Brunico in South Tyrol has some 20 000 inhabitants. In 2015, their 8.5 million gym paid by the municipality and run by Alpenverein Südtirol was open with one idea: to let all pupils climb as part of their gymnastic classes. Every sixth week, all students from 7 - 19 years old have two classes of climbing together with their teachers. We will follow up with how this works in practice. The wall to the left on the picture hides a 20 meter wide and 18 meter high outdoor wall. To make the story even more amazing. In total the gym is open 93.5 hours a week. In the closest city, Brixen with 25,000 people some 30 minutes away, there exist another 3 million Euro gym but climbing is not mandatory yet. Some 500,000 people live in in South Tyrol and 12 % are members of the Alpenverein!

Brunico v Južnom Tyrolsku má približne 20 000 obyvateľov. V roku 2015 mestská správa otvorila 8.5 miliónovú halu, ktorú riadi Alpenverein Südtirol, s jediným cieľom: aby mohli mať školáci ako povinnú súčasť telesnej výchovy lezenie. Každých 6 týždňov majú študenti od 9 do 17 rokov spolu s učiteľmi dve hodiny lezeckých kurzov. Neskôr prinesieme informácie o tom, ako sa tento systém osvedčil v praxi. Na obrázku je za ľavou stenou schovaná 20 metrov široká a 18 metrov vysoká outdoorová lezecká stena. Ešte lepšou správou je, že je otvorená 93.5 hodín do týždňa! Ďalšia trojmiliónová lezecká hala sa nachádza asi 30 minút cesty autom v meste Brixen s cca 25 000 obyvateľmi, no tu ešte lezenie nie je povinné. Zaujímavosťou je, že v regióne Južné Tyrolsko žije približne 500 000 ľudí a 12% z nich sú členmi Alpenverein!

Alberto Gines has done his second 8c, Entre tus Piernas in La Muela. In the 8a ranking game he is #2 among the 14 year olds. "I have been climbing since I was 3 years old, but I started to climb seriously at 6, and I started training with David Macià 4 years ago. I train 4 days a week and the on the weekend often I go to climb on rock. This year I want to win the Spanish climbing cup and some international competitions and do my first 8a+ onsight and more 8c's.

Mumin Karabas, who did the first 8c+ in Turkey, has done the ten year old project Karma Sutra 8c+ in Geyik Bayırı. "I struggled for 10 climbing days to figure out beta, and the other 10 climbing days for actually doing it. The route is very bouldery, there's 25 moves without chalking or resting." Mumin also reports that there are more than 50 % less climbers this winter season. "As you know the situation in Turkey...Not many foreigners are coming to Turkey for climbing. People are afraid... but there's a beautiful blue sky today and great season for climbing :)))"

Michaela Kiersch has done her fourth 8c+ in Red River Gorge the last year, 24 Carat, which took some 4-5 weekends. The full time university student, who plans to graduate this year, seems to every other weekend make the seven hour trip from Chicago to challenge some of the best sand stone routes in the world. (c) Leslay Ladlad "So excited to finally put this one away!!!! It was a rollercoaster of emotions between falling low and falling high. I try to take it in stride but it's not always easy to remain open minded. Every climb is a learning experience, and in the end it was the go that started with Mariah Carey that got me to the top!"

Felipe Camargo won among 108 challengers from Brazil, Usa, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Germany the Netflix Ultimate Beastmaster. The prize was USD 35,000! "It was pretty cool! I won the show and the final was together with a Korean who is ex world champion in ice climbing!!" In 2007, the Brazilian was #27 in the Lead World Champion when he was 16 years old. Later he has done three 9a's and also two 8C boulders. He is also one of the guys that have put up many hard core routes and boulders in Brazil.

Shadow On The Wall - Ticino 17 from Ironmanfilms on Vimeo.