Florian Schmalzl who has had some great progress the last years has done his first 8C, Zunami in Saalachtal which was set up by B Schwaiger in 2003. Florian (22) started to climb when he was 15 and bouldering when he was 18 years old and it took him ten days over three years to do it.

Mina Leslie-Wujastyk started a crowd funding page two days ago for the GB WC bouldering team as a sponsor had to withdraw. Their target was 8 000 pound and now already 230 backers have raised 9 000 pound. Six backers have paid a total of 1 900 pound for a one hour coaching with either Mina or Shauna Coxsey. As there are many federation and competitors struggling with World Cup finance, this might be the way to go. Last year, Shauna was #4 and Mina #9 in the Bouldering World Cup which starts in less than four weeks in China.

Based on the recent economical crises in Spain and Greece, the both governments have decided to collect Euro 8 daily climbing tax. The good news is that all 8a members will get a free climbing pass at a value of Euro 88 per year. The climbing tax will be collected at airports and at the immigrants desk. If you have not prepaid the tax and there is a control, you will have to pay Euro 100 or go to jail for one day. The controlling organisation, Lirpa Loof, says: "We will mainly work on the crags with the softest gradings as we know here is where most climbers go. We also know that many top climbers use campus board so we have installed them in some prisons near Oliana and on Kalymnos. Anybody who can do 1-4-7 is free to go.

Cathy Wagner has during the last three weeks done six 8a's and during the last year she has done 40 8a's and six 8a+'. This means that she by far is in her best shape ever, not bad for somebody being 48 years old and who did her first 8a being 30.

Steve Golley continues to develop the sorter for making Left-to-Right topos. "The sorter should now add new routes from the scorecard to the bottom of the list if a crag has been sorted before, and you can add routes directly into the sorter. Here you can create topos. It just takes like 10 minutes and then it will be possible to down load in the 8A Topo App. You can also check the Crags list to see available topos. Steve already has a system for drawing topos on images and in later this will also be available to 8a members. Already, you can use the 8A Topo App to add routes to your scorecard - check it out both for iPhones and Androids.

Cocalzinho - Ariana Gebrim no boulder Missão (V7) from Kassan Araújo on Vimeo.

James Webb continues his rampage in Switzerland by doing his 8th 8B+; New Base Line in Magic Woods. "Simply an incredible boulder from Bernd. Tried briefly last year but it felt so strange. This year was different and it went down fairly quick! Gotta love progression." James did his first 8B+ in 2010 and later he has done more every year and in total he has done 38 boulders 8B+ and harder out of which 22 the last year. Also for flash, James have had a similar dramatic progress with three 8B's and six 8A+ the last year. It should also be noted that James is the top climber giving most personal grades. The picture is from a restday in Florence together with his girl friend Kaisa Pietras, also an 8A boulderer.

Jule Wurm has done Einfisch Kleinfisch 8A+ in Chironico and and Frank's Wild Years 8A in Cresciano, see the picture. Both routes were set up one grade harder. "It was my second trip to ticino and it's so cool there! I left so many projects and i m psyched to go back soon! There are many 8A and 8A+ i want to try again on another trip!" Last year, Jule, won one WC and in four weeks the season starts up in China. How will you prepare? During the next weeks I try to improve my endurance, because at the moment I get tired after 3 moves and need a few minutes rest then, which is not so perfect for comps:)