the Art and Science of Bouldering from udo neumann on Vimeo.

Udo Neuman, a climbing and training fanatic who has been on the forefront since 1992 when he published Performance Rock Climbing, has done it again with - The Art and Science of Bouldering. It is an interactive e-book on 237 pages where he shares his bouldering philosophy and his latest advanced training tips and terminology. Buy it here for Euro 26. Udo is the trainer of the Germans Jan Hojer and Jule Wurm, two of the very best boulderers in the world both on rock and in competitions. In his advanced book you can start reading anywhere getting some interesting thoughts on ethics, grading and of course training and 8a is mentioned several times. "Since 15 years 8a.nu has established itself as THE internet platform for all things climbing and bouldering. Ideas and concepts, especially if it comes to "Evaluating climbing performance" are discussed controversially here - and that is a good thing in my "book"!

Patti Wohner has after 18 years of climbing made her first 8A, Gross's Roof in Cumberland. The 40 year old, started to do her first proper training just 8 months ago when she moves to Chattanooga. Before she had mainly been a weekend warrior living three hours from any good crags. "I credit my progress to training my weaknesses which for some reason had never occurred to me to do, I always focused on my strengths until I read Dave MacLeods book 9 out of 10 climbers. I saw women who were doing a lot with power and so I focused on power.

Jan hojer has done his second 8C FA in Fontainlebleau, Le Marathon de Boissy 8C. In total, the 186 cm and 78 kilo power house, has done five 8C's out of which four in Font. Last year, Jan won one World Cup Boulder.

Guillaume Glairon-Mondet has made the FA of Toupie Carnivore assis 8C in Fontainebleau which is a sit start to an 8B he did some weeks ago. "This is a boulder which took me a lot of sessions to attain my goal ... But as this line, and movements are very much my style of climbing, it was almost a pleasure to go and try it... Another problem was about the skin of my right hand, because trying the same dyno to the first bad sloper (around 30/50 on each session). So, I solve this problem by going to my project only every two days." More details and pictures in his blog. Gui-Gui, who previously has done three 8C's in Font, is a very successful competition climber and the last five years he has been #4, 7, 3, 6 and 6 overall. "A video is coming, with some other nice sends in Font. It's now time for the last training before the comp season start, and if I find the time, maybe work on another project in Font.!!

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