Christof Rauch, who is working full time, has done his tenth 8C, Sierra Madre in Zillertal. In the 8a ranking game the Austrian is #6. (c) Michael Piccolruaz "One of the best and hardest lines in the valley! Would be even better without this nasty, sharp microcrimp on the upper part. Props to my friend Flo for establishing such a five star line! Dreamed about climbing this problem already when Flo tried to make the first ascent, then it took me many sessions to climb the first part „Larch“ (8A+) because it is on the limit for my armspan, then I tried „Sierra Madre stand“ (8A+) which took me a few sessions to find a good beta for my size as well. After that I got already quite close in May but then I hurt the pulley on my ringfinger. Back to bouldering it took me quite a while to get back into the right shape. Then the snow came too early this season but I didn‘t give up! Shoveled off the snow after work on Monday, then went all in on Friday and fell 5 times on the last hard move. Wasn‘t sure if I should even try it today because of quite bad skin. Had some bad luck and fell another 3 times on the last move. Then I went for a last effort and somehow fought my way to the top. Epic fight. So happy to finish this line after it became a real mental battle!"

Annie Chouinard, who started rock climbing at age 31, has done her first 8c+, Pure Imagination in Red River Gorge. Last month the 155cm tall published The shorter you are the stronger you have to be. More info to come. (c) Tiffany Nardico

Isabelle Faus, who previoulsy has done three 8B+', has done her 22nd 8B, Chimichunga in Scoop. Screenshoot picture from her Insta video captured by Chad Greedy. Isabelle is #1 in the 8a ranking game and with one more 8B, she will set a new personal high score. With one more 8B+, she will beat Alex Puccio's All Time High score by any female.

Jonathan Siegrist, who previoulsy has done 44 routes 9a to 9b, has made the first repeat of Jason Campbell's Ground Zero in Mt Charleston from 2002. Interestingly he suggests an upgrade from 8c to 9a (c) Shaina Savoy "Jason took 8c... which is completely insane because it adds a v10/11 (7C+/8A) boulder problem directly into the crux of Hasta La Vista (14c) (8c+) without any rest. It almost seems like he intended to sandbag the route." In 2015, Jonathan did the opposite, saying Era Vella, a confirmed 9a at the time, was more like 8c to him as it only took him three tries. On his Insta he says Ground Zero took him "a good number of days".

We have been informed that Alexey Rubtsov will be allowed to compete in the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse. This means that most probably, IOC has agreed on 22 male and female participants, meaning also Jernej Kruder, Sandra Lettner and Iuliia Kaplina are in. The reason for this late change is that first IFSC invited Rubtsov etc but later changed the rule meaning they were out. In the end, IOC must have agreed that this is most fair. Here is the full starting list. Rubtsov reports that he has only been doing bouldering and one hour Speed training lately so he has just one week to catch up before it starts next Thursday. Kruder has as always been climbing outside so now it is time to get back on that Speed wall again.