Azul es el cielo de los ciegos - South America's first 9a in Piedra Parada, Argentina. from Pirmin Bertle on Vimeo.

Mateusz Haladaj delivers a great and interesting story from his second 9a+, First Ley in Margalef.

Impressions from El Chaltén - Including "Wasabi" (8B) and "El Ultimo Mate" (8B) from Pirmin Bertle on Vimeo.

Stefano Carnati has done the 19th ascent of Wolfgang Gullich's Action Directe 9a in Frankenjura after over 60 tries. - I first checked it in august 2013 and on my second go I could do all the moves except the first dyno. I came back a couple of times in 2015 as I wanted to try it more seriously but I was not strong enough. Last year in June I was very close to do it, falling at the last move on the last day of the trip! Then I tried in august with a broken meniscus and temps up to 38 °C and I couldn't do any moves! Fortunately I had the opportunity to come back these days and eventually send it! It took me over 60 tries!! With this route I've understood how hard it could be to try a route at your limit far from home. Since I started climbing, I've always had the desire to try it one day as I really like pockets but above all for its history! I've been watching videos of the routes countless times!

Pojen Bouldering - Vaffanculo fb 8B - Simon Brunner from Simon Brunner on Vimeo.

USA Today reported last month that Andrew Shapiro had set three world records in pull-ups. After six hours he did 3 515 of them, after 12 hours - 5 742 and then he continued another six hours to set a new 24 hours record with 7 306. The Guiness book official record holder for 6, 12 and 24h, is Jan Kares (41) who did 6 800 in 24 hours. In 1998, Kares was #17 in a Lead World Cup.

Megan Mascarenas took an impressive victory in front of her home crowd topping out all four problems in just five tries. The lowest WC result since the 18-year-old won in Vail last year is #4, whereas one of her biggest successes is winning Adidas Rock Master. In the 8a ranking game she is #3 and she has not finished highschool yet. Shauna Coxey was #2, which means she has secured the overall victory 2016. Among the male, Kokoro Fujii won again and he is now in the overall lead in front of Tomoa Narasaki, who was second in Vail. #3 was Alexey Rubtsov, who also is #3 overall. Among the top-5, there were only guys from Japan or Russia and the biggest change this year is how Japan dominates the scene at the same time when the western Europeans are having their worst year ever. (c) Eddie Fowke