Mejdi Schalck, who was Top-4 in the three latest Euro Youth Cups he did, has done his first 8c+, La proue debridée in Roch de rame. "I started to climb outdoors three months ago and I went to Roch de rame, near Briancon, in between two comps. I needed six tries to do this very intense and bouldery route. In less than three weeks, I will be competing in my first World Cup in Briançon."

Adam Ondra is the best climber in the world and especially when it comes to onsights, he is totally superior. In 2005, the year he turned 12, he onsighted 8 routes 8b and 19 8a+. In order to stimulate and order to credit the youngsters focusing on onsight, here is the Top-10. Noteworthy is that Ondra's score being 12-years-old was 12 420, would have made him #3 in 2020! An onsight gives 147 bonus points, i.e. almost three grades extra.

1. Maho Normand 2005 - 11 614: #1 also based on Top-50, in the picture.
2. Tanguy Merard 2003 - 11 554
3. Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi 2005 - 11 458
4. Michele Reusa 2006 - 10 837
5. Pierre Marzullo 2007 - 10 702

6. Iziar Martinez 2005 - 10 606: #1 Female: #2 based on Top-50
7. Lucija Tarkuš 2003 - 10 550: #2 Female
8. Piotr Niznik 2005 - 10 250
9. Marketa Janosova 2004 - 10 162: #3 Female
10. David Cabanillas 2005 - 10 116

Gioele Piffer 2006 is #3 based on Top-50 followed by Liam Mayerhuber 2010. We will follow up the onsights ranking every month in order to challenge the youth the Ondra onsight style :)

Michele Reusa has done his first 8c, Une arquée pour le criquet in Fournel, after just three sessions. In 2017, his father Iuri made the headlines doing his first 8c+ at age 43. With two 8b+' this year he is tied #2 in the family with Matteo (12).

They train three times a week and on the weekends they are pushing it outdoors. The trainer of the youngsters is Daniele Martina. Next up is Tout a Bloc which which the brothers won respectively last year as they also did in the Italian Championship. In the picture is also big brother and boulderer Elia.

Nolwen Berthier, who did her first 8c+ in May, has done her fourth 8c in 2020, L’étau d’intérêt in Verdon. It was bolted last year by Antonin Rhodes and Nolwen made the third repeat. (c) Théo Cartier, from another route.

"It is a new kingline on a beautiful single tufa. Powerful and demanding, climbing this line has been a really nice process from finding the beta, breaking some foot and losing a lot of skin, to clip the chain."

In 2018, the French was #14 in the Briancon World Cup. "I always loved rockclimbing but I was more focused on competition until last year. This year I have the opportunity to spend most of my time outside so I take advantage of it as much as possible. For 2020, I’ll go with the flow to push my limit in hard project and travel to explore new amazing lines, while combining my passion for climbing with my working life as an engineer in sustainable development."

Katie Lamb has done two more 8B's in RMNP; Freaks of the Industry and The Wheel of Chaos 8B as well as Wild Cat 8A (+). In the last month ranking game, Katie is #4 among the female. The Wheel of Chaos: "Proudest to date. 4 sessions, first try from the bottom today, thought it would get epic but pulled some endurance out of nowhere. Beta for all shapes and sizes on this one. Felt the park magic - something special about screaming in the talus. MEGA!"

Here are some further more philosophical comments, "My friend Wildcat Bill is the tallest man in Chaos Canyon and he showed me how to use his string bean physique to pounce on the big moves on Wildcat 8A+ like our house cat Uni hunting a marmot prey, meow! With the send secured on Wildcat (after a scary run in with a real wildcat on the top out!), I needed my other friend Skipper Fraker to get me up The Wheel of Chaos, legend boulder in Chaos Canyon. Skipper told me to float like a flower and dive deep into the oceans of life. I had all the tools I needed, and before I knew it I was on top of my most epic boulder ascent, whooping. My pride mood shines from inside :)"

When the municipalities mark up trails they are happy to see lots of hikers getting out in nature even if this mean that the trails have been wider. In order to make them more popular, the municipality often build trails including small bridges over muddy places or steps in steep terrain etc.

When crags are becoming more popular and the "green grass" below gets destroyed, some conseravtive climbers, who do not want our sport to grow, say this could create access problems. This might be a risk in some cases but in general it should be considered as a possibility improve the access to to get more people out in the nature.

In many crags around the world, platforms have been built in order to have better access to some routes. I have personally sowed seed improving the green grass under several crags. Once we get more rock climbers, many of them will become ambassadors of the nature and that will have a great impact on the environment of the globe. The rocks and the boulders make climbing as one of the most eco-friendly sport around, even if we build platforms etc.

" I’m 36 years old and I climb since 1995 (when I was 10). In the early days, I dedicated almost 100% to the competitions. I won eleven times a Brazilian championship (6 lead and 5 boulders). In the World Cup my best place was #15 in 2009. During the last two years I tried so hard to make it to the Olympics. One month ago, after 23 years I announced my retirement from the comps, so now, only rock! Hehe. Pure dreaming is my first 9a I need to make my account on 8a.nu!"

Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, the very best female competition climber in the early 90'ies and also the third female to do 8b+, has done Bierstadt 7C+ in RMNP. (c) Ryan Arment

How much do you train lately and how many sessions did it take to send?
I'm not really training, just getting outside more. I got Bierstadt the third time I tried it. The two previous times I got to that particular boulder after trying too many other boulders and I was tired. The moves were fun with fresh skin. :-)

Robyn runs the ABC Kids Climbing and she has coached many of the best in the USA like; Emily Harrington, Margo Hayes, Colin Duffy, Natalia Grossman beside her children Brooke, who has qualified to Tokyo 2021, and Shawn. She did her first 8c at age 49 and just three months ago she did yet another 8A boulder.

Solveig Korherr, who did two 8c+' in 2019, has done King of the bongo 8c in Rottachberg. The 154 cm tallis #2 in the 8a ranking game. "I was trying the route over four days. The lower part before the crux sequence had some very big moves where I had to be creative as a shorter climber to find a solution that fit me. The crux consisted of several difficult cross moves and a power endurance sequence. I kept falling on one of the cross moves in the crux. After changing the beta on my fourth day, I sent it immediately after." (c) Niklas Dormanns

"I started climbing with my father when I was very young. I come from a competition climbing background as a youth. During the lockdown, I trained intensively on a fingerboard at my home. The last couple of months I basically trained during the week and climbed outside on the weekend. I am feeling very fit recently after this training cycle."

Antoine Girard has done Practice of the Wild in Magic Wood in just three sessions. Video on his Insta. "For me it is an hard 8b+ comparing with my other 8b+. Moreover I can’t count it as my first 8c I want a real 8c for my first one."

During July, the 20-year-old has logged another 13 boulders 8A to 8B+ in Magic Wood, included Dark Sakai 8B in the picture. In the8a monthly ranking game, he is #3.

" I started climbing some 12 years ago and begun outdoor climbing 3 years ago. I have built my own training center in my barn. I’ve got a special school planing which permitted to train myself 20 hours per week."