Andi Stull and Richelle Hepler have done their first 8A+, Lethal Design in Red Rock. Both have their ascents on Insta; Richelle and Andi.

Richelle (32): "I love this boulder! So sick! So perfect! Crimpy and multiple variations for all sizes! I can't wait to try "for the children" because this boulder is so rad!"

Andi (23), pictured: "I started climbing at a local gym in May of 2016 and have been psyched ever since. I first looked at Lethal Design two years ago and pulled on to some of the moves, but my physical abilities were nowhere near where they needed to be in order to do it. Since then, this rock climb has been in the back of my mind and one of my biggest goals within climbing. After having two more sessions on it over the weekend, I was able to tick the climb off my bucket list. After sending this rock climb, I feel more motivated than ever to continue to train and push myself to see what I can accomplish."

On her Insta, Andi has also recently talked about the challenges of starting climbing coming out of an eating disorder. "Over the time I have been climbing, I have recognized that being strong and healthy is far more important than being "light” and will lead to greater physical and mental victories."

-

Elias Iagnemma reports on Insta that he has done Christian Core's Gioia in Varazze. The 25-year-old has previously done four 8C's saying Gioia is harder, suggesting the grade 8C/+. "I used knee pads which transform an extremely powerful move into an extremely technical one."

This route was put up in 2008 and Adam Ondra did the first repeat three years later suggesting an upgrade to 8C+. Core has later also said that this was correct, comparing it to other 8C's and before a new chipped crimper appeared in 2015. Full story of Gioia including comments from Core from last December.

Elias tells 8a that he needed 20 to 25 sessions over two years to take it down. "I only used the new method with the knee pads but it exactly respects the line and the original grips."The last picture shows his knee pad sequence avoiding the red dotted chipped crimp. There will be a video out tomorrow and later a longer video showing the entire process and some other boulders done in Varazze. (c) Simone Antuzzi

Andrea Kümin has done her second 8A+, Frank's Wild Years in Cresciano. The psychology student has been an active WC climber for seven years, with #10 as her best result yet.

”I tried the boulder once a few years ago and could not do a single move. It wasnt until last december I touched the holds again. Last year I tried it twice and fell on the last hard move a few times. After that I did not get outdoors until two weeks ago, because I studied a lot for my exams. When I tried it again and did it, it felt pretty good😊 I am really happy I climbed this boulder, because it is imo a powerful problem and it showed me that I made big progress in the last years😊

I hope that competitions will be back. So I am training for the BWC in meiringen and Innsbruck and the WCH in Moscow😊 Meiringen is my favourite comp🤩 And successfully finish my bachelor degree🤓

My thesis is about therapeutic climbing with depressive patients. Atm I am studying fulltime, which is a bit stressfull at sometimes but I generally really enjoy it😊 ”

Lately, many athletes have spoken out about their previous eating disorder problems. Such information campaigns are good but the question is whether this will have enough impact making successful super skinny climbers gain weight? Alizée Dufraisse has just published her story on Insta, which we followed up with some questions.

Do you agree that information campaigns have very little impact?
Yes, sure I agree. Federations and coaches are maybe not as interested in the health of their athletes as in the results they make 🤨. They want to win at any price, as also the athletes want. Definitely, something needs to be done for the future of our sport, especially in competitions.

What are your suggestions for making climbing a more healthy sport?
Considering the athletes as humans and helping them as much for becoming stronger as well as for staying the same mentally and physically. For that maybe the BMI rule or something inspired by it would be a great start. l do not think all athletes have those problems but it is a shame when it happens because they will enjoy a lot less climbing and it is an incredible activity. It is possible to be at the top level for a lot of years having a weight that is healthy.

Mina Markovic, who has been one of the very best female climbers the last 15 years with 22 World Cups and three 9a's, has recently talked a lot about eating disorder problems on her new Insta - Mina M Psychology and we asked her.

What can be done to reduce eating disorder problems?
1) Educate about consequences of (prolonged) low energy availability an physical, psychologial and performance level.
2) Education of coaches of 'weight'/diet related talk (especially with young athletes).
3) I believe IFSC already did a lot with lover the time in lead and made routes more powerful.
4) Not posting pictures of success/win/routes of extremely underweight individuals, to avoid giving an idea to young athletes of this 'ideal' constitution. Also, the sponsors could avoid that but I believe this one is VERY polemic and do not recommend it actually to apply in practice.

-

Yannick Flohé, who got the bronze in the Boulder World Championship of 2019, has done his first 9a, Wild Publico. "Bouldery crux with dynamic moves on mono and crimps then going left into Pal Publico 8c. For sure one of the best lines in Marglef." The video is not the footage from the send but a clip as he did not have a camera man.

Based on 1 500+ unique votes in our "Best Crashpad 2021" poll, Organic got superior results. In brackets the result for the 2019 poll, which is more or less the same. It should be noted that in 2015 Organic got 16 % and that all others (except for Flashed) had better results.

30% Organic (30 % in 2019)
13% Ocun (14)
10% Black Diamond (11)
8% Moon (9)
6% Snap (4)
6% Petzl (4)
6% Flashed
3% Mad Rock, Edelrid, Metolius and Asana
12% Other brands; Mammut, Pad, La Sportiva and Mushroom most frequently mentioned.