8A+ #50 by Alex Puccio
Alex Puccio has done her fiftieth 8A+, Wing Chun in Ibex and she extends her lead in the 8a ranking game. "First day ever climbing in Ibex! Amazing line, always wanted to try this one!!!" (c) Joel Zerr When it comes to outdoor bouldering, the silver medalist on the WCH in 2014, has more or less dominated the scene the last ten years beside having got some bad injuries actually competing. Last weekend she was #3 in the USA Lead Nationals. What are your competition plans and what about the Olympics? I plan to do some Bouldering and Lead World Cups this year, but not the whole seasons and I will be at World Champs for sure competing in at least Bouldering and Lead.

Crag & route pages updated
Weโ€™ve updated the layout of the crag and route pages. The new page structure lays the foundation for bringing Topos to Vertical-Life Web. Alongside the new layโ€ฆ
Nearly 2,000 hectares of Font Forest destroyed by wildfire
Exceptional wildfires are currently sweeping through parts of France's Fontainebleau Forest. Located around 70 km south-east of Paris, the UNESCO Biosphere Reseโ€ฆ
8c+ #36 by Daniel Fuertes (37)
Dani Furtes has done his 36th 8c+, El Rastro in Siurana. "Around 10 tries but I have been working La Rambla and 2/3 of the route is same." Nice to see is that the 37 year old who started to climb in 1995 is actually at his peak and approaching 1 000 routes 8a and harder. In the 8a ranking game, Dani is #4. (c) Dan Krauss

First 9a by Thomas Blaabjerg
Thomas Blaaberg, who walks with crutches to the crags since a bad accident in 2013, has become the first Dane to do a 9a through Joe-Cita in Oliana. (c) Tor Johnsson "Been trying this line for a while now, and after falling tree times in a row on the last move in the crux, I decided to take a break from it and try some of the other classics... it worked well for me, so after a 10 day long break I was extremely excited to go back and give it everything I had. It went down on my second try that day!" So what is next? Relax and enjoy thatโ€™s itโ€™s done! No need to rush at the moment !:-)!!

Sebastian Bouin: "My hardest challenge process at the moment. Hopefully the place is incredible, that's keep me motivate to come back this year." Really great video, enjoy!

8C by Jonas Winter
Jonas Winter, who previously has done The Big Island 8C and Underground 9a, reports on Instagram that he has done the 30 moves long Quoi de neuf 8C in Orsay roof. "The boulder got my attention after seeing a photo of Jacky Godoffe shaking out in the no hand rest before the second part of this line wich is 8a+/8b on its own and has an amazing 180ยฐ campus move in it which is unique for a outdoor boulder. I could do the the second part two years ago but the complete line stayed in my mind ever since."

The Big Island sit, the world's greatest project
The Big Island in Fontainebleau is the most confirmed 8C in the world with 17 ascents, including Any Gullsten yesterday, and everyone on 8a has given it three stars. It was put up with as a stand start by Vincent Pochon in 2010 after Dave Graham had made a two moves in FA, The Island, two years earlier. Over the years, many boulderers have checked out the sit start where Jan Hojer and James Webb have done some good linking. As it is so steep and climbs diagonally into the starting position, the sit start in itself, could be considered a boulder possibly around 8C. Adding the equally long, The Big Island 8C on top of this, with absolutely, no rest might be that we are talking about the another 9A? James Webb: "The sit start is an incredible project. For me personally the bottom is at least 8B+ and maybe even harder than The Big Island itself. The intro (10 moves for my method) is very powerful, yet technical with a tricky kneebar that links you through to the stand. Once youโ€™re there you just have to take a deep breath and with absolutely no rest climb the Big Island. Itโ€™s a mega line! I would say that it is is somewhat a serious project for me. I've tried it now for about three seasons. I just made a trip there in Jan/Feb but the weather only allowed me to have thee sessions on it in total which was quite frustrating. It's a mega line though and I'm excited to return next year for another round of attempts! I had a good try this season where I entered the stand start and stuck the big right hand move to the sloper. After that you stuff the left heel and go to the crimp and this is where I fell. Seems close! Though the next few moves require a lot of tension and from the bottom you're exhausted. So its definitely not over!" On the picture, James is doing the move out to the start of The Big Island. The sit starts all the way down straight below his right foot. So have you have in fact linked the whole sit start to like 3-4 moves into the stand? Yup. Many times actually.