Climbing · Worth knowing

Mina Markovic just redpointed Waterworld in Osp.

The 55-meter route near Kobarid forced her to rethink biceps-heavy sequences that initially ate twenty-five attempts over ten days. As we covered yesterday, her strategy—six days a week outdoors, minimal gym time—kept the learning curve sharp and the sends honest. The 22-time World Cup winner's commitment to volume over algorithmic training remains a quiet counterargument to the structured-prep crowd.

Her fourth 9a is already warming up.

The floor for teen redpoint grades just rose again.

Max Bertone, Oriane's younger sibling, sent 8c at thirteen while establishing first ascents in Bras de la Plaine—work that used to live five years ahead of his age cohort. Three days ago, we tracked young Project guns pushing the absolute frontier; Bertone's sends in the 8b–8c range now look like a pipeline signal rather than an outlier. The youth championships in Arco already standardized junior athletes on Olympic equipment, meaning the cognitive and physical vocabulary for reading hard movement is arriving younger every season.

Expect 8c to feel ordinary by 2027.