all four summits have been connected in a push. Friend and guidebook author Rolando Garibotti recently broke the news on his website Pataclimb.com. Villanueva-O’Driscoll had an extraordinarily successful February in the Paine group. Early in the month, he was part of the first team-free ascent of Riders on the Storm (5.13a; 1,300m) with Siebe Van ..read more

By the time Kai Lightner was in college, he’d already won 10 youth and two open National Championship titles, and he’d medaled in five Youth World Championships. He’d long established himself as one of America’s best climbers, a fact which came with a complicated network of obligations and overlapping travel and training schedules. While most of his peers puzzled over their futures careers, Lightner had one; but as his schedule filled up, he began to wonder just how tenable it was. “I really wanted to embrace the full college experience, have friends, do extracurricular activities, and not ha ..read more

Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama continues to push his limits. By making the fourth ascent of Japan’s Daydream (5.14) in mid February, Hirayama has tackled his hardest trad project in years. In fact, he estimates the 50-foot overhanging crack is equal to Squamish’s legendary Cobra Crack (5.14b), which he climbed in 2009. Hirayama, who celebrated his 55th birthday just a few days after Daydream, told Climbing he’s happier than ever, enjoying the wisdom and challenges inherent with aging, and has no intention of slowing down. Indeed, there is little evidence that years have mellowed Hirayama’s sk ..read more

In the summer of 2014, bouldering icon Jimmy Webb established Flying Piñata (V12) on the Colossal Boulder in Upper Upper Chaos Canyon. Located above 11,000 feet, Flying Piñata was one of the highest-elevation boulder problems in Rocky Mountain National Park and revolved around a massive one-arm jump to a narrow slot that Webb called “one of the coolest moves I think you’ll do in Chaos.” Eight years later, on June 28, 2022, 2.7 million cubic yards of rock and debris broke off the southeast slope of Hallett Peak, tumbling as much as 804 feet in less than two minutes before colliding with the Co ..read more

It’s been a frustrating month for mountaineering guides who lead expeditions on Mount Everest. The laws governing climbers on the peak’s Nepali side have changed several times, leaving guides confused, anxious, and glued to the Internet awaiting future updates. “It’s Nepal and nobody knows how the new regulations will be interpreted, implemented, and finally enforced,” said Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach, the owner of Furtenbach Adventures, who leads Everest expeditions in Nepal. The situation began on February 8 when the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, the governing body that, among ..read more

In October 2015, 14-year-old Zach Galla sat with his teammates on a blanket at the Heritage Green Outdoor Amphitheater in Atlanta, Georgia, and watched a screening of Reel Rock 10. The highlight of the night, for Galla, was the “High and Mighty” segment in which Daniel Woods makes the first ascent of The Process, a skyscraping V16 on the 55-foot-tall Grandpa Peabody boulder in Bishop, California. Galla was only bouldering “like V9” at the time, he says, but he nonetheless remembers feeling certain that he, too, would someday climb The Process. Last week, nine years and two months after Woods ..read more

The Deets USA Climbing’s National Team Trials begin tomorrow at Sportrock Rio, located in the Rio Lakefront Shopping Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Paraclimbing Nationals will immediately follow the Trials, beginning on Saturday, March 9. Semi-final and final rounds will be livestreamed on Outside Watch (see the schedule below). The Team Trials will feature rounds of Bouldering, Lead, and Speed climbing. The stakes are high; the top two ranking athletes from each discipline will receive a spot on the team. For Paraclimbing Nationals, the top three athletes in each category will receive team ..read more