Nalle Hukkataival, who has never suggested 8C+ for a Boulder he has done, comes on Facebook with the amazing news that he has done the FA of Burden of Dreams 9A. "Yesterday I had another session on the Lappnor project. The routine that goes into it after all this time isn’t all that exciting; the same warm up, driving an hour on the same road, brushing the all too familiar holds, re-warming up, systematically trying the same sequences in the same order. Some days you feel strong and confident and get totally shut down. Other days you’re not feeling a 100 percent and it could be the best session you’ve had. All logic seems to have gone out the window a long time ago. Many sessions I wish I could forget. Can’t do a move I’ve done countless of times before. Last highpoint was a year ago. Weeks and months turned into years of uncertainty and self-doubt. Trying to keep that little spark of hope in the back of your mind alive. Walking up to the boulder with all the positivity I can muster, I still can’t ignore what the boulder has become to represent; failure of varying degrees. Sitting under the boulder I can feel the weight of it. Pulling on always feels like a déjà vu, like the thousands of times before. It always starts the same way and ends the same way. Except this time. This time was different. Snap to reality, I’m hanging on the lip of the boulder, disoriented, heart racing. Contain the panic. I’m on top of the boulder trying to grasp how I got there. Lots of feelings coinciding; surprise, relief, happiness, confusion. As reality hits that quickly turns into ecstatic happiness with a dash of disbelief. Waking up today I can’t help but look at the world with different eyes. Having achieved the first ascent of Burden of Dreams marks a new level in my climbing. With a handful of existing 8C+ boulders in the world, proposing 9A is the logical step. Huge thanks to my friend Marko Siivinen for showing me the line! What a journey it’s been! Stay tuned for a film of the whole story with the boulder. It will be something extraordinary!

The sixth and second last stage of the Lead World Cup took place in Xiamen, China this weekend. The world champion, Janja Garnbret, took her fourth victory and so she has secured the overall title. Among the male, Stefano Ghisolfi won for the first time since his first victory in 2014. The overall leader, Domen Skofic, also from Slovenia, was just #9 meaning that also Jakob Schubert and Romain Desgranges are on the run for the 2016 title. 1. Stefano Ghisolfi ITA - Janja Garnbret SLO 2. Dmitrii Fakiryanov RUS - Anak Verhoeven BEL 3. Jakob Schubert AUT - Jain Kim KOR 4. Gauthier Supper FRA - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 5. Romain Desgranges FRA - Mina Markovic SLO

Our new Web Developer, Tieme van Veen, has deployed some updates to our new responsive beta.8a.nu. New things: 1. Click Search and you will get a list nearby crags with distance to them and driving instructions. 2. Filter Crag Ticklist to find your best climbs (not mobile yet) 3. All news in a handy mobile format - beta.8a.nu/news" 4. Check your and friends' scorecards Next up is making it possible to add ascents to your scorecard. The plan is to have most ready within a few months but keep the old website so you can choose between them.

Adam Ondra has made fast progress on The Dawn Wall and this is his latest Instagram report. "@kjorgeson giving me the jugging up master class the other day and as well as beta for the pitches. The third day up on the Dawn Wall I fixed the lines almost to the top of pitch 16 (dyno pitch). I checked the moves on the crux pitches and it looked definitely hard. Beautiful, HARD, intimidating and motivating project. @tommycaldwell was a huge visionary to see this line in the middle of the blank wall." On the Black Diamond FB Adam gives some more insight to his strategy. "I would like to emphasize that I am not free climbing everything yet. The goal right now is only to go ground-up to the top, free-climbing and using a little bit of aid climbing, to fix the whole line with ropes and start working on the pitches properly to have them ready for the final free push later. So if the crux is around the protection, I just touch the holds to see how the sequence would be and continue. The first crux-pitch looked definitely super hard to free climb. Almost impossible. I will have to take a look at all these razorblades more closely."

Felskader BW in Island Part I from Max Räuber on Vimeo.

EPIC TV shop has La Sportiva sales this week. Testarossa is offered at just Euro 109 with free shipping. This price is actually lower then what La Sportiva offers at their own Outlet.

Neil Gresham, a well-known trainer for the last 20 years, has done his first 8c+, Sabotage in Malham. © Ian Parnell Photography "I guess I've reached a peak in sport climbing in my mid forties because I didn't really do any sport climbing in my thirties - I was just going adventuring and doing trad, ice DWS, and so on. I pushed my sport climbing pretty hard in my early twenties but training methods and facilities were primitive back then and I used to get injured quite a lot. There were also way less routes to choose from back in the early 90s and most of the routes in the high F8s were short and powerful and didn't really suit me. I've been pretty structured in terms of applying a very specific focus on my projects. Both Sabotage and Freakshow (my 8c at Kilnsey last year) had moves that I couldn't do, so I had to gain the specific strength for them (by doing replica blocs and working the same finger grips on a hangboard etc) and I also trained endurance at the same angle, style and intensity as the routes. As for 9a, it isn't a goal unless my next project at Kilnsey turns out to be 9a, in which case I will square up to it!"