Martina Demmel has directly after the lockdown done her first four 8c's including a second go ascent of Rood Warrior in Frankenjura. (c) Moritz Welt "My boyfriend lives in Erlangen in the Frankenjura where I stayed as well as the last few weeks and we only went to the not that crowded crags and only the closest to his home. So now it's already allowed again to move around in Germany but not in groups, so if you rather go to the not that famous areas and take care of yourself it's not forbidden to go rockclimbing. Just a few minutes away from my home, I also spent some time climbing together with family members over the last weeks. The next weeks, I'm gonna spent some more time in Franken and at my local crags because lots of projects are waiting there and hopefully the borders to at least Austria gonna open soon for the hot summer days." More comments on her ascents, also including four 8b+', on her Insta. Just before the crises, the 18-year-old was in Spain where she did 12 second go ascents of 8a+ to 8b+ routes.

Noé Looser has done her first 8c, Siesta in Vättis, "after three weeks of fun on the route. The 35 m and very steep routes includes many dynamic and long moves challenging the 148 cm tall and 13-year-old. She lives in eastern Switzerland and started rock climbing at age nine. Two years later she did Skyline 8b in Bürs, Austria. This was followed by alpine multi-pitch routes up to 7c+ in the Kreuzbergen and Rätikon. Last month she did Euphorie 8b+in Voralpsee in just a few attempts. How have you been able to stay fit during the lockdown and what is next? (asking her father) In the lockdown, she did strength training, stretching, jogging, yoga, and trained on the self-built campus board. Next, she wants to climb, climb, and climb again.

Melissa Le Neve reports on Insta that she has done Christian Bindhammer's Bionic Commando 8c+ in Bavaria and it took some 7 sessions. (c) Fabi Buhl "I was lucky to be in Bavaria (Germany) and there was no lockdown like in France, Spain or Italy. Only some social restrictions and hygiene measures. There is plenty of crags so the important thing is to keep social distancing and if somebody is already trying the route you want to try you bail and you find a plan b. Melissa is one of the best multi-discipline climber having also done 8B+ boulder, 8b+ MP. The 30-year-old finished her competition career in 2016 being #3 in the Boulder World Cup. Lately she has started up a work as a trainer and currently, she trains some high profile climbers like Matilda Söderlund. "Well I’m keen to train motivated persons to reach their goals outside or in competition. I believe that training is like a chess game where you need to bet on a pass and see the result. With Matilda it works super well so far!"

Babsi Zangerl reports on Insta that she has done Unleashed 8c+ and Instructor 8c+/9a in Bregenzerwald. The latter is 45 m long and it was bolted by Jürgen Höfle. Jacopo Larcher did get the FA and also the picture. "I was curious to hop on this 45m monster line! It was all about trying as hard as I can!!! This is a line I am very proud of, I am not really good in steep climbing but investing some hard work/obsession really paid off. Thanks for the inspiration Jacopino!!! We trained at home for one month! We got a training setup from evolution climbing... and combined hang boarding campusing and some core training... but luckily we were allowed to climb on rock soon. So we were quite lucky compared to many other countries. Anyway, I think we all have to use our common sense (like social distancing, avoiding crowded crags) as climbers, as none of us want to go back into lockdown." Barbara Zangerl is a contender for being the best female rock climber out there. Until 2009, the Austrian was one of the best female boulderer until she stopped due to an herniated vertebral disc. In routes, she has now done four routes 8c+/9a or 9a and in multi-pitches and big-walls she is totally superior out of the female.

Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen and Tim Reuser have done Cannibal Corpse 8B+ in Arena. For Tim it was his fourth 8B+, out of which the third in 2020. Michiel has previously done 16 8B+'s and 8C's.

Tim: Used the jump beta. Same difficulty as the heel hook beta in my opinion. It depends on the friction of the crimp and your personal preference.
Michiel: During the lockdown, we had to be creative. Besides the pull-ups and hangboarding, and occasional setting and testing. We climbed a lot at Blok op Zuid, an artificial bouldering blok in Rotterdam. with problems up to 8B. In the Netherlands, we were allowed to go out. But the gyms had to be closed.

Julia Fiser, Top-21 in the last four WC's, has come out the lockdown in great shape. Instead of preparing for Lead World Cups she is climbing outdoors and has done her first 8c, Der schwarze Schwan in Ötztal. (c) Katerina Fiser "The lockdown in Austria started on March 15th. We were only allowed to leave the house for basic human needs. So I spent a lot of time hanging on my hangboard on the balcony and doing different exercises to stay fit. One thing that helped me a lot to stay motivated was that the whole Austria climbing team did these sessions together online via live stream. A few weeks ago restrictions loosened up a bit, which meant we were allowed to do sports outside again. Since then, I’ve been spending a lot of time climbing outside, mostly trying to avoid crowded crags. I was surprised how good and confident I felt after a few climbing days so I decided it would be cool to try something hard, now that I have a lot of time to climb outside instead of preparing for the Lead world cups in the summer. It was always a dream of mine to climb 8c and this route seemed the most logical because it’s basically a wall with just this route and one 8a next to it, so there are never many people around. In the first session I just checked out the moves and although I did all the single moves, I felt really uncomfortable on the wall. I have not done such hard moves in a very long time, so I guess that was the reason for that. But I made some really fast progress and felt better and better every try and yesterday, on my 4th session on the route this year (and 5th sessions in total), I managed to send it first try."

Jernej Kruder, the Boulder WC 2018 winner, reports on Insta to have had very productive days doing eleven routes 8a and harder including the FA of Peščena ura 9a. (c) Martin Zorko The Slovenian is famous for often climbing outdoors as preparation for doing competitions. Last year he won one Bouldering WC and then he focused on Tokyo. His last chance qualifying is during the Euro Championship but if that is also cancelled he will get the last Euro ticket as he was #16 in the Combined World Championship.