Guntram Jörg has done his second 8C, Arzak in Murgtal which was put up by Fred Nicole. The Austrian was one of the leading boulders until 2015 when he got busy with setting up boulder gyms and finishing his study in economics. "Well - back to business of hard bouldering! First repeat after two holds broke off. Very physical boulder - the crux is linking all the moves. This line has everything: It´s hard, scary, long and good looking. Proud to climb something like this! Before I started with my climbing gym business my number one passion was establishing new boulders and repeating hard lines. In the last years my focus has changed and I have a lot of other things going on. I have responsibility for two companies and a lot of great employee. There are many goals to be reached, not just in bouldering outdoors."

song yunchan, who started climbing 27 months ago and who won the Asia Youth Championship in Bouldering last year, has been on a 1.5 months trip to Railay which he finished by doing Avocado Power 8b+. "The Korean school will start a new semester in March. So I was able to go to Thailand by using the school winter vacation. For the first 2 weeks, I adapted my body to the local condition there. Then I tried to climb the target Avocado Power(8b+) while adjusting. There were many difficulties especially that it was a bit far between holds due to my short height (146 cm). I still feel happy thinking about it and am proud of myself. My goal in 2019 is to go back to Thailand and challenge 8c+ and to win in Asia K Climbing Championship - China 2019.

Gambaro Matteo, who won the Italian Lead Cup in 2005, has done his fourth 9a, Esclatamasters in Perles. Some years ago it was down graded to 8c+ but since a hold break, it is one again by most considered 9a. "Me and Elena (Chiappa) are on holidays for two weeks. I tried it for five days and did it in ten attempts in total. Today very warm so I climbed at 18.00. Incredible line." So how did you prepare for this trip? I climb hard and I bolt a lot at home in Val Pennavaire (Albenga). I opened the hardest lines and this winter I decided to train again as in my past competition years.

Joe Cardwell, who previously has done three 9a+', reports on Insta that he has done Joe Mama 9a+ in Oliana. (c) William What is next and what was the trick to arrive to Spain in such super shape? Next is a couple routes I’ve been trying at other crags. Also just enjoying climbing here in Catalonia with a fun crew. We’ve been visiting numerous areas instead of fixating on one spot which has been really refreshing. The majority of the training I did before was primarily bouldering and power endurance circuits, slightly different approach to what I’ve done in the past. It also didn’t hurt that I tried the route in Oliana quite a bit last spring in terrible conditions, it was almost constantly wet which made it hard to give it continuous effort. This season it’s warmer but everything is dry which made a huge difference!

Philipp Gaßner, who did his first 8c+ when he was 14 years old, has done two 8c+ the last month in Margalef; Zipayorik ez!! and Bumaye. "Needed a bit to find the right beta for me then I sent it quite solid; fell once just before the anchor because of a dumb foot slip; for sure the best route in this length I‘ve done so far." The first time Philipp made 8a headlines was in 2011 when he 10 years old did his first 8a+. In the Combined ranking game the 18 year old is #6.

Caroline Sinno has done her third 8B transverse in Fontainebleau, Green Fingers which normally should more or less correspond to an 8A+ boulder. It is like eight meters where the cruxes are a down climb and the top out. It took her some 8-10 sessions during the winter, Video. (c) Lucien Martinez ”It’s very bouldery and there are two cruxes. First one gave me some problems, I had to be creative. I really enjoyed the process. I thought I would do it before winter but I got shut down by bad weather. As soon as it started to be good weather again it took me two sessions to finish it. Very happy :)” Caroline has now started to work on L’Insoutenable gauche, which was 8B when it was broken in 2009 and since then, most probably no repeat.

Stefano Ghisolfi reports on Insta that he has repeated Adam Ondra's Queen Line in Arco. (c) Sara Grippo "I was very close to falling in every part of the route, even when the hardest section was over, and I had to give my 100% to complete the climb. The route is slightly harder then the other 9b's I climbed, so it's the second hardest route for me just after Perfecto Mundo." In 2018, the Italian was runner up in the Lead World Cup. In the 8a ranking game he is #5. In 2019, he goes all in for the Olympics.