Advertorial: "In New Zealand, we have a few mountains/walls that are actually difficult to reach the top off. Over the past 20 years the trend of top down route development, simply walking or taking a helicopter to the top of a wall, rapping down and putting the bolts in / cleaning on rappel is slowly emerging. While we all benefit from anyone's efforts to establish new lines I do feel that the current trend means the skills required for safe ground up exploration are being lost or going undeveloped.

Short approach, many pitches, interesting and challenging climbing. Personally, when it came to climbing in NZ I had always hoped I could either climb or develop a true big wall style route." Full length article at My Tendon.

Grampians in Australia are at risk for being closed for climbers after concerns were raised around the threat to cultural heritage. Graffiti and chalk have been part of the criticism. Back in 2013, on a rainy day, Megos brushed away charcoal graffiti in the Hollow Mountain Cave. Yesterday, he published it on Youtube and sent this message to us.

"I thought this is a good message for the community. I hope a solution can be found to reopen the Grampians again one day."

Yannick Flohé, #3 in the Bouldering World Champion in 2019, has done his first 9a and possibly the first repeat of Alex Megos' Wild Publico in Margalef. (c) Eduardo Ruano Lin

"It took 5 sessions. The „easy“ 8c part turned out to be quite a big struggle with poor endurance 😅 tomorrow we’re going home again and back to boulder training for the first World Cup (hopefully). "

How long did you stay and how did Covid-19 affect your trip?
We stayed for 8 days. We did a PCR test in Germany and we need a quick test tomorrow before flying back home. For professional athletes, there are different restrictions normally you have to quarantine for at least 5 days and then you need a second negative Corona test.

Philipp Gaßner, who did his first out of twelve 8c+'s at age 14, has done his first 8B+ boulder and then also his first 8C, Real Absurdistan, in Kochel. (c) Basti Scheibel Video of Muttertagsdach 8B+ starting a few moves in.

"Toni Lamprecht did the first ascent of the boulder, also known as the Stoametz project, about one year ago. It is the lowest possible start of a long roof climb, that took some work to be dug out properly. The result is a true power endurance test piece, which is super fun to climb. It consists of seventeen tension and mainly very reachy moves. As far as grades go, it felt more like an 8B+, as I used a slightly different beta than Toni, which might be more efficient. It took me four sessions to complete it and there is still a harder exit version that I'm psyched to try.

Fanatic Climbing reports that Lucien Martinez from Grimper Magazine has done The Big Island in Fontainebleau, calling it his first 8B+ boulder. The classical boulder was originally put up by Dave Graham as an 8C. Later, in 2010, Vincent Pochon added two more moves in the start. Today it is the most repeated 8C in the world with 20+ ascents. (c) Stephan Denys

"This boulder has everything to be a classic. The movements are magical, it dries very quickly which is a good point in Font where it’s raining often, and the official grade of 8C is extremely soft which is also a big advantage for making a boulder a classic."

Interestingly, there is a 10 moves 8B+ sit start which has been tried for several years. Nico Pelorson and Camille Coudert are currently working on it and, as a matter of fact, Simon Lorenzi has fallen on the very last moves.

Martinez, who needed some 20 sessions to take it down, explains that The Big Island is not a physical challenge but rather a technical. He does not consider himself as a boulderer but rather a route climber, having previously done some ten 9a's. His big project is Fight or Flight 9b.

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Six months prior to the Olympics, Japan hold their first Bouldering Cup of the season. Kokoro Fujii and 17-year-old Ai Mori, barely made it to the finals as #6. Taking the advantage of starting first in the final with fresh holds and less pressure, Mori got a superior victory over Olympian Miho Nonaka. Among the male, Fujii had secured his win prior to the remaining five started on the last problem, as he had topped all four problems in just six tries. Olympian Tomoa Narasaki was second needed three attempts more.

1 - Kokoro Fujii 44 (6) - Ai Mori 44
2 - Tomoa Narasaki 44 (9) - Miho Nonaka 24
3 - Yoshiyuki Ogata 44 (12) - Futaba Ito

Interestingly, the other two Olympians, Akiyo Noguchi was #7 and Kai Harada was #6, scoring just two zones. #4 of the male was Youth World Champion from 2019, Sohta Amagasa who never has done a Boulder World Cup. The last few years, Japan has dominated the Bouldering scene, especially among the male. Video of the final.

Alex Puccio, one of the best female boulderers in the world the last twelve years, shares her terrible Covid-19 mental experience on Insta. "The thing that was the worse for me is the fact that I’m a hypochondriac and had the worse anxiety the whole time I had covid, thinking I was going to wake up one day and take a turn for the worse! :/"

Basically, she was isolated with her boyfriend for four weeks and after two weeks her anxiety developed into "terrible insomnia". After consulting some psychologists and also taking some meds she is slowly getting back on track. She comments to 8a;

"Right now I’m just climbing and running lightly a little. I have had about 6 days climbing for 1.5 hours each time so far. The third day back I was able to flash a lot of V9’s and flash a V11, think that one was A bit easy tho lol. I definitely think climbing is helping my anxiety a good bit tho. Just getting back o normal routine even if I don’t get any or a little sleep the night before. Still doing my normal stuff helps my mind and try to forget or not care about the tiredness and so not stress oversleep."

It should be mentioned that Alex, although having had several climbing accidents, forcing her to take long physical recovering periods, has done 222 boulder 8A and harder, which is superior of the female. She has also gotten silver in the World Championship. Getting an OK for sharing her story she also says that her Insta comments part is important to. "We all need help from time to time and it’s ok to ask for it!!!! Seeing Psychologist and Dr.’s does not make you weak, it actually shows courage and strength! Asking for help is powerful!!! 🙏💪🏻"

Asking if she really is ok for sharing the hospital picture she sent over, she answers."The one in the hospital is from a week or so ago when my anxiety and sleep deprivation were at a HIGH and so my panic made me want to go to the hospital. In which I was fine, they gave me some anti-anxiety meds. If it’s in good context and making it clear that I wasn’t in the hospital at all due to covid, but way after covid was gone and it’s from my extreme anxiety and panic attacks I was getting.

If that is made clear then I don’t mind. Mental health is a real thing and I have always had anxiety, but the 2 weeks or less of covid I had a fight or flight mindset. I thought I would wake up one day and just make a turn for the worse. Being anxious every day, even tho my covid experience with symptoms was not that bad, then causes me to develop insomnia. Then when the covid was gone and my insomnia was there I worries and got really anxious about that. Thinking about when I will sleep again and will I ever sleep again. This is where therapy is helping a lot of abs connecting with others that have dealt with anxiety-induced insomnia for a long time shows you are not alone or going mad. Lol"