Little Eden is located some 35 min walk or 5 min with boat from Vathy. It is in the shade from 12 o'clock and currently, there are some 25 routes bolted primarily 6a to 7b but there are more potential for easier routes. Aris Theodoropoulos, who took the picture, says that there are no activity at all in Kalymnos as you are just allowed to take short walks in Greece. He is currently working on a new topo of Greece covering 31 sport venues including 2 600 routes.

Eric Hörst. one of the leading climbing trainers the last 20 years, reports from the current situation in USA. "All gyms are closed in the USA. There will be no outdoor climbing for us this in April (and perhaps May) due to stay-at-home orders. Luckily we have a well-equipped home gym with bouldering wall, treadwall, campus board, more than 12 different hangboards, free weights and more. So we are training like it's winter. Sad that we are losing the Spring climbing season, but happy that we are healthy and able to train at home together. Praying this COVID-19 plays out quickly and the world (And climbers) can return to normalcy sometime this summer. Here in Pennsylvania we can only leave our house to get food and medicine...and to exercise. Each USA state has slightly difference restrictions, but 80% of the country has stay-at-home orders...so most climbers are following this order and staying home (but unfortunately there are some climbers still going outside to climb)." 16GMT (18.00 Euro Time) he will run a live streaming talking - Hangboard training protocols....and planning for a positive future beyond COVID-19, through his Coffee Training Talk.

In Sweden, all gyms are open following the official guidelines. Klätterdomen in Göteborg has tried to go further and is offering liquid chalk to everyone. They do also clean much more frequently and they tell both their customers as well as workers to stay at home even if they just have very mild symptoms of a cold. Currently, they estimate a 50 % drop of climbers meaning there are plenty room in their gym. Their spring Mega boulder was canceled and instead, they run a competition during one month via the Vertical-Life App. Lars Höström is the founder of the gym and he reports. "Climbers are very happy that we are open and they strictly follow the guidelines. Nobody showers here and, in fact, as there are so few climbers here and we are offering liquid chalk and clean much more often, it is a nice atmosphere. Climbers do not hang here long hours as they used to. Instead, some quick boulders or laps, often on the auto-belay, and they are off. Climbers are keen of doing the new boulders for the competition and it is great that this can be organized in the Vertical-Life App.

Whether you are an enthusiastic newcomer or an experienced indoor climber, the Innsbruck region is the perfect place to make the move from indoor climbing routes to rock. The 500 climbing routes and 200 boulder problems on the colourful climbing walls at the Innsbruck Climbing Center are ideal for practising and training, while the around 1,200 single-pitch routes in the region's 29 sport climbing areas give you the chance to try your hand at the rugged rocks. The free SAAC Climbing Camp Zirl-Innsbruck on 12 and 13 September 2020 provides the perfect opportunity to try climbing on rock for the first time led by a mountain guide. Climbing professional Anna Stöhr is also familiar with the advantages of climbing outside surrounded by nature. Born in Innsbruck, she knows the rocks in the region like the back of her hand and plans on increasingly using her muscle power for rock climbing projects in the future. The World Bouldering Champion will be at the SAAC Climbing Camp Zirl-Innsbruck where she will share her climbing tips with participants! Registration for the camp is now possible (from 15 March) at www.saac.at www.saac.at. Detailed information about the region can be found at www.innsbruck.info.

Irina Kuzmenko has done Super Djin in Triangular lake. As it only took an hour, she gave it a personal 8A grade. (c) Leo Zhukov "It’s more quiet here in Russia with Covid-19. Today our government made something like a quarantine but it’s not so strict." It should be mentioned that in many countries like Italy, Spain and France it is not allowed to go out rock climbing. In some countries like Sweden there re very few restrictions. Also the gyms are open.

We’re almost there! Huge thank you goes out to the hundreds of climbers who have helped so far. We've improved and added features based on your feedback and would like to put the site through a final round of testing before going live. To give you some insight, our biggest challenge to date has been retrofitting the original data for the new interface. Like any data migration project we’ve encountered some big challenges and have done our best to strike a balance between preserving the old and setting up the platform to be more flexible to accommodate more users and to support new features. If you’re stuck at home, like many of us, we would really appreciate your help by signing up and checking out the new site. Once you’re in you can leave your feedback quickly and easily by opening the widget on your screen. We’re as eager as you to get the new site live and excited to finalise the finishing touches with your help. Sign-up and help us go live.

All 30 male and female already qualified for Tokyo 2020 will hold their spots. There are still five male and female yet to qualify.

In sport climbing, compared to most other sports, there are few written rules or use of referees. Instead, the climbing community creates and circulates their own Practice & Ethics. Beginners are sometimes struggling to understand what is "normal" behavior and what's allowed and what's not. Over time, the general procedure has been modified and in different subcultures different ethics apply. We thought it would be a good idea to discuss and define good style as of today and also give some amusing examples of violations that are practised in order to receive sponsors, glory and points. We're not saying there's a definite line between right and wrong but the fundamental idea is: don't systematically push the border of ethics towards more subjectivity, instead, keep the spirit alive. Here is a list of what 8a thinks are practices within sport climbing that are frequently interpreted in different ways; Green, Yellow and Red card are given. We estimate that about 1/3 of all ascents would not pass community approval. What do you think? Practice and Ethics in rock climbing

Dear valued partners and friends, We hope you, your families and friends are well. The current events leave no one untouched – based in the Italian Dolomites region, we were among those affected by the crisis very early on. While we stay at home, doing our part to flatten the curve and protect those at risk, we also want to help support our community and industry. Together with gym manager and consultant, Christian Popien, we have started to offer practical professional advice, answer questions, and consult other experts on the subject of crisis management for climbing gyms.

Since 1999, 8a has presented several hundred articles. Here are some of the most visited and commented including one from the famous Norwegian author Jo Nesbö, 6a flash novell on Kalymnos. 8a Glossary Mental games The development of Ethics & Practise Climbers Against Cancer Megos coaches Korb and Matros interview Hörst and his kids progress