The Whippet 8A+ from David Mason on Vimeo.

Adam Ondra has prepared for the last WC in Kranj by doing Modified 9a+ in Frankenjura and making the FA of C.R.S. 9b in Mollans. Screenshot from Bernardo Gimenez "What a moment! Extremely satisfying ascent, nice to feel the progression on the real rock. This route bolted from Seb Bouin is just ultimate power endurance testpiece, combining desperately physical overhang with extremely thin holds on the very top. Last try, last day, 3 days in total and 1 try two years ago. Never did the "real" 9b so fast, not even close:-) This cliff (close to St Leger) is the future, ranked number 2 after Flatanger for me in terms of 9b's and more...and it is not secret spot any more..." In total, this was Adam's 13th 9b which can be compared to the runner-up Chris Sharma with 8 routes of this grade. Then there are seven climbers who have done one.

Stefano Ghisolfi, who has done three 9a+'s to date, has made the FA of Lapsus 9b in Andonno which is a link up of Noia 8c+ into Anaconda, 8c, and he comments on Facebook, "Finally after long time and a lot of tries, I sent the hardest project I ever tried. I spent many days on it, falling many times at the last section. Today the conditions were perfect, we came in Andonno just in the afternoon and after a quick warm up I climbed the route on the second go of today. I propose a new grade for me and for Italy, I think this is much harder than Biographie and Demencia. I'd like someone will come to try it soon to confirm the grade, maybe Italian history has been made!" (c) Enrico Veronese In total, there are only eight climbers who have done a 9b. Last year Stefano won one World Cup and this year he has been in Top-10 in all but one event. Next weekend, the Italian will compete in Kranj.

Most of the 650 routes in Railay Beach were developed some 15 years ago when Glenn Smith, Andrew Anderson and Simon Talltorp found and started to develop Gibbon Roof. With 12 * 50 meters, it is the biggest cave in the area, located only some 8 minutes from the last bungalows above Ton Sai. How crazy is that? Until now 13 routes have been developed but there is enough room for some 30 routes out of which one could be 50 meters of roof climbing in a nice setting above sand. Here you will find more info and here is a topo. Picture by Derek Cheng. Beside this great new sector, there are many more crags being evolved around Railay and here is some more info about Railay Beach updates.

Katharina Saurwein has done two 8A+'s in Grampians; Sleepy Hollow and Cave Bitch. On the great picture by Jon Glassberg she is doing The Outsiders 8A. From Facebook; "I've tried some amazing problems in the last few days, such as 'Sleepy Hollow', 'Nevin Rules' and 'Ammagamma', but I must say the majority of the problems is not as good as I thought. A lot of them don't top out or climb not so good rock. The Grampians are an amazing place though, and the wildlife, crazy sunsets and the views from Mt Stapylton make up for it though!

Angy Eiter introduces to us the gorgeous seaside village of Kyparissi, a new world class sport climbing destination. Kyparissi is a small village in one of the last remaining untouched niches of Greece. Surrounded by pristine limestone cliffs, it has waited for a long time before the bolting project was able to be implemented under the supervision of Aris Theodoropoulos. Approximately 130 sport routes of all levels have been equipped in Kyparissi to date. They are distributed across six beautiful crags, with shade both in the morning and in the afternoon. One of these crags, ‘Babala’ (only 30 routes so far), is described by climbers who have tried it as “the best hard sport crag in Greece; something like a Céüse full of steep and futuristic tufa lines on bulletproof orange and blue limestone, with unlimited potential for more hard routes!” More info at Climb Greece (c) Chris Boukoros