Martin Stráník reports on Instagram that he has done Der mit dem Fels Tanzt 8C in Chironico n just two days. (c) Kateřina Stráník Martin won the silver in the Boulder World Championship in 2007 and has been competing actively since. In 2015 and 2016, he was runner up in two World Cups. In total the Czech has previously done 27 boulders 8B+ and three 8C's and he is #3 in the 8a ranking game.

Chris Ring has done some analysis based on the 8a.nu database to see if height and age have any impact on the reached peak climbing grade in routes and bouldering for U.S. climbers. R & I has found Ring's analysis interesting and published a long article. Looking at the diagram we can see that for 80 percent of U.S. route climbers, their peak performance varied within the 5.12b/c range, for boulderers it was V8 level. Taking into account the overall curve, in bouldering, the very shortest and tallest climbers generally reach a lower grade. Among the route climbers, a short body height might be an advantage, as shorter climbers reached higher grades on average. However, the differences can be considered rather small – all average peak grades range among the 5.12 and V7/8 level. Ring concludes that to him, "our subjective climbing grading scale is pretty good. […] It would be unfortunate if a super long reach was a prerequisite for climbing most 5.12s. And it turns out that it isn’t." As a side note, from the very best on rock it is interesting to see that when it comes to grades, a 155 cm female and a 185 cm male (Eiter and Ondra) have achieved the highest grade. In bouldering and in competitions, it is the same, it is impossible to say what is best as many of the top climbers are just around 160 cm or above 180 cm.

Thomas Blaabjerg had a bad auto belay accident in 2013 and the doctors told him he will not be able to climb again. Walking with crutches, last summer he did 8B+, video below, and now he has done Joe Blau 8c+ in Oliana. (c) Melanie Nacnac "Even though I love Bouldering, and it is probably what i am best at, I guess, that I have always been a bit more inspired by lead climbing - especially the long ones! For a long time I had to put lead climbing on hold because of the circumstances (my feet) but after completing Never ending story, I decided to see if it was still possible to chase some of my dreams."

Jakob Schubert, one of the leading competition climbers who just flashed a confirmed an 8C calling it 8B+, reports on Facebook that he has done a ”quick” ascent of Dreamtime giving it a personal 8B+ grade. The legendary boulder was put up as the worlds first 8C by Fred Nicole in 2000. "Although it might not climb as perfectly as in the past (hold broke) it‘s still an amazing boulder and such a nice line! Very happy to send such an historical and legendary boulder." The picture from Heiko Wilhelm is from Jakob's flash of Rah Plats Plats 8A also in Cresciano.

Here you have the 8a Climbing Ethics presented in a traffic light Green, Yellow and Red colors, meaning that there are no absolute right or wrong. In the Epic TV; Onsight, Flash, Redpoint and Headpoining is presented and discussed including giving some tips by Adam Ondra.

Cathy Wagner has done her fourth 8a+ in 2018, Smashing pumpkins direct in El Chorro. "One of the king lines! Evening send as it was too warm. The higher you climb the better it gets!A perfect route anyway." Out of the twelve 8a+' she has done the last year, four she did second go. In total she has recorded 634 routes 8a to 8b which just might be the most any female have done? And as a matter of a fact, including two 8b's and 43 8a's the last twelve month, she is at her peak being 52 years old.

Nomura Shinichiro has, in an hour, done his third 8C Orochi in Kanoto. It was put up in 2006 by Dai Koyamada and has had six ascents. During the same day the 21 year old also did Ginga 8B+, on his third go. (c) Keiichiro Korenaga Amazingly, the 159 cm tall started climbing on rock last December and directly did two 8C's. Previously, he has focused on competitions and has a silver in the Youth Worlds. In the last five IFSC Lead WCs 2017, his worst position was #29. "What I normally do at my home gym, Project which Dai Koyamada owns, is checking my body condition of basic elements like to see whether my body moves in right way or not and to check holdings. And I have a fixed route to observe my body condition by climbing it. Adding to above, I climb harder route to find out what I am not good at and I should do to get over it. I always try to be aware of finding and getting over a weak point. My climbing on rocks has just began so I would like to gain my experience more in 2018. I am going to try more and more 8B+ over problems. I also would like to compete as a member of Japan National Climbing Team for Lead World Championship."