Dune 8B, Fontainebleau from Michiel on Vimeo.

Fedir Samoilov, who did his first 9a when he was 18 years old, has done his third Seleccio Natural in Santa Linya. "The hardest 9a I've ever tried totally unfit to my stile of climbing." In 2017, the Ukrainian was #9 in the Lead World Cup and last season he was Top-11 in the last three events.

Magnus Midtbo, #4 in the World Champion 2011, has over 200 000 followers on his Youtube channel. He is also known for doing several one-finger pull ups. In short six seconds dead hang followed by four minutes rest and four sets. Also boulder problems without feet.

Cathy Wagner, famous for having done 709 routes 8a and harder since 1994, has done Aromes de Fontanella 8a (+) in Tres Ponts and flashed Andrada 8a in Roc Galliner at 1 500 metres in Spain. Noteworthy is that this was just her fourth 8a flash and the first in seven years for the 53 year old. "Crazy line at the top in a major sector with memorable access! 4 hours round trip and a perfect flash between the two!

Giuliano Cameroni, who previously has done seven 8C's, has sent his first 8C+ by the FA of Poison the Well in Brione. In the ranking game, the 21 year old Swiss is #3 after Woods and Webb. "The boulder is a 40 degree overhanging wall. There aren’t many trickeries, only think you need is power and finger strength. There are seven moves, but the crux involves around the 5th and the 6th move, which could be considered 8C itself. It’s been a know project for more than ten years now, it’s the logical direct version to the classic Pamplemousse (8A). It took me 8 days during a month and a half. The key was resting the specific muscles and waiting for the good conditions. Since you have to be super accurate, you also need a bit of luck to stick the crux hold perfectly. But the stronger you are and the easier it is to be precise, so after 8 days everything felt a little better."

IFSC reports that in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 there will be a separate set of medals for Speed as well as for a Lead/Boulder Combination. In Speed there will be 16 athletes and in the Combination 20 athletes per gender. In Tokyo, only 40 athletes will participate for six medals so it is great news for the climbing community. It should be noted that this decision that was announced in a press conference in Paris which is not final. "The proposal will next be presented to the IOC Executive Board on March 26th-28th. If accepted, the proposal will then be put forward to the 134th IOC Session on 24th June in Lausanne, Switzerland. "

Keenan Takahashi won the Hueco Rock Rodeo by doing Diabolique 8B and five 8A+'s during one day. Four of the boulders he did first try. (c) "Super stoked to have had what may be my best climbing day and to have nabbed gold after such a big day with a bunch of friends, new and old. Cheers to the americanalpine for hosting such a rad event and to Westmountainmedia for the pics", Keenan reported on his Insta.

Edu Main comes with great news on Insta. "A process of four months for climb in free all the pitch’s of Valhalla. To be honest I've been tempted to give up sometimes. Endurance, discipline, perseverance and lots of motivation to release every single pitch! I've build a sentence that I repeat myself every day when putting on my climbing shoes: "limits are thoughts feeding on our fear of failing". I know Valhalla is madness and that it became my biggest obsession."

Moritz Welt, #4 in the Combined ranking, has had a super productive last month doing 14 boulders 8A to 8B+. Last year he also had a nice pyramid in routes starting with two 9a's. (c) Lars Decker - Kalokagathia 8B. How do you have time for all these sends and what about the 2019 plan and ambition? I am living in the middle of Frankenjura. I'm taking my time after school and at the weekends. As long as the weather is good I never go training indoors so I can go bouldering outdoors all the time. Maybe some traveling around Europe and seeing different places. Of course also trying some hard routes/boulders as well as some FAs. Routes and boulders, I think I will continue to do both equally so I won't get out of shape in any of them. What about trying to project down 8C and 9a+' instead of scooping around in easier terrain? I have no explicit focus. Just climbing without expectations.

Piotr Schab did Era Vella 8c+ (9a) when he was 16 years old and his first 9a+, Papichulo when he was 19 years old. In 2018, he did four 9a+' and last week he did one more, La Rambla. (c) Pablo Benedito "The biggest goal of the year is to climb a 9b. I’d love to go back to Fight or Flight. Now it’s time to train again and the plan is to make a month long Catalan trip again in April. Hopefully I’ll be ready to try hard then and the conditions will make the efforts possible. If not I’ll switch again to my favorite style, onsighting and quick redpoints. There are still a lot of routes in a 9a/+ range that are waiting to be climbed. 8c+ onsight is a second big challenge that I look forward to achieve this year. So please tell us something about training? This winter I used to do 7 sessions in 4 days a week (3 gym training's included). 21 hours a week, super intense. Now it’ll be different - less volume, more intensity so I hope to take a step further. Do you really mean three rest days a week? Yes - Neither climbing nor gym 3 days a week. While you’re doing Raw power sessions in a gym I think it’s more efficient. I’m quite satisfied with the results - in 14 days in Spain I could climb hard 2 days in a row followed by one rest day and it does not happen that often for me. Piotr finished off his Catalan trip by quickly doing 20 años después 9a and Sin acido clorhidrico 8c+. "They are both are pretty manufactured but the moves and lines create a nice challenge."