Chris Zehani has done his third 8c+ FA the last year, Fox et Sashidananda in Orgon which is link-up between an 8b and Sashidananda 9a. "There are 42 ultra resistant moves without rest and it is for sure 8c+. It took me a lot of tries and a lot of time... but I am 40 years old (in June!) and now many routes take more tries and time than before. Another thing. Gerome Pouvreau redpointed Sashidanada in 2009 and graded it 9a. It is for sure too hard for me but I think it's more a 9a+ which many strong climbers also think.

1. Jan hojer 4t26 4b24 - Juliane Wurm 3t6 3b6 2. Dmitrii Sharafutdinov 3t5 3b5 - Shauna Coxsey 3t7 4b10 3. Jorg Verhoeven 2t9 2b9 - Akiyo Noguchi 3t12 4b13 4. James Kassay 1t1 1b1 - Alex Puccio 2t4 3b5 5. Guillaume Mondet 1t3 2b2 - Anna Stöhr 2t10 3b11 Jan Hojer and Juliane Wurm won both their second WC and in fact the first time, Innsbruck 2013, it was also a double German victory. Hojer needed 14 tries to get the bonus and top out the first problem.Juliane had secured the victory before she started the last problem. During the last twelve WC's, the worst result for Anna Stöhr was #2 and in now, she was #5 after having won the semifinal. Overall, nine of the Top-10 are 8a members. Stay tuned for a more detailed WC report.

Michael Piccolruaz has done the FA of Helmutant in Saustall and sticks out his chin by suggesting 9a although he his personal best is 8b+ for both routes and boulders. "Yess! So happy to have climbed this amazing piece of rock. The route definitely fits my style perfectly. Really short and really bouldery :-) Nevertheless it all felt super hard and I had a lot of luck to keep the moves together up to the top. About the grade: I have never tried anything before what was nearly as hard as this project, but to be honest I haven't even tried anything really hard before. So I can not compare this route to other routes. Moreover I have zero experience in grading routes. All in all I just can say that I had to give everything to climb this project.

Rocklands Part Four with Mina Leslie-Wujastyk from David Mason on Vimeo.

Angie Scarth-Johnson finishing of her three weeks break from school by, on her last day, make an amazing send of Zona X 8b in Margalef. Last year the 9 year old had another long break from school going to Red River Gorge doing her first 8b. The amazing thing is that her parents do not climb and she has no trainer, but her father has become an excellent belayer giving soft falls. " I very rarely let anyone else belay me. I get to nervous, I can't make the move. I feel safe with my dad and I never worry." How did you prepare for the trip and how could you take so many days of from school? I trained myself in Australia by climbing long routes to prepare for the endurance, because everyone told me that the routes were really long in Spain. I also trained indoor bouldering. This was really lucking because my favorite area in Margalef to climb was El Laboratori and many of the climbs here were short and bouldery, so I was kind of prepared, but I have never climbed limestone before, so that took a bit of getting use to. I have been very lucky that my school allows me to take some time off, but we had Easter holidays for two weeks. The school gives my mum books and home work for me to do, while I am away, but she is also a teacher so it helps. How much help from others did you have to find the best sequence? I worked it out on my own, but I did have a lot of people suggest a couple of different sequences, big people beta and heaps of encouragement. I mostly always work routes out on my own.

The great news for the first Boulder WC in China is that there are 45 male and 39 female on the starting list which can be compared to 28 + 22 last year. Eleven of the Top-12 ranked female and seven out of the Top-10 ranked male participate. In total there are 19 male and 10 female competitors from Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Iran and Indonesia. There are also competitors from Kazakhstan, India and Taiwan. Live Streaming starts on Sunday 09.30 GMT+8 with the semifinal and and the finals start 17.00.

Jonathan Hörst has done his first 8a+, Pushin' Up Daisies in Red River Gorge. "Third go! My first 13c. I did it on a burn when I was only supposed to go every couple of bolts, but I kept going because I felt good. Thanks to Margarita for great beta for the top crux." Jonathan's two year older brother did also his first 8a+ being 11 years old and if he wants to keep Cameron's standards, Jonathan has to do 8b+ before turning 13. Their father Eric is one of the most famous climbing trainers and who has published many books. On the picture by Mike Kessler, we also can see Kai Ligthner (14) who has done 8c+ and to the right two other younger kids who also probably have done 8a ;-)

James Webb has added another two 8B+' in Magic Wood, Believe in Two and From shallow waters to the riverbed. During the last weeks he has done 15 boulders 8B+ and 8C and flashed eight 8A+ and 8B including giving a personal grade of one third. The picture is a selfie by his girlfriend Kaisa Pietras. How can you compare the US and Swiss boulders and rock? The quality of the rock in is definitely better than anything I have climbed on in the US. When it comes to the actual rock I find Swiss' to be a bit more subtle. It's more beta intensive and requires you to be more technical. Pure power I think won't get your far here. How can you explain your recent great progress? I'm really not sure. I think it just relies on my motivation. Right now I'm just really psyched on climbing, traveling, and being in such a beautiful place. Maybe I am just simply feeling stronger than ever at the moment but... I don't think this will define my success. Sometimes you just feel in tune with the rock. Maybe you climb a few problems and the momentum carries in your favor. Maybe the weather has been treating you well? It's really just many things that sometimes have to come together in order for you to succeed. It's almost like pure luck. I could never accurately explain it. Tell us about the new projects you have found? Is it not about time to raise the bar to a big 8C+ challenge ;-) (To be continued)