Rock & Ice report that Matty Hong has done three 9as in just two weeks. First he did Fat Camp in Rifle, two weeks ago, which was bolted by Joe Kinder and on which Jon Cardwell got the FA in August. Last Sunday he did Shadowboxing also in Rifle and this Monday he did Kryptonite both in Fortress of Soltitude. "Of the three, Hong says Kryptonite was his favorite climb, mainly because of its location and quality: “The Fortress is the most badass wall, it’s so unique and beautiful, and there’s no one out there. It also has the best rock quality.” For difficulty, he says “Fat Camp felt the hardest of the three, and it’s also my style. Shadowboxing felt harder than Kryptonite, but [Shadowboxing] is not really my style, so they’re hard to compare. They’re all different. I had to try the hardest on Shadowboxing, but Fat Camp took the longest.”

Adam Ondra has done Robin Úd in Alternativa Stena, which was his seventh 9b FA, not counting his three 9b+ FAs. "4 days of work this year, 1 day in 2014. Ultra athlethic climbing in the cave - 30 moves of hard climbing." The double world champion from 2014, who got one gold and one silver in the World Championships 2016, also onsighted his 18th 8c+, C'est la vie. "So happy to have waited for the moment and onsight this legendary route!" The day before he did his 120th 9a or harder by Jungfrau Marathon in Gimmelwald, "Such a bummer not to have onsighted this one! Messed up the sequence so badly and continued to the top straight after the fall. Then sent the following morning in the full sun." Here are some stats showing the superiority of the 23-year-old. # of 9bs and harder in comparison with runner up: 15 versus 8 (Sharma) # of 8c+s and harder onsight: 21 versus 2 (Megos) Next stop is Yosemite, where he might have a go on the Dawn Wall!

Charles "Mowgli" Albert, who stopped using climbing shoes four years ago, has done Gecko Assis 8B+. Previoulsy he has done one 8C, which he thinks is 8B+ without shoes. He has also done a direct version of Le pied à coulisse, originally an 8C+, for which he also suggested 8B+ if done barefoot. Interestingly, with shoes his direct version is at least a 9A. The 20-year-old has said that the biggest problem with climbing without shoes is that you have to rest more in order for toe skin to recover.

Dai Koyamada, one of the leading climbers of the last 20 years, reports on his blog in Japanese that he has done two 9a's in Frankenjura; Unplugged and The House of Shock, after just a couple of days. His plan is to stay in Europe for two months. He has also done two 8c+s. In 1998, Dai was #4 in a Lead World Cup but later he left that scene and to date he has put up at least five 8C Boulders and repeated at least a dozen 9a and harder routes.

Adam Ondra did the FA of Change 9b+ exactly four years ago in Flatanger and indeed it changed the scene. Flatanger has since become one of the most famous crags in the world and it is also the crag with the most hard core routes in the world. For Adam it has become like his second home and he has put up eleven 9a and harder routes in this extraordinary beautiful climbing paradise. Here is the short video from Petr Pavlíček that will make you scream almost as loud as Adam does failing and doing the 8B+ Boulder captured in the picture. Full length video available here.

Lena Herrmann is the first female to do an 8c+ in Frankenjura.

Ian Padilha report in his blog: "This route was impractible e far away for me, but i’m started to dedicate my efforts to trad climb e then to sport trad climb ( this is, hard routes with trad equipment) But it look still far away, because it was technically hard, trad, and exposed (in case of a fall, the gear can whip), the protection is far and not “bomber” like we say. This is gear that you cannot fall still. Send this route is not just a send a route, for me was overcome the fear and prove myself that i can reach my goals with training, dedication and concentration. by: Ian Padilha.

Isabelle Faus strengthens her leading position in the 8a ranking game by doing The Wheel of Chaos 8B+ in RMNP. (c) Caroline Treadway "Wow, crazy experience. Started trying last year, took me two or three days just to be able do all the moves. This year started started out a lil quicker, by my 2nd day this year (or it could have been third I can't even remember) I was made it up to the jug rest and fell dry firing of the slopey rail. Then the battle started. I went up there maybe 6 times after the first day of getting very close. Basically I would get to the jug like 3 times a session and 75% of the time fall because my skin was to dry/cold or my foot would pop off the smears. Rarely did I feel like I was falling because I was too tired, always my third try of the day I would pump out but the first tries always felt really good. In the end I probably made it to the jug more than 20 times... I stopped counting it got that bad. I was getting really frustrated and honestly just wanted to quit trying it for this year, but Chad wouldn't let me! Credit goes to him ! :)) really amped and feeling extra super fit! Really amazing boulder with great movement, so satisfying."

Part of the Art from Nils Favre on Vimeo.