Maria Sperl started climbing slowly being being a single mother 30 years old and it changed her life. The last two years she got more time and she just did her second 8b, Morci in Leonidio. "In the 20-ies I did a lot of training in the gym and I think this was a good prevention for climbing regarding injuries and I had also a bit body power and power in the arms. I started to climb with my little sister at our small home crags. We didn't have any experience with the handling and we didn't do any climbing course and afterwords I'm happy, that I didn't get injured seriously. When I started climbing, I could not spend much time in climbing because my little son needed my time. But I was so psyched because of that sport- it changed my life during the years essentially. The last two years I got more and more time for climbing- so I could make progress every year. Climbing in different spots, different rock types and going on holidays for longer now is a privilege for me and makes me stronger by every trip. I'm still learning a lot regarding training, mental and technical aspects. Last year I climbed first 8b. So I'm getting more and more confidence to do harder routes."

Adam Ondra has onsighted Combinazione 8c in Pontebrolla which might not be so newsworthy as it was his 79th onsight 8c to 9a. However, 8c onsights in the climbing community are very rare. Most probably, the 24 year old Czech has onsighted at least two thirds of all 8c ever been onsighted and for 8c+ and harder his ascents stand for some 80 %. Add to that all his personal grades and we are getting close to 100 routes originally graded 8c. It might be good for all the youngsters to know that Adam's focus has always been onsight no matter the grade and the same goes for Alex Megos. It seems that the guys going for the onsight challenges in the end have better chances to become the best. Overall, Adam has onsighted over 500 routes 8a+ to 9a. Here is what he answered in his first ever 8a interview being 11 years old, in regards Which is your next goal? I don't like speaking about my plans very much. So only in general - I always try to climb as many routes of the grade OS (now, it is 8b). I usually don't try harder things for a long time.

Oriane Bertone has set a new standard in bouldering by doing Golden Shadow 8B+ in Rocklands. Including a 7C+ flash yesterday, the 12 year old is #2 in the ranking game once it is added to her scorecard. EpicTV is preparing a video and an interview to be released later today. The previous 8B+ youngest world record holder was Ashima Shiraishi who did the same boulder when she was 13 years old. Among the boys, Mirko Caballero is youngest also 13 years old when he Medow Lark Lemon 8B+. Adam Ondra on the other hand was 15 years old. It should be noted that some have said Golden Shadow is soft and five out of the 27 ascents have marked it as 8B so it is border line to be reported as 8B (+). Nevertheless, as Ashima did the same boulder it is in any case a new record. Including the 8C by Shiraishi when she was still 14 years old and Angy Eiters 9b last year, we can once again say that climbing is unique when it comes to gender and age equality for physical sports.

"My Updates" in the left column list the ascents from Scorecard and Crags you are interested of. Just go to your friends scorecard and add it and the same you can do with crags, where you also can specify which grade filter wanted.

The first big climbing competition in 2018 was hold in Milan and the winners in Lead were Adam Ondra and Mina Markovic and in Boulder Anna Stöhr and Gabriele Moroni. Runner-ups were Laura Rogara and Stefano Ghisolfi and Kilian Fischhuber and Katha Saurwein. The World Cup 2018 starts in Switzerland with Bouldering 13/4.

GRIPPED "Killer Pillar" Movie Trailer 1 from Oceanic Productions on Vimeo.