Gio Placci has done Underground 8c+ (9a) in Arco and amazingly, it was on his 30iest day on. Even on the day before he did two indoor sessions and spent five hours in train and bus to reach Arco. He lives two hours from the nearest crag and he goes always alone to Arco which takes 2.45 hours if he is lucky to commute with a car. Last year he was #8 in a Euro Youth Cup but this year he focused on outdoors and have had a great progress. (c) Sara Grippo

"This year during the lockdown I was able to train very well in my home gym with my little brother. I trained two times all days for about 60 days! Due to the fact that just one comp took place, I could focus on outdoor climbing and I was able to send nine routes from 8c to 8c+. I live far away from Arco but I love this place and almost every weekend I go there to climb." The 19-year-old has just started the University and says that, "For me it doesn’t change so much if I rest or not, mainly only before competitions. Outdoors, I usually set a goal and I rest only for this. For example now I’m training to do a 9a in Arco, so I’m waiting the best conditions. Underground was nothing special and the send was very unexpected. I did it just as I was "training" during my third day on it. The first time I got made the first crux I sent it!"

Advertorial: Crack magician Tom Randall has been on the Tendon team since last year. During that time, we found out that he is not only a great climber, but also a precise and modest guy who will never say "No" to you. So it's no surprise that he agreed to an interview for our blog. Tom and I talked about his relationship with ice axes, industrial climbing, his functioning during the pandemic, and also about the career of a marathon runner, which he has been discreetly building. Full interview.

Although we can hope travelling to crags and competitions abroad will be allowed in 2021, it will most likely not be as until 2019. In other words, we will most probably be climbing more locally next year so this is where the development focus should be put. This could mean rebolting old routes as well as adding in more bolts on scary old-school routes. Other possibilities to improve the local climbing could be to build better landings on boulders as well as platforms under routes. Taking it further could be to cut down some big trees in order to make it sunnier and dryer. It just might be that there are some hidden treasures out there that now are covered in moss.

An example of this is a new developed sector in the middle of the biggest crag in Utby in Göteborg. Actually the trail passed directly under it but it just did not look interesting and it was wet most of the time due to all the trees next to it. Now after the municipality helped out with cutting down many trees and it was bolted, it has become the most popular crag in the whole area. It should also be possible to update and make a real topo with valuable info instead of just finding lines and grades on the internet.

It is important to underline that before starting to bolt and cutting trees etc, you need to get a permission for this. Remember that developing your local crags will have a significant positive impact on the environment as it is expected that it will also reduce travelling.

Iziar Martinez has done her fourth 8c, Suma cero in Cuenca. "I went to Cuenca this weekend and my trainer told me I had to try something hard so I tried Suma cero 8c. I thought I could do it and the route was really cool and I did it in six tries." (c) Javi Pec

James Webb, who previously has done five 8C+', has done his 8C #30, Dicktopia in Camp Dick. "The bloc took me two sessions. I climbed it first try on the second day. Most definitely suits my style quite well. Right now I’m back home in South Lake Tahoe, CA and the fall season is just kicking off. I have a lot of projects here so hopefully, we’ll be able to put some down soon!"

"This decision was not an easy one for us, but the health of everyone involved clearly comes first. We consulted with the coaches and also obtained the opinions of the athletes. From our point of view, a posting to Moscow due to travel warnings and restrictions is not responsible. " reports Austria Climbing on Insta. In other words, no Austrians will travel to Moscow to compete in the Euro Championship 20-29 November.

The last male and female from Europe going to the Olympics will be selected in the Moscow event. This means that Jakob Schubert and Jessica Pils are the only Austrians going to Tokyo 2021.

It should be noted that according to the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, a travel warning of the highest level 6 applies to Russia.

If the Moscow Championships are cancelled, Jernej Kruder from Slovenia and Ievgeniia Kazbekova from Ukraine will get the Euro Olympic tickets due to their results in the Combined World Championship last year.

If a boulder is much easier if you are 175 cm tall, then a 165 cm tall guy doing the FA needs to consider this once suggesting the FA grade. It could be the same if a guy with fat fingers can't squeeze in two fingers in a pocket, meaning he has to use just one finger or go for another beta. If it then feels like 8A he might opt for 7C+ or lower. If you are not using climbing shoes it might be hard to understand if it is easier with shoes so no blame on Charles Albert and his 9A proposal on No Kpote only but he has to be careful in the future suggesting 9A's.

Grades are based on the best possible sequence and also for the perfect size of that climb. A dyno where it is (almost) impossible for climbers below 185 cm should not be graded 9A based on how it feels for the 170 cm climbers. That dyno grade should be based on how it feels for the 185 cm guys, which might be 8A.

Martina Demmel has done her tenth 8c in 2020 by the FA of Formiert 8c in Kochel. Interesting is that she started climbin in 2017 when she reached 7a and now the 18-year-old is #2 in the 8a ranking game.

"I've been "Voi miad" after clipping the chains of this old forgotten project/combi (from Markus Meier; thx Toni L. for motivating me to give it a try) at Afrikawand within 4 tries but with knowing some sections pretty well already, which makes the grading even harder;) no possibilities to rest during this 38 moves resistance beast! The direct and more logical version of "Ratzfatz..." Biggest thanks Isi for all the belays including the sending one. More infos on Insta:).

Just barely possible to chalk up a few times which means that it's maybe the one longest continious sequence I've done so far as I normally find some hidden rests to shake out which unfortunately didn't happenend in this one...👐😅"