Barbara Raudner (41) does 8b+ in Oliana

Barbara Raudner, who started climbing when she was 28, has done Los Humildes Pa Casa 8b+ in Oliana. Fotocredit: Flo Murnig. More great pictures at Barbara's blog. "Los Humildes Pa Casa is such an amazing route, for me one of the best lines! It has been bolted by Oscar Jiménez as one of the first lines in Oliana and many people call it as „the line of the sector“. If you arrive at the parking and you see the outstanding long tufa line, you just want to try it. My good friend Roger Schäli and me had a great time climbing in Oliana the past few weeks together with so many nice people." What is the secret of your continous progress and what is next? I am always motivated to try hard, to enjoy climbing and to have fun with my friends. I have a lot of new projects in my mind ... in the near future I am psyched to take part at the San Vito Climbing Festival in Sicily in May together with my best friend Daila Ojeda.

Derek Powell who started climbing in 1995 has made a great personal best, being 44 years old, by doing Death Sentence 8c in Jailhouse. He did his first 8a in 1998 and his first 8b+ in 2007. "Thanks to Vian for the countdown(s) and the coin(card) toss. Thanks to Ginny and Noah for the support. Greg, I'll call your 17 kneebars and raise you 13. I'll call your volleyball and raise you a weather balloon."

Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 7th, from 7 AM to ~7:30 AM CEST, Vertical-Life will perform maintenance, affecting our website, app, and gym system. All related services will be unavailable during this time. As we update our login system, all users will be logged out. If you forgot your password, you can re…

Anraku and Grossman win in SLC

Sorato Anruko, who won the overall World Cup in both Boulder and Lead in 2023, won in Salt Lake City with a dominant display in the final round. The 17-year-old…

9a again in Santa Linya by Mateusz Haladaj

Mateusz Haladaj has done his ninth 9a, out of which five in Santa Linya, Analogica Natural. "The left extension. Think it changes the original grade, took 5 falls from the last move. One of the best and logical lines in the cave. I think harder and better than Fuck the system!

Zunami 8C by Florian Schmalzl

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.

Amazing support for GB WC bouldering team

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.

8 Euro daily climbing tax in Spain and Greece

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.

Left-to-Right topo update

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.