Cathy Wagner has done her 149th 8a+, Le monde perdu in Destel. "An exceptional route defined by a very physical endurance effort (for me anyway) as you climb on the edge of a prow-like overhang. Took me 2 days to get the right beta and was totally wasted afterwards! Today, I managed to send it straight away after warming-up, thanks to the perfect conditions and Seb cheering me. Getting fit again after a bad cold which lasted 3 weeks feels good! In total the 53 year old has done 703 routes 8a to 8b during the last 25 years. Interestingly, like one third she has done second go. Possibly it is time to raise the bar to 8b+ in 2019?

Max Bertone, little brother to Oriane, starts to catch up to her level. During two weeks, the 11 year old has done 13 boulders 7C to 8A+, ouct of which second go of Proa 7C+ and Light Saber 8A+ in less than ten tries sticks out. As a matter of a fact, the latter was put up by Dave Graham as an 8B but it has been recorded as a soft 8A. Both are captured in this video.

Oriane Bertone has done another three hard boulders in Rocklands; Sassy squash 8A, The arch 8A+and The Master Key in Rocklands. "Fantastic hidden boulder ! One hard move. I found my beta at the third session and solve this problem. Very happy for this ascent! In total, the 13 year old has now done 39 boulders 8A to 8B+, out of which 19 the last 12 months and she is #2 in the 8a ranking game. One more 8B, and she takes over the crown from Isabelle Faus.

Isabelle Faus has done her 17th 8B, The Wheel of Fortune in Clear Creek Canyon and she is #1 in the 8a ranking game. In total, she has now done 107 boulders 8A to 8B+. Next project is Memory is Parallax 8B+. "Started trying last year. Two of the moves took me like ten sessions to be able to do... super outta my style... one huge move and another really dynamic pop. Coming of an injury I was kinda using this boulder as a way to learn how to do big moves. Last year after a lot of effort I eventually made my way to the last move... and then we flew to Swiss the next day. This year I got back to my high point quickly and fell there a bunch. Then yesterday I found slightly better beta for this move and did it pretty quick after that. Really satisfying to do moves easily that last year seemed crazy... next is the top section and try and link em."

THE LORAX PROJECT from Mission Control Collective on Vimeo.

Jan hojer, #3 in the Combined WCH in Innsbruck, has done his second 9a route, A Muerte in Siurana. His first was Action Directe in 2010. The 186 cm tall and 78 kg powerhouse has also done the 9b DWS, Es Pontas last year. "My only goal for the 2019 season is to qualify for the Olympics. If I qualify at the world championship I will spend a lot of time on rock afterwards! Right now I just want to enjoy some rock before the season starts and climb a bunch of nice routes here in Spain." How many World Cups do you plan to do this year? As many as I need to qualify for Toulouse. (The qualification event for the ones not getting their ticket in the WCH). If I have great results in Meiringen and Moscow I will not go to China. How much Speed focus in your training? I try to train speed once a week but haven’t done any leg training. I think with better coordination and technique I can still improve a lot. I hope to get to 6.7 until the world championship.

Toni Lamprecht, legendary hard core FA-ionist in all disciplines; 9a routes, 8C boulders, 8c MPs and 8c DWS, has recorded his sends from 2018. On the pic he shows god adaptation to the modern school with his double dyno of Seitensprung 8c in Kochel. Add to that 8c+ and 8B boulders FAs. With his 88 kg on his 187 cm, the 47 year old might be the biggest multi-discipline climber operating world class level. In total he has put some 2 000 boulders, routes, MPs and DWS. 8a interview from 2009 - Insta 2019. What are you most impressed by the new generation? The most impressive is the huge number of very very good climbers and a lot of them almost unknown, too. And of course the top five people doing everything from boulder to multipitch and they seem very "grounded" and open minded. Wish the political world would have leaders like that.. How do you train nowadays and what is your 2019 ambition? Normally 2-3 times in the week. I rest if I go skiing or in the summer while surfing. No training the last years only climbing outdoors or trying projects, because my "old" body needs a lot of rest after every climbing day. In 2019 I'd like to try a really hard boulder project nearhome (15m roof), work on the FSK-Project, a possible solid 9th-grade-route and travel a lot for skiing.