Alizee Dufraisse has done the first ascent of L'arcademicien in Ceuse after a hold broke and suggest 8c and says that it might even be 8c+. This month, she has been #8 in Chamonix and #6 at Arco. Old interview with the former pole vault champion.

Jacinda Hunter: Style, Grace, Power from Prana Living on Vimeo.

Pirmin Bertle has done Cabane au Canada, 9a in Rawyl. "One of the best hard lines in Switzerland. Pure endurance on 80 hard moves in one big overhanging slab. With 19 tries (at least for me :) a quite fast ascent." Pirmin is #9 in the ranking game.

The seventh and last Boulder WC will held in Munich this friday and saturday. Live webcast can be found in here.

Based on an 8a poll with 366 unique votes, Adam Ondra and Anna Stöhr are favourites to win. If Kilian Fischhuber is #2, Ondra needs only to be #5 to win. This is the seventh year in a row that Fischhuber is in Top 2!

Among the women, Chloé Graftiaux needs to be #3 if Anna Stöhr wins and #4 if Akiyo Noguchi wins to take the title home. If neither of them finishes first, Chloé only needs to be #8 to secure the title.

Nicki van Bergen has done Spit Bull, 8a+ (b) in St Leger. Last year, Nicki was #5 in the European Youth Cup.

Patxiusobiaga.com blogs in spanish about some nice onsights including Absinth 8c and some 8b+, 8b etc.

Adam Ondra has onsighted Coque au vin, 8b+ in Zillertal and two other 8b+s in Laste. The 17-year-old also did two 8c+s on second go. On bouldering front, he managed to do three 8A+s (including Incubator which most have as an 8B). It seems roadtripping around Zillertal works as a preparation for the final WC event in Bouldering (starting on friday) for him.

Paul Robinson has done the first ascent of Bleagle, 8B+ at Rocklands. This line was formerly known as Black Eagle (opened by Fred Nicole) but has lost some holds along the way. More info at Paul's homepage and Alexandra Kahn's blog

Instrapiombo reports that Giuseppe "Pippo" Nolasco has done the second repeat of Alberto Gnerro's SS26 at Gressonay. Pippo suggests a downgrade to 8c+ which was earlier suggested by Gabriele Moroni as well.

David Lama's thoughts on the subject in german or check out the full translation in the comments.

Chadurif.fr reports that Charlotte Durif has onsighted Le roi du pétrole 8c, Smails paradis 8b+ and two 8bs in Pic Saint Loup. She seems to be in great shape and pushing the standards of climbing to new levels. Charlotte's first 8b onsight was when she was only 15 years old. She won the first Lead WC event in Chamonix three weeks ago.

Based on an 8a poll with 600 unique votes the preference for Stiff or Soft shoes seems equal.
22 %: I prefer Soft shoes
20 %: In between
20 %: I prefer Stiff shoes
38 %: Soft or Stiff depends on rock

Ramón Julian Puigblanque had a nice weekend, onsighting Grandes y poderosas, 8b+ in Margalef and three 8bs. Ramonet, who won both in Chamonix and Arco in a rather superior style, is #2 in the 8a ranking game. More info at Ramon's blog (in spanish)

Picture (c) M.ALBA

Based on an 8a poll with 450 unique votes, the majority thinks the lead concept should be changed and only 10 % says "It is perfect".
30 %: Create a new concept
21 %: Minor changes needed
26 % It is OK
10 %: It is perfect
13 %: I do not know

A few days at Castle Hill from derek thatcher on Vimeo.

Sasha Digiulian has done Fuego, 8b (a+) in Arco and she extends her lead in the female junior ranking game. Saha has been #3 in the Youth World Champion and she did five 7C boulders when she was 13-years-old.

Daniel Woods has opened his third 8B+ at Mt. Evans, Exfoliator. Daniel is #1 in the ranking game.

Evgeniya Malamid has done Maraton, 8b in Arco and she is #1 in the world ranking game. She has been an an active competition climbber since 2001 and she is normally around #15 in the World Cups.

In Flatanger, 3 h north of Trondheim and 2 h north of Hell, the world's biggest gneiss cave is located. So far, only routes up to 90 metres on the sides and some 25 metres inside the cave have been done. Routes 100+ metres and 40 metres overhanging can be projected.

(c) Climbingpics.blogspot.com From inside the cave you have an amazing view of archipelago and farming land. More pics and topo.

Nina Caprez has onsigthed Rat man, 8a+ in Ceuse which actually is the second recorded ascent after David Graham. Many guys say it is hard but Nina wrote soft. She is #4 in the ranking game.

Simone Baechler has done her first 8b+, Marc at Gastlosen. Simone has previously done three 8b's.

We will temporarily close down the web shop in August. Order the yearbook 2010 with information about the Topp-100 climbing areas in Western Europe etc. You only pay for the freight!

Jesse Bonin has done his first 8B+, Derailed in Rocklands. Jesse has previously done four 8B's out of which two in Rocklands.

Tito Traversa (9) has done his first two 7b+ onsights, Drum Light and Cuba Libre at Arco. Tito did his first 8a being 8-years-old. More info and pictures at Titotraversa.it

Charlotte Durif who won the the Chamonix World Cup last week has done Un jour peut-être, 8c in La Balme on her third try. This was her fourth 8c in 2010.