Alex Puccio has done Carnage 8B (A+) in Guanella Pass. In total, she has now done 189 boulders 8A and harder. (c) Cameron Maier "The beginning thats not suppose to be the hard part was the hardest for me since I am a bit too short to make the knee bar work properly and I had to add a few more harder moves in the beginning due to the moves being too reachy. Soft 8B for me personally due to the added hard moves and the reachy moves?"

James Webb reports on Insta that he has done Nalle Hukkataival's classical The Finnish Line 8C in Rocklands. (c) Keenan Takahashi James says this was his number one goal in Rocklands and he says it is one of the best in the world. The 31 year old is #1 in the ranking game and once it has been added to his scorecard, he sets another new All time high score.

BJ Tilden has done Black Sheep which is his fourth 9a FA and also his fifth 8c+ or harder FA at Wolf Point. "The route is actually a link-up. Each piece took a whole season on its own. The start is called Sheep Eye. It's a hard 8c that I bolted and climbed 5 years ago. It look the whole spring season to send. The Black Streak is a route called God of War 8c+. I climbed that route 2 years ago and it took the whole fall season. I started trying the link last fall. I spent about four weeks on it and fell off the last move 10 times. This spring the crag opened late due to lots of snow. We only had five days in there. I fell on the last move another 6 times. I'm pretty sure yesterday was the last chance before it got too hot."

Maggie Odette, who did her first 8b+ at 44, has done her fourth, Eulogy in Maple Canyon. "Surprise! Never 1- or even 2-hung it. Terrible day on it on Friday, then miraculously got through the Millenium portion for the first time of the season yesterday, sent 2nd go of the day. Super weird. Unheard of for me...second go is usually a disaster! Yay!"

Babsi Zangerl reports on Insta that she has done Pre-Muir wall which is a 30 pitch 8b in Yosemite. (c) Jacopo Larcher Babsi has previously done three other big multi-pitches in Yosemite and many others all over. In this discipline she is superior among the female and also one of the very best among the male. Including also 9a in Sport and 8B in bouldering, the Austrian is the best female rock climber in the world.

Chiara Hanke, who previously has done five 8c’s has become the first women to do a 9a in Frankenjura via, Sever the Wicked Hand, in just six or seven sessions. More info and pics on her Insta. (c) Hans Radetzki ”I started climbing at the age of 13 after a shoulder surgery. Before that I was passionate about wakeboarding. Actually I just wanted to get fit for wakeboarding again quickly. A climbing hall had opened around the corner from me at the time. That was so much fun for me that I stayed with it. Then everything went very fast: competitions, member of the national team, more competitions. I didn‘t get to really climb outside until the end of 2017, when I started climbing again after a knee injury lasting almost 3 months. That was a lot of fun for me and motivation! In 2018 I only climbed outside besides training. Wallstreet was certainly a highlight of it. For me it was and still is important to climb many routes and climbb in general. I really don't like to try routes to often. Then I have the feeling not to climb any more and I miss just doing moves."

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done his fourth 9a the last three weeks, Leira in Cuenca. Adding also four 8c+ and one 9b in the same period, it is easy to say that the 19 year old is in the best shape in his life. In the 8a ranking game, the Spaniard is #4.

Bill Ramsey (59), a professor in philosphy, has done Jumbo Pumping Hate 8b+ in Clark Mountain put up by Randy Leavitt. (c) Max Fox "I like what Randy Leavitt said: "Don't let your mind get old because your body will follow." While your various strengths and capacities diminish with age, your ability to try hard doesn't. Rest more and warm-up more, but when it's game time, try really hard." How many sessions did it take and did you do any specific training? I’m not sure how many sessions, but I worked on it for about three seasons. I tried recreating the crux dyno in my garage to train on, and that probably helped. I also made a point of training while projecting to avoid project-atrophy. Sometimes that would involve taking a few days off to train, sometimes it would involve training before or after a day at the cliff. How is your approach towards doing hard routes now compared to 10, 20 and 30 years ago? It’s the same, only I probably put less pressure on myself now. I want to send, but just having a good day up there with friends, where I feel good about my effort is also gratifying. What is it mentally, taking about motivation, that keeps you pushing so hard? I think the hype about always being positive is mostly BS. It’s better to be a realistic optimist – being honest and realistic about your chances, about what needs improving, but trying hard when you have a shot. Some days are going to really suck and you just need to take those in stride. You also need mini-goals (high-points, or low-points, linkage goals) and strategic objectives every day. And no matter how well you think you know a route, there is always more to learn. Even if a slight tweak in beta that only saves .5% of energy, if you find 4 of those you are climbing 2% stronger, which can be huge.