Oriane Bertone continues her rampage in Rocklands by doing Law and order 8A+, Pendragon 8A and onsighting Tail of a Caracal giving it a personal 8A grade. To make it even more impressive, the daily max temperature have reached 35 degrees the last days. "Cool traverse, called 8A+ on the topo. I felt it 8A soft (à single hard move at the beginning). May be 7C+ in comparison with Atomic Playboy in Font, that I climbed in october. Very happy to send onsight this crimpy traverse." In total, the 13 year old has done 36 boulders 8A to 8B+ out of which half the last year. The video shows her amazing spider women technique with the feet sometimes like 1 meter above her head! Truly amazing!

Laura Rogora, who did her first 9a when she was 14 years old, has done her fifth, Esclatamasters in Perles. It was put up by Ramon Julian Puigblanque in 2007 and we have seen some 8c+ suggestions but then a hold broke in 2015 and the 9a grade has been confirmed again. (c) Marco Lacono The 17 year old has been a successfull competition climber for several years and in 2017, she was #6 in the European Championship and also #6 in a World Cup. Last year, she won all three European Lead Youth Cups she entered as well as the Youth Worlds in Bouldering.

Jakub Konečný, #6 in the Lead WCH in Innsbruck, reports on Insta that he finished off 2018 by doing Catxasa 9a+ in Santa Linya. This means he has done four 9a or harder just the last two weeks. (c) Vojta Vrzba "Last possible try of the day, last climb of this year. I’m glad to finish this already great season by clipping the chain of my dream route."

Jernej Kruder, boulder World Cup winner in 2018 and famous for his multi-discipline focus instead of training indoors before the comps, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Dugi rat 9a+ in Vrulja, Croatia. Old projecting video. "Incredible line! Bolted it 3 years ago and had to spend 5(6) visits to finish it, including one month trip that was too rainy. Braking some holds made it way harder during the tires, but so happy it remained climbable. Had a huge fight with a bit easier upper part because of numb fingers. Still dreaming about the line <3." In the 8a Combined ranking game, the Slovenian is #5 including 8b+ DWS FA, 8b+ MP, 8b+ trad and 8C Boulder FA etc. In the 8a Climber of the year, he is #6.

Iker Ortiz has done his first 9a, La Negra in Gandia. "What an illusion! A good physical and mental struggle, third ascent after Pedro and Jonatan."

Oriane Bertone is as usual in Rocklands during the Christmas break. Although fighting 30-35 degrees, the 13 year old has quickly done two 8A+', Leopard Cave and Green Mamba. In the 8a ranking game, she is #2 after Isabelle Faus. Nice video showing her amazing feet over the head technique.

Starting 14th January in Stockholm, the celebrated documentary Free Solo that has received 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, is on a tour around the Nordic countries. Free Solo is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock ... the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park ... without a rope. The New York Times writes: "Alex Honnold’s Free Solo climb should be celebrated as one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever." Dates: 14th Jan Stockholm SOLD OUT 15th Jan Stockholm SOLD OUT 15th Jan Malmö 16th Jan Norrköping 17th Jan Göteborg 22nd Oslo SOLD OUT 23rd Oslo 24th Stockholm Bio Roy More cities and dates will be updated on www.strang.se Requests to screen Free Solo at other cities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, please contact [email protected] Photographs © 2018 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Christof Rauch has done his third 8C in 2018, Der mit dem Fels tanzt 8C in Chironico which Martin Keller did put up. In total, Christof who works full time, has done 144 boulders 8A and harder this year which should be most in the world. In the 8a ranking game, based on the Top-10 ascents, he is #5. The pic is from Big Kat 8B+ which he did three days ago. (c) Largegon Damien "Already tried it when I did „Insanity of Grandeur“, back then it felt way to hard to link it from the bottom, this trip it was different and I managed to do it on my third day of the trip. Great problem with sick moves, especially the feet first part and the compression at the end. Syked!"