Luca Bana has done Abusive Love 9a in Paline. ”Yeah! A 40 meters power-endurance challenge! Intro 8b+ into very pumpy/sustained 8c. 9a-range should be ok, but let's see what the others say!

Caroline Sinno, who previously has done seven 8A+’, has done her second 8B traverese* in Fontainebleau, Trafic. Great video. ”A dream came true! First 8B climbed by a woman Cathy Miquel back in 2002! A piece of history and power endurance. I would have never believed holding those infamous slopers and doing it in a few sessions ;)” * Most of the traverses in Font are graded based on a separate difficulty scale in between routes and boulders. This means that an 8B traverese could be compared with an 8A+ boulder.

In the qualification in Xiamen, three female and seven male topped both routes. Among the Top-12 female, there were 4 from Japan and Slovenia, 3 from Austria and one from Korea. Among the male, 8 from Japan in Top-21. Complete results Live streaming on Sunday GMT - 8 09:45-10:45 Speed Final (LIVE) 13:00-15:30 Men and Women Lead Semi-Final (LIVE) 18:30-20:30 Lead Final for Men and Women (LIVE)

Roland Wagner has done his second 8c+ in 2018, Old Maid in Wilhelmswand. "One of my favorite and hardest routes. Quite the challenge... 12 days total." Including also two 8c's this year, the good news is that the 38 year old is at his peak.

Daniel Woods has done the first repeat of James Litz Ace of Spade in Pop Tire Cave suggesting an upgrade to 9a+. He also tried Peruvian Necktie which adds a final 8A (+) boulder saying this could be 9b. More on Daniel's Insta. (c) Mike Call Back in 2004, James Litz was one of the best climbers in the world having done two 8c+'s as well as Dreamtime 8C. His original grade of his two FA's were 9a and 9a/+ but this was under the radar and no media reported about these sends. Interview of the potential 9b crusher under the radar is coming up. Noteworthy is also that Jonathan Siegrist tried it last summer writing in his blog, "It is certainly one of the hardest routes in the country."

Margo Hayes, who just did two 8c's in Oliana, reports on Insta that she has done Joe Blau 8c+ in Oliana. Including the two 9a+', La Rambla and Biographie, the 20 year old is a contender for having the most impressive female ticklist ever together with Angy Eiter. (c) Jan Novak

Thilo Schroeter, #11 in a Boulder WC this spring, has made the FA of Agnes Buen 9a in Sørkedalen outside Oslo, which was bolted 25 years ago. (c) Henning Wang "I worked on the route for about five days two years ago, and now close to ten days this autumn. The route is short and climbs up an 15 degree face. The crux revolves around holding an undercling that explodes your biceps, then getting your feet onto very high and terrible footholds, and reaching up to a very strange sloped V-slot with the middle finger hooking onto a tooth. Ten moves of 8A+ boulder lead up to the crux, and the crux sequence which starts with the move explained above is a very low percentage 8A boulder. From there another 7B boulder before an easy top slab. 9a is my grade suggestion." More info on his Insta.