Nina Williams shares her great story for how she did Bambi 8A+ in Matthew Winters on her Instagram and 8a. This was her fifth 8A+ this winter and she is #4 in the ranking game, just three points below ranking #2. (c) Eddie Fowke "Two days ago I solo-sessioned one of my nemesis projects with two pads. I worked the moves in sections, starting with the middle, then the end, and finally the beginning, refreshing my muscle memory. I figured I would come back another day with 4-5 pads and a couple spotters. Yet all of a sudden I found myself through the crux from the start I hadn’t had any thoughts of sending; I was just climbing!" On her 8a scorecard she reveals the amazing lucky story for the send. "Hit the pocket from the start all by my lonesome, with one pad for the end. Cheers to Derek, Ben, and Annika walking up right at that moment to spot the topout. Sure felt hard to me..."

La Danse des Balrogs was put up by Fred Nicole in 1991 as the world's first 8B but many hade said it is 8A+. Here is Dorothea Karalus pretty obsessed story actually doing several 700 km solo trips to it. She has previously done one 8B and some ten 8A+'.

La Danse Des Balrogs, world's first 8B from Dorothea Karalus on Vimeo.

A great show in CWIF was won by Alma Bestvater and Kokoro Fujii. Big favorite Stasa Gejo was only four but with the old rules she would have taken the silver. Here is the scoring based on points/attempts, if needed, and the official scoring with Tops Zones and Attempts. The standing scoring was occasionally shown on the screen but anyhow, the commentators could sometimes not give the correct conditions before the last boulder. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Kokoro Fujii 44 points (6 attempts) - 4T4z 6A 2. Alex Khazanov 44 (9) - 4T4z 9A 3. Tim Reuser 34 - 3T4z 4A 1. Alma Bestvater 24 - 2T4z 3A 2. Michaela Tracey 14 (3) - 1T4z 3A 3. Leah Crane 14 (4) - 1T4z 4A

Caroline Sinno has spent the weekend in Targassonne where she did Bouillon de culture 8B and she is #9 in the ranking game. "So happy and such a memorable fight! Props to Rackam for putting up this cool line. Nice moves on slopers and then into a tiny crack. Felt harder than la cicatrice de l'ohm in the same style in Font. I like Targassonne because once you get used to the rock, which is granite, you can really find cool boulder problems. It’s a nice scenery in the Pyrenees, no one there and weather is very often perfect."

Based on 1 000+ unique votes in regards chipping, we can see that the community is actually slightly more positive compared to an identical poll four years ago. 10 % YES! = Better climbing (7 % in 2014) 10 % OK, but very seldom (9 %) 02 % I do not know (2 %) 58 % No, but cleaning is OK (54 %) 19 % NO! Brush is the limit (28 %)

Angie Scarth-Johnson has taken two months off from her school in Australia to visit Spain like last year. This week she has onsighted Sense friccio 8a in Margalef and a 7c+. In the Gender and Age ranking game, the 13 year old is #11 but with one more 8a onsight she is #3. On the picture by Joao Giacchin, we see her non-climbing mum and dad who have been travelling around the globe with her for some years now. The first long trip to Spain they did in 2014, when she did her first 8b being 9 years old. This is what her mother, who is a teacher and do home schooling with Angie, told us then, "We believe that the experience of learning while traveling is very valuable for Angie and hopefully opening her perspective on the world."

Oriane Bertone has done La Cicatrice de l'Ohm 8A+ in Fontainebleau which actually has been 8B. Amazingly, the 12 year old did only need three attempts. Previously, Oriane has done 22 boulders 8A and harder including Golden Shadow 8B (+) in Rocklands. In the 8a ranking game she is #3.