Ingo Filzwieser, the previous national coach of Austria who still is the personal trainer of Sandra Lettner (16) #4 in Meiringen, has a saying. "My motto is that you can not train like the last winner... you have to train like the next winner." When he became an Austria coach seven years ago he analysed the types of holds used and it was like 65 % crimps. This can be compared with 2017, with some 5 % crimps and like 80 % volumes. "Part of the reason for this might be that it was getting more difficult for the route setters to check the right level for the male. I saw Sharafutdinov (superior #1 in 2013) doing a pull up with 65 kilo extra weight. Today, there is very little benefit of such strength, instead bouldering has become a coordination sport, giving chances for the route setters to actually do the problems. You need to be very smart and also tactically skillful. Most boulderer have different shoes they choice from, in order to adapt to different steepness and types of holds. Coming into the boulder, you need to immediately get a plan and then start executing within seconds to not loose time. You can not just start trying hard. Sometimes I see competitors start brushing the holds before they start which actually will make them just loose time. Doing and filming simulation is very important. Later you as a coach can actually give feedback on why they rested so many seconds and how many attempts they did etc. It will become more of a mind game in the future and this was one part how Kilian (Fischhuber) won 22 World Cups. He was also, and still is, physically really strong but he always solved the problem first in his head. In general I like this as it also becomes a better and more injury free sport for the youngsters. It is also good that it becomes more of a team sport as it is a constant process of learning technical and tactical skill from each other. I was quite amazed seeing Narasaki and Noguchi closely following what the others did, in a training camp in Innsbruck, even on yoga classes. You could feel that they really cared about each other. It is also important for the kids to finish school, have other interests and reducing the time they spend on social media. I agree on what recently have been pointed out on 8a that the trainers should have an holistic approach.

Piotr Schab has done a very quick ascent of Estado critico 9a (8c+) in Siurana. "3rd go. Cool moves in the crux and then some technical pumpy climbing to the top. 9a in a day feels damn. I assume it’s low end, but I had to fight very hard for it." In the 8a ranking game, the Pole is #2 after Adam Ondra. (c) Wojtek Kozakiewicz

Michaela Kiersch has done an impressive second go ascent of American Hastle in as well as her eight 8c+, Joe Blau, both in Oliana. "Yay!!! Epic battle after breaking a hold at the top." The 152 cm american, who took the silver in the USA Lead nationals recently, is the superior 8a Combined ranking game leader. (c) Matty Hong Michaela has just graduated from University and this is her second trip to Spain. Unfortunately it has been raining a lot and she has only two weeks left and now a heat wave is coming in. Next up to try is Papier Moyat.

Caroline Ciavaldini reports on Instagram that she has climbed the FFA of The Quarrymen E8 7a in Twll Mawr, Wales. This 4 pitches route was put up by legend Johnny Dawes in 1986, and it is one of the most iconic routes in the world with the extraordinary Groove Pitch (on the picture). © Neil Hart "“THAT IS NUTS" What on earth made me come up with: “I want to do The Quarryman”? Well… It seemed impossible so…"

Jernej Kruder, #2 in the WCH in 2014 and who has been an active competition climbers for 15 years, won his first World Cup in Meiringen. Interesting is that the Slovenian is mainly climbing and training outdoors doing all disciplines from DWS, trad and Big Walls and that goes also for his WC preparation. As a matter of a fact, the 27 year old should be a contender to be the best multi-discipline climber in the world, together with Adam Ondra, as of today. And he is going for the Olympics. "No preparations yet. Too soon for that :)" His Insta from 2018 confirms that he likes all types of climbing including bolting up new routes. The week before Meiringen he had two projecting days on a 9a, see the picture by krimp.si. The last months he has posted from several comps, 8b+ trad, 8b+ MP and 8B boulder. It was all about the weather, so it's hard to say how many days outdoor exactly. There were also some selection trainings and competitions too. But for sure it was more than 50% outdoors."

In October 2017, Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds set a new speed record on the 900 meters the Nose at 2.19.44, on their eleventh attempt . Looking at the great video you can see that they almost simu climbed everything and that they in reality did climb probably more like 1 100 meters due to all traverses etc. The FA in 1958 took 45 days and nowadays, normally 3-4 days is used to reach the summit.

Two Nineteen Forty Four from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.