Crag & route pages updated
Weโ€™ve updated the layout of the crag and route pages. The new page structure lays the foundation for bringing Topos to Vertical-Life Web. Alongside the new layโ€ฆ
Nearly 2,000 hectares of Font Forest destroyed by wildfire
Exceptional wildfires are currently sweeping through parts of France's Fontainebleau Forest. Located around 70 km south-east of Paris, the UNESCO Biosphere Reseโ€ฆ
 Fifty Words for Pump 8c (+) by Solveig Korherr
Solveig Korherr has done Fifty Words for Pump 8c (+) in Red River Gorge (KY). "Hard boulder problem at the beginning into kneebar heaven. Big fight at the end of the day. I canโ€˜t believe I stayed on the wall after feeling so tired already :D A Muerte!"

The picture by Jon Shen is from Zookeeper (8b+) which she did three days later. The 23-year-old german is #1 in the 8a ranking game.

Furia de Jabali 9b by Alex Megos
Alex Megos reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Will Bosi's Furia de Jabali (9a+) in Siurana. In total, the German has now done some 100 routes 9a and harder including six 9b or 9b+. Last week he did the first repeat of Bosi's King Capella 9b+. No grade comment by Megos of none of the two recent Bosi routes.(c) Jenya Kazbekova

So which one do you personally think is the hardest?
I'd say King Capella is harder. It took me longer despite me being more focused to climb King Capella.

Last week, Alex also gave us some insights in regards to the environmental "catastrophe" and some recent changes he has done in his life.

Into the Sun 8c+ trad by Jacopo Larcher
Jacopo Larcher, one of the best multi-discipline climbers in the world, has done the first repeat of Bernd Zangerl's Into the Sun 8c+ trad in Murgtal. The Italian has previously done a handful trad routes 8b+ and harder including Tribe which just might be the only 9a trad in the world. Lately Larcher has not given grades to many of his hardest climbs. (c) Andrea Cossu

"Into the sun is located on a big boulder, which hosts several problems, and it traverses the entire block from the right to the left. The route is basically a top out of Berndโ€™s existing highball called โ€œV.I.P. (Very Important Papagei)โ€, which ends on a jug next to a bolted belay. This is by far the hardest part of the entire climb; after skipping the bolts, you traverse left on an obvious big crack and top out on the other side of the boulder with a slightly harder mantle. This very last section has been climbed as a highball stating from a different problem. The climbing is easy, but the rock is often wet and doesnโ€™t seem always solid, thatโ€™s why I think it makes even more sense to climb it on gear instead of doing it as a highball. As a trad climber, thatโ€™s exactly how I would do it.

So now the big question, which everyone is asking me, isโ€ฆ What is โ€œInto the sunโ€? Is it a (green point) trad climb or an highball? How can we describe it? Honestly for me the biggest question is another oneโ€ฆ Do we need to give a name to everything and fit in into a box? I personally donโ€™t think so! For me "Into the sun" is Berndโ€™s vision of how to climb a nice piece of rock. It was the way how he challenged himself and got back to climbing after an injury, which according to the doctors wouldnโ€™t allow him to climb anymore. He managed to overcome this huge challenge and set a new one for the other climbers. I take it on, found it really hard and I really enjoyed the process. Thatโ€™s what I believe climbing should be. Someone else would have bolted, someone else would have chipped it, someone else would have free solo it and probably the most part would have never imagined to climb itโ€ฆ I think he did it in the best style and I personally would have done it the same way if this would have been my FA. The only thing I would have done different is the start, for me it would have make more sense to stat from the stand start of the boulder, instead of adding the first few hard movesโ€ฆ but once again, thatโ€™s exactly the cool thing about climbing, everyone sees something different. Thanks again for the experience Bernd and props for the FA.

โ€ฆ and of course big thanks to Babsi, Mauro, Andrea and Michi for the support. It wouldnโ€™t have been possible without you!"

Pegasus 8C by Zach Galla
Zach Galla who did his first 8C+ two weeks ago has done in Joe's Valley (UT). "Pegasus went fast! got close last weekend, rested up over the week, then finished it up on Saturday in a few tries. The crux fit my style well and I really enjoyed climbing on this roof. Great addition from Drew!"