karoline sinnhuber, #8 in the last Boulder WC 2018, has had a very productive trip doing eight 8A's out of which La persistencia de la memoria (8A+ in the topo) and Pamplemousse 8A sticks out. "Might be the most beautiful boulder in Ticino." (c) Michael Eisenmann - Entwash. "I was in Ticino from 26th December till 5th January. Due to perfect weather we had only 3 rest days. I spent a lot of time in the gym the last couple of weeks to get in shape for the trip, which worked out quite well. I havn't really done much boulders in Ticino yet, so I decided to literally "run through" the 8As and go for harder stuff next time. I might return in February for a week or so, if the weather is fine. 2019... I'm super psyched at the moment for outdoor climbing! Definitely have to go to Maltatal again to finish "Air" 8B. Rocklands in summer are also tempting to finish "Ray of Light" and "L'Arche", both 8B. Or maybe Hueco through December. So many wishes and possibilities, so little money to spend! Bummer. Regarding competitions: we will see how it goes. There are now only 5 starting spots (instead of 6) for the world cups and we are around 10 girls who want to compete. And the young guns are pretty strong :)" Full blogspot report with more superb pictures.

Clay Gordon reports on Insta that he has sent in different days but in one session, two 8B's in Bishop, Spectre and Buttermilker. He also did The Mystery 8A+ and Evilution Direct 8A. Pic from Spectre, © Michael Pang Clay was 4th at the Youth World Championships in 2016 and four times he has been the national champion in USA.

Alex Totkova, who is #9 in the 8a ranking game, has done her first 8c, Goofy in Leonidio. "Cool route is Goofy. It starts with less difficult movements. You can squeeze your knees twice. Passage is the transfer from one route to the other. Then go on 8a+." Alex compared her previous achievement, a route called "4x4" at the home crag Vratsa 8b+, as "The cruxes at Groofy were riskier. Now I would try something harder"."

Marcello Bombardi, winner of the Chamonix Lead WC in 2017, has done Estato Critico 9a (8c+) and L'odi Social 8c+ in Siurana. (c) Elisa Negro "They took me two days each, five attempts for Estado Critico and seven for L'odi social. In 2019 I will focus on the competition and especially on the combined, trying to get a pass for Tokyo 2020. It would be a dream to qualify for the Olympics."