Isabelle Faus has done Trice in Flagstaff which has been considered the first 8A+ in the world established by Jim Holloway in 1975. Here is an 8a article about the legend. Carlo Traversi did the second ascent in 2007. Isabelle (20) has previoulsy done one 8A+ and six 8A's, the first one being 16 years old. Last year, she was #25 in the Vail Boulder World Cup.

Albarracín febrero 2014 from Carlos Castrillo on Vimeo.

Kleman Becan has written a nice blog about his FA of Water World 9a in Osp. Klemen bolted it almost two years ago and at first he could only do two of the first 30 moves which is followed by a 30 m 8b. Than the rain come creating a small lake under so he had to go by boat or tyrolean traverse to the route. The Slovenian has been a successful competition climber since 1996 having won one Lead World Cup and been #2 in two Boulder WC's.

Chris Webb Parsons Climbing, Esperanza V14 from chris webb parsons on Vimeo.

Ramon Julian has after six tries over three days done Power Inverter 9a+ in Oliana which was open by Chris Sharma in 2010. In total, the 159 cm tall, has done ten 9a+ during the last eleven years and he has won 20 World Cups including one Euro and two World Champions. Combining rock and competitions, Ramonet has been the most successful climber the last 12 years.

Hueco Tanks 2014 from Jorg Verhoeven & Katha Saurwein on Vimeo.

Sidney Trinidad won the USA bouldering nationals youth B in a superior style. Her she is "topping out" one spectacular problem that finished with several down climbing moves. The guys did it by hanging in their toes... click on the picture to see how amazed the route setter was. (c) @justfab Video Mirko Caballero, who also won, explains the problem, "Well the start hold was at the same height than the finish to the left. You had to climb up (you can see some of the holds to the right of Sidney. Then came the sequence where you had to jump down onto the big volume. The jump was committing as you had to let go both hands to land onto the downward slope." Complete results

Iker Arroitajauregi has after six days of projecting made the third ascent of Jan Hojer's Jour de Chasse 8C in Fontainebleau. The 36 year old has previously done one 8C, Txapela and numerous 8B+'s. Interview in spanish with many videos.

There exist probably a dozen different innovative locking carabiners, beside the original screw carabiner. Actually, most companies in the industry have presented technically nice advanced ideas trying to optimize the overall handling/safety issues. All of them are 20 - 200 % more expensive, except the brand new Strike Slider from Edelrid which is actually cheaper than the original screw carabiner. The Edelrid innovation presented at Friedrichshafen is also the smallest, lightest and quickest to clip in on the market. In the beginning, it feels pretty scary to use as it is so slim and that it so easy to open. You just put your thumb on the outside lock and drag it down two mm to unlock it. It is almost as easy to open as you open your quick draw gate when you put it in the bolt hanger! In theory, of course a screw carabiner is normally a bit safer. As a matter of a fact, the safety focused climber could actually use the Strike Slider on both ends of the quick draw as it works great also clipping in the rope.