Piotr Schab has done his ninth 9a+, Joe Mama in Oliana. (c) Marcin Szymkowski The same day he also did Blanquita 8c+. "I've tried the route a few times in the previous years but never really focused on it. This time it took me 4 days to climb it with a breakpoint in my 3rd day. Funny thing was how quickly it came from "very far" to "done". Climbing still surprises me :) The main goal of the year is Perfecto Mundo 9b+ in Autumn, but I plan to visit Rocklands in July and Villanueva in April/May."

Lee Hak-Jin from Korea, who started climbing 15 months ago doing 6a's, has done Greed 8c (+) at Railay Beach. Amazingly, this was the first time he climbed outdoors. Previously his focus had been competitions and he won the Asian KidsCombined Championship in August. The 12-year-old is 170 cm tall and weighs 50 kg. His trainer is Han Man-gyu. "He trained at the center three times a week for six hours a day from the beginning, and on Saturdays and Sundays, he made bouldering and lead climbing for more than six hours. All students who come into the center for a career are trained for three to four months. The training method is only for six times a minute, with jawrest, pinch, pocket, and H.I.T training. After this course, endurance, interval training, and then running. The important training method is onsight exercises. New routes with 50 - 60 moves are being created every day. After five months of training, he won a small climbing tournament and became a self-confident and hard-working student. What I've seen and felt since then is a big deal."

Rock climbing is in comparison to other physical sports unique on many performances categories; Gender: Angy Eiter almost at the male top level. Age span: World-class performances between 9-45 years Specialization: Ondra world-class on 3 move boulders and 900m MP. Training: Most of the best wihout a structured training program Late Bloomer: You can continue progress at 40+ With Lee Hak-Jin (12) doing 8c (+) after just 15 months of climbing, we can now also add this to the unique list of the rock climbing categories and performances.

Theresa Schöll, who started training seriously just two years ago, has done her second 8A+, Hocus Pocus in Nö. (c) xaverquintus "The first year I would only go rock climbing with my dad a few times a month and I was able to do my first 6c routes. Then the winter came and I didn't want to lose all the new power and decided to start bouldering in the gym. Next summer after one year of training without any knowledge of the actual training process I sent my first 8a route quite unexpectedly. That's also when I tried participating in comps, but after two nationals I realized that I lacked the talent for this type of climbing. Last summer I started outdoor bouldering more frequently and I sent my first 7B/+ boulder."

Eliot Stephens has done his second 8C, From Dirt Grows the Flowers in Chironico. "Last day of the trip, my most productive day of climbing ever. 8C in Chironico followed by 2x 8A+ and 2x 8A in Brione. Took me 8 sessions over 3 weeks with trying other stuff as well. I did all the moves in the first session but the mantle was a nightmare from the floor."

Allanah Yip from Canada, #14 in the Hachioji, is the big favorit to win the Pan-Am Combined Championship in Los Angeles, getting an Olympic ticket. As a matter of a fact, as USA has already filled their country quota, it is good enough to be the #1 excluding the ones from USA. Among the male, Sean Bailay or another one from USA is likely to make it to Tokyo, meaning also that they will their max two country quota. Rudolph "Drew" Ruana from USA, #13 in the Combined World Championship, will not participate but he should get the tripartite ticket as long as USA does not win and fill their quota. The Tripartite is supposed to go to a micro Olympic nation but as no such athlete did participate in the Combined event in Hachioji, Ruana is next in line. So Ruana from USA might hope for a Canadian winner. Michael Piccolruaz, on the other hand, hopes that USA will fill up their country quota as then the Italian is next in line to get the Tripartite ticket. However, if an Italian (Stefano Ghisolfi) wins the European Combined then Italy has filled their country quota and Jernej Kruder will get the Tripartite ticket. In practice, as most probably the male winner in Los Angeles will come from USA, Piccolruaz should have like 67 % chance to get the tripartite ticket. Runner-up is Ruana with 25 % and then Kruder has the remaining 8 %.

Giorgio Tomatis, who did his first 8c+ in 2017 and who was #3 in the Euro Championships last year among the 16-year-old's, has done his first, WRC in Castillon. "I started to try it right after doing the first part (Alien Carnage) in December 2018. My first goal of 2020 was to climb my first 9a, but now my goal is to do well in the competitions and then go back to try my old 9a projects in Spain that will have to wait for next winter."

Edu Marin, one of the best climbers in the world the last 15 years, has published some interesting thought on Insta in regards the use of knee pads, ethics and down gradings. "If we all use knee pads, at some point we will have to re-graduate the vast majority of the routes in the world. We will need to give them lower difficulty as they were graduated without the use of the knee pads. Another option is to graduate with the use of the knee pad, for example : Catxasa 9a (KP) - kneepad used. The third option, and in my opinion maybe the most valid one, is to respect the difficulty of the routes that were made without knee pad, repeating them without this tool to maintain the original grade. I think that we cannot look the other way because this is a very current issue that is revolutionizing the way of climbing. What do you think?" It is great that Edu takes up the subject trying to respect the grade and the style of the old-school FAs. I do agree that when it comes to ground breaking ascents, possible down grades due to better equipment like kneepads could be mentioned. On the other hand, it would bestrange to say that anyone trying to repeat Action Directe can not use the new formula chalk or better shoes in comparison to what was used in 1991. OK, knee pads have a much bigger impact but I am sure there exist old-school boulder problems which have been much easier just because of better heal hooking possibilities nowadays.