Based on 2 000+ unique votes from the poll "Which skill do you lack the most?". 31 % Finger strength 24 % Endurance 18 % Mentality 15 % Flexibility 7 % Technique 5 % Other Most of climbers are focused on finger strength and endurance. What is quite interesting, although technique is seldom trained, climbers seem to think they do not lack this skill :)

Misti 8c from kevin LOPATA on Vimeo.

Guillaume Glairont Mondet reports on his blog that he completed his long time project in Fontainebleau, "Le Pied à Coulisse", grading it an 8C+. Previously Guigui has done five 8C's in Font. How many sessions did you need to do "Le Pied à Coulisse"? It took me around 25 sessions over 3 years, 12 between October and January. Is it your style? I would say yes, even if there's a little bit of everything in it : heelhooks, toes, mantle, with both tension and a dynamic move. How do you split your time between comps and projecting? I take advantages when conditions are good to work maximum intensity outside. for this one, I could only manage 3 tries before been wrecked for a day. It's pretty complementary to my indoor training regime. You explain a lot about the grade in your blog post, but how did you came up with 8C+? For me, it was very tough to break down the climb. My friend Nico would say 8B into an 8B, I would say more 8A+ into 8B+, but anyway it doesn't make sense to me. I know for sure that there aren't a move below 7A, and some feel close to 8A in themselves. And there are 14 of them. If I try to compare with other problem in Font, as I said, it was clearly harder for me. If I compare it to the other 8C's I've tried on my recent trips, I come to this conclusion: Individual moves are nowhere as hard as Lucid Dreaming, but there are only two in that one. The Story of Two Worlds have more moves, but it climb faster and the moves are easier on this one. I tried also Insanity of Grandeur during a session, and it felt easier too. My trip in Swizzy was rather short, and it was vacation, but I could get a feeling of those. Pied à Coulisse took me way more efforts, it is my style, and I needed a rather special day to do it. It's continuous, strenght oriented, and has low percentage moves from the mantle till the end of the heady slab. That's why I chose this grade.

Colorado Short 2016 from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Alex Wurm, little brother to Jule, the last World and Europe champion, has done an amazingly fast ascent of The Dagger 8B (+) in Cresicano. "WOOOW low gravity day!!! Took me about 45 minutes. First try after figuring out the moves. 8B/+ for me." Also Luis Gerhardt (in the picture), has made a personal best by doing The Dagger, "Feels amazing to climb such a majestic line! Climbed it two times in a row because I wasn't sure the first time if I touched the tree with my pants..." It was Toni Lamprecht who made the FA in 2003 and later Dave Graham added a sit start calling it The Story of Two World's which now is one of the most repeated 8C's in the world.

Red Bull Avaatara Story Cut from Corey Rich Productions on Vimeo.

Part 1 Captown - Ard Ay - Chtulu from Nils Favre on Vimeo.

Fire Dust & Cracks from Tchaloproductions on Vimeo.

Silvio Reffo has done his tenth 9a or harder and reports on Facebook with a great picture by Luka Fonda. "Another great weekend of climbing in Misja Pec, finally I managed to climb Sansjki par extension 9a. I had already tried the route last year but yesterday I crushed it. This 9a is very different despite the other hard routes that I climbed, short and intense.