Unexpected (and Expected) World Cup Results
4/6/2026
There have been two Boulder World Cups in the last two weeks, here's a round-up of the results and other notable pieces of climbing news.
Competition Climbing
The World Climbing Series Boulder event in Bern, Switzerland (22–24 May) produced one of the season's most discussed results: Australian climber Oceania Mackenzie won the women's final with 74.5 points, claiming both her first World Cup gold medal and Australia's first-ever World Climbing gold. The final was preceded by a controversy—images of the women's boulder problems briefly appeared on a Chinese streaming platform due to a broadcast feed error before competition began; World Climbing confirmed immediate action was taken and that any exposed boulders were 'changed or modified by the routesetting team.' In the final itself, Mackenzie topped the opening boulder as the only climber to do so, maintained her lead through boulder two, stumbled on boulder three (only Great Britain's Erin McNeice topped it), then secured the final top with a beta break to put the outcome beyond doubt. Silver went to McNeice (69.0 points) and bronze to USA's Annie Sanders. (Gripped) (World Climbing)
In the men's Boulder final in Bern, Japan's Sorato Anraku made it two from two in 2026, winning gold for the second consecutive World Cup event with a score of 99.7—the only competitor to top all four problems, including a flash of the first. French climber Mejdi Schalck took silver after topping three of the four problems but failing to gain zone on the fourth. Belgium's Hannes Van Duysen claimed bronze, edging Japan's Sohta Amagasa on attempts after both topped two problems. It is Anraku's seventh Boulder World Cup gold overall; the 19-year-old won the overall Boulder series in 2023, 2024, and 2025. (Gripped) (World Climbing)
The third stop of the 2026 Boulder season was then held in Madrid the following weekend. Erin McNeice continued her consistently strong form to win gold. She was the only athlete to top all four problems in the women's final and finished with 99.1 points. It is her second career World Cup gold and her second podium of the season, one week after taking silver in Bern. The decisive moment came on the final problem, which McNeice topped to put the result beyond doubt. Silver went to Japan's Melody Sekikawa and bronze to France's Oriane Bertone, with the two separated by their performance on problem two after both flashed the fourth. (UKClimbing) (Gripped)
Sorato Anraku won the men's Boulder final in Madrid with 99.3 points, claiming his third consecutive World Cup gold of the 2026 season and his eighth Boulder World Cup gold in total. Anraku spent much of the final trailing USA's Colin Duffy, who topped the opening three problems but failed to zone on the final problem. Anraku flashed the final problem to overtake him and secure the win. Duffy took silver; France's Samuel Richard claimed bronze. Anraku also won the first three competitions of the season last year, leading to his eventual victory in the overall title. (World Climbing) (Gripped)
Sport Climbing & Bouldering
American climber Katie Lamb made the first ascent of 130 BPM (V15/8C) in Yosemite Valley, a boulder found near the junction of Highways 120 and 140. The problem took Lamb around 20 sessions across two seasons to complete, with her send coming on April 22. 130 BPM is Lamb's sixth problem at V15 or harder and her first first-ascent at the grade—it is also the first time a woman has opened an entirely new V15 (previous women's FAs at the grade were variations of existing problems). The 28-year-old described how she initially over-analysed the crux—three tension moves off one poor foot onto slanted edges—before finding it with 'instinct and intuition' at the end of the season. Lamb became the first woman to climb V16 in March 2025 with The Dark Side in Yosemite. (Gripped) (Climbing Magazine)
American climbers Adam Shahar and Ben Hanna made the fourth and fifth ascents of Zach Galla's Sosa (V16/8C+) in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Sosa is a steep, athletic roof problem that Galla first climbed in May 2024; only Owen Whaley (second ascent, April 2025) and Korean climber Sungsu Lee (third ascent, September 2025) had topped it previously. Shahar, 21, described it as 'a banger power testpiece' and noted the send came on his first day back on the problem after a wrist injury. It is his second V16, following The Process at the Buttermilks, and he has also broken into V17 with Return of the Sleepwalker in Red Rock. For Hanna, Sosa is likewise his second V16 and represents a personal best grade. (Gripped)
Italian climber Laura Rogora had a remarkable weekend at Capanna Bill above Passo Fedaia in the Marmolada region of the Dolomites, packing in an extraordinary tick-list across two days. On Saturday she flashed Cow-boy (32/8b+) and redpointed Absinthium (35/9a) before spending two attempts on a 36/9a+ project. On Sunday, after a warm-up on 23/7a, she sent Affinità Elettive (36/9a+) on her first proper try of the day, then followed it with a second-go ascent of Through the Looking Glass (33/8c) and an onsight of Tinnitus (33/8c). All routes are extensions and link-ups established by local developer Andrea Milani at around 1700m altitude—conditions ideal for hard climbing as a heatwave gripped northern Italy below. (PlanetMountain)
Czech climber Josef 'Pepa' Šindel, 18, made the third ascent of Clash of the Titans (37/9b) at Götterwandl (Nassereith) in Austria in late May. The route was first established by Alexander Megos in 2017 at a modest self-assessment of 9a+; when Jakob Schubert made the first repeat in 2023 he proposed an upgrade to 9b, now widely accepted. Šindel spread his efforts over five trips across two seasons and endured more than 50 falls on the route's final crux—a hard move off an undercling. The project was complicated by a finger injury sustained in November 2025, when fatigue fractures became displaced and forced a two-and-a-half-month break. At 18, Šindel is only the second Czech climber to reach 9b, after Adam Ondra. (PlanetMountain)
Swiss climber Katherine Choong made the first female ascent of Ravage (33/8b+/c) at Chuenisberg in the Basler Jura, Switzerland, on 2 May—with the story reported widely this week on the 40th anniversary of the route's first ascent. Bolted by Wenzel Vodicka and first freed in 1986 by Antoine Le Menestrel, Ravage was the world's first confirmed 8c, though subsequent repeats revised it down to 8b+/c. Its historical significance remains undimmed: Adam Ondra made the only onsight in 2009. At around ten metres, the route is short and brutally polished, and Choong—who at under 1.60m had to engineer entirely different footwork to the taller climbers who preceded her—described finally topping out as a state of being 'destroyed and happy'. She went on to climb it a second time during a later filming trip. (PlanetMountain)
Alpinism & Big Walls
British high-altitude guide Kenton Cool summited Mount Everest (8849m) for the twentieth time on 22 May 2026, becoming the first non-Nepali climber in history to reach the summit twenty times. Cool, 52, first summited in 2004 and has guided expeditions on the peak almost every year since. He told reporters after flying to Kathmandu: 'Maybe another two or three more times.' At least seven Nepali climbers have recorded more than twenty Everest summits, and earlier in the same season—on 17 May—Kami Rita Sherpa extended his own world record with a 32nd summit, reached via the South East Ridge with a 14 Peaks Expedition team. In the days following, Kami Rita publicly called for a limit on the number of climbers permitted on the mountain each season, citing dangerous overcrowding on fixed lines during summit pushes. (Al Jazeera) (The Washington Post)
Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila summited Lhotse (8516m) on 21 May 2026, her second peak in a planned oxygen-free 'Triple Crown'—a single-season ascent of Nuptse (7861m), Lhotse, and Everest (8849m) without supplemental oxygen, a feat no woman has completed. Only four people in history have achieved the Triple Crown at all. Harila had summited Nuptse on 17 May with Mingtemba Sherpa. However, the Lhotse ascent was immediately mired in controversy: Seven Summit Treks Expedition Director Chhang Dawa Sherpa stated that 'after returning to base camp, she admitted to using oxygen support on Mt Lhotse,' directly contradicting the no-oxygen premise of the challenge. Harila has not publicly addressed the oxygen use at the time of publication. She is expected to attempt Everest next to complete the Triple Crown, though whether the full project can still be claimed without oxygen on all three peaks remains contested. (Tourism Info Nepal) (The Tourism Times)
The 2026 Everest spring season has been the busiest in the mountain's recorded history, and last week it turned deadly. On 20 May, a record 274 climbers summited from the Nepal side in a single day—surpassing any previous single-day total—with more than 600 ascents recorded across the season to date from Nepal alone, out of a record 494 foreign permits issued. On 22 May, Gripped reported that two Indian climbers, Arun Kumar Tiwari, 53, and Sandeep Are, 47, died during their descents, marking the season's first client fatalities. Tiwari summited on 20 May and died near the Hillary Step on 21 May after developing high-altitude pulmonary oedema during his descent while assisted by four Sherpa; he was 53 years old. Are also summited on 20 May but developed snow blindness below the summit ridge; he was rescued from the South Summit by five Sherpa and evacuated to Camp II, where he died shortly after arrival. (Gripped) (Outside Online)