After talking to route setters and IFSC officials this winter it seems they are now close to agreeing that there will be two zones in Bouldering starting from 2022. The advantages are that two zones will make it possible to separate better and also that it makes the comp fairer for the athletes. Furthermore, it increases the chances of getting a result. In the Youth B World Champion 2019, 28% of the girls had to tell their friends and relatives that they scored zero once.

Currently, four flashes/tops are presented 4T 4z by IFSC. 8a has since 2019 simplified it but presenting such scoring as 44 points, as in practice, you get ten points for a top and one point for a zone.

The question is whether IFSC will continue with the same scoring meaning the max scoring would be 4T 8z or 48 points. My suggestion with two zones is based on that you give 2 points for the first zone and then 4 points for the second zone. Furthermore, a flash gives one bonus point, i.e. four flashes would score 44 points just as it is today.
This means, for example, that a climber reaching the second zone on all four boulders would get 16 points, beating another climber topping one boulder but only reaching the first zone on two boulders, hence getting 14 points.

It should be mentioned that since 2002, 8a has published numerous articles explaining that two zones are the way forward. In 2017, I was invited to a meeting with IFSC and later I participated in an IFSC "Working Group" and presented a new scoring system based on two zones and points.

IFSC has confirmed that the Boulder World Cup in Meiringen 16-17/4 will take place. Last year, there were no Boulder World Cups. "The “Addendum to IFSC Rules”, redacted in 2020 by the Climbing during COVID-19 Working Group, is currently being reviewed and updated." One difficult issue to resolve is the starting order, which as it stands will be based on the 2019 ranking. It has also been confirmed that the World Championship in Moscow 15-22/10 will take place as scheduled. "The announcement follows the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency."

Marine Thevenet reports on Insta that she has done Podomos in Cresciano. In total, she has now done well over 60 boulders 8A to 8B. (c) Clément Lechaptois

"I never saw the boulder before this winter; even if it is just behind Frank’s wild year! This is incomprehensible why it is not a classic from Cresciano! I tried it during a weekend; during the first day I couldn't do the key move with the undercling; on Sunday I had it in two parts 🔥 I came back to it the following weekend but it was wet; I still tried to figure out some tricks and touched the holds for a couple of hours. Two weeks later we had the chance to come back for a sunny and cold weekend and I sent it just after Clement :) Such a nice Saturday!"

Jonathan Flor reports on Insta that he has done La Rambla 9a+ in Siurana. It was put up by Ramon Julian Puigblanque in 2004, and with 29 ascents it is the world's most repeated 9a+. (c) Javi Pec

Flor has done some 45 routes graded 8c+/9a and to 9b, meaning that there are only seven climbers ahead of him on that exclusive list. Add to that some routes that he has personally graded. The 24-year-old finished a five-year intensive competition career in 2018, being #23 in the Boulder World Championship in Innsbruck.

Janja Garnbret has been included in the Time100 Next 2021 list, which is an extension of their Top-100 list of profiles shaping the future. "Climbing is a visual sport that, with its spectacular jumps and infinite variations of problem-solving, lends itself to TV."

Garnbret is the big favourite to win in Tokyo. Overall she has won 26 World Cups and four World Champion titles in Lead and Bouldering, although being just 21 years old.

A couple weeks ago, Kyra Condie was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list. She will also participate in the Olympics. When she was eleven, she was diagnosed with diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis and recommended to stop climbing. Four months after a vertebrae fuse, she won her first Youth Nationals.

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John Brock has done his first 8C, The Nest in First Creek after a total of five sessions. "This is my hardest boulder yet. I've been climbing for around 10 years and V15 has always been a big goal for me. I'm so happy to have finally done it, especially on such an amazing line."

Martin Stráník, #2 in the World Championship of 2007, has done his eleventh 8C, namely the FA of Warrior in Labské Údolí. (c) Jakub Fric

"Brutal endurance boulder around 23 moves, no really hard move but also no easy move. Kind of connection of three 8A+/B boulders with little rest between. In total it took me 4 days. Two on the separate parts and two more to connect them. It was about minus 4°C but the windchill was bit lower cause of gentle wind."

How did you warm up and keep your fingers warm?
"I was warming up on some easier boulders just for few minutes and then warming up on the moves of project, repeating moves, sections. I think it is a lot about your head. When motivation is high it is easier to climb outside in winter. Also, the type of holds is important, there were no small crimps which make climbing rough because of blood supply in fingers."