Jernej Kruder, boulder World Cup winner in 2018 and famous for his multi-discipline focus instead of training indoors before the comps, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Dugi rat 9a+ in Vrulja, Croatia. Old projecting video. "Incredible line! Bolted it 3 years ago and had to spend 5(6) visits to finish it, including one month trip that was too rainy. Braking some holds made it way harder during the tires, but so happy it remained climbable. Had a huge fight with a bit easier upper part because of numb fingers. Still dreaming about the line <3." In the 8a Combined ranking game, the Slovenian is #5 including 8b+ DWS FA, 8b+ MP, 8b+ trad and 8C Boulder FA etc. In the 8a Climber of the year, he is #6.

Iker Ortiz has done his first 9a, La Negra in Gandia. "What an illusion! A good physical and mental struggle, third ascent after Pedro and Jonatan."

Oriane Bertone is as usual in Rocklands during the Christmas break. Although fighting 30-35 degrees, the 13 year old has quickly done two 8A+', Leopard Cave and Green Mamba. In the 8a ranking game, she is #2 after Isabelle Faus. Nice video showing her amazing feet over the head technique.

Starting 14th January in Stockholm, the celebrated documentary Free Solo that has received 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, is on a tour around the Nordic countries. Free Solo is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock ... the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park ... without a rope. The New York Times writes: "Alex Honnold’s Free Solo climb should be celebrated as one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever." Dates: 14th Jan Stockholm SOLD OUT 15th Jan Stockholm SOLD OUT 15th Jan Malmö 16th Jan Norrköping 17th Jan Göteborg 22nd Oslo SOLD OUT 23rd Oslo 24th Stockholm Bio Roy More cities and dates will be updated on www.strang.se Requests to screen Free Solo at other cities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, please contact [email protected] Photographs © 2018 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Christof Rauch has done his third 8C in 2018, Der mit dem Fels tanzt 8C in Chironico which Martin Keller did put up. In total, Christof who works full time, has done 144 boulders 8A and harder this year which should be most in the world. In the 8a ranking game, based on the Top-10 ascents, he is #5. The pic is from Big Kat 8B+ which he did three days ago. (c) Largegon Damien "Already tried it when I did „Insanity of Grandeur“, back then it felt way to hard to link it from the bottom, this trip it was different and I managed to do it on my third day of the trip. Great problem with sick moves, especially the feet first part and the compression at the end. Syked!"

Jakob Schubert, double World Champion and World Cup winner in 2018, reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Chris Sharma's Neanderthal in Santa Linya from 2009. (c) John Campbell "On my first day working this 115 moves (!!) monster I thought it will take a while to be able to send. But I quickly made a lot of progress and today (my 6th day on the route) I stuck the crux move and kept it together until the top." Gareth Parry, winner of Arco Rock Master 2007, witnessed the ascent. "Classic Jakob, a cool, calculated and somewhat precision perfect ascent of another hard route. He looked well within his maximum. Back on the ground he said one of the hardest moments was to stay focused after the dyno and not let the mind play tricks and take over.

The picture shows in which months the ascents in Leonidio have been recorded in the 8a data base. In Europe only Geyik Bayiri and El Chorro of the popular crags have a similar concentration in the winter season as Leonidio. Other great winter destinations in Europe are San Vito lo Capo on Sicily, Osp/Misja Pec, Arico on Tenerife, Fenda near Lisbon, Mallorca and crags around Malaga, Valencia and Barcelona.

Oriane Bertone has repeated Madame X assis in Les Avirons giving it a personal graden of 8A. The next day, she did the FA of Agamemnon Assis 8A. "I send the sit version after 3 work sessions. I felt it harder than "Madame X", 15 meters from Agamemnon in the same area, which was called 8A+ in the topo. Wery happy for this second hard FA of the month, after Le Spartiate Sit Direct !" In total, the 13 year old has done 13 Boulders 8A to 8B+ in 2018 and she is #2 in the female ranking game after Isabelle Faus. Video of her last four done boulders.