Adam Ondra has made some comments in regardards to the forum thread, Qui 9a+ by Adam Ondra. As usual Ondra tries to give respect to the pioneers who first broke the 9a level although they were more modest in their grading. In retro persepctive it just might be that Qui from 1996 by Stefan Fürst was the second 9a+ in the world. "I did not ask Stefan whether he gave it 8c+ or 9a, but the whole confusion is also created not only by tougher standards (8c+ back then being todays 9a), but also due to unclear conversion between UIAA and French grades back then in 90's. Now it is set that 11-/11 is 8c+, 11 is 9a. I have never tried Akira, but out of he routes that I tried or did from 90's, I think that Hubble (1990), Action Directe (1991) and Om (1992 - 1 repetition) are more or less the same level, which means low or mid level 9a's. Weisse Rose (1994 - 1 repetition), Open Air (1996 - 1 repetition) and Qui (1996 - 1 repetition) are obviously step higher, and in todays standards might be at least low-level 9a+. Note - I have not upgraded Weisse Rose when I did it in 2009, but retrospectively thinking, it is worth consideration. This could make Weisse Rose the world's hardest route back then. Note2 - It Is unclear how much easier Qui was when Stefan did it compared to how it is now. My personal guess is that it has not changed that much. Note3 - Stefan's route X-Large in Massone has also seen only one repetition, even though he graded it only 8c in 1996. Being in the middle of the busiest crags in Italy, it is interesting... Quite an achievement back then without modern shoes that are good for heelhooking."

Wojtek Pełka, who just turned 20, has done his first 9a, Black Cobra (2) in Herculane. Adam Ondra put it up last year saying that there is a possible extension and variations... "to be continued". "What an amazing wall! So glad to repeat this endurance monster with some spicy long pulls. I was in Baile Herculane for two weeks trying the route for 6 days since I've realized it's the only alternative in this quite virgin area. I wasn't sure if it was possible to send it at first sight, in spite of doing all the moves. But my girlfriend and friend persuaded me to give it a chance. As at got cooler - around 20 degrees I managed to send it.

1. Paul Jenft FRA 44 - Naile Meignan FRA 34 2. Hector Bazan Martin ESP 34 - Miriam Fogu ITA 24 3. Aberto Gines Lopez ESP 33 - Vanda Michalkova SVK 23 Complete results

France got three golds and another two medals at the European Youth Championship in Bouldering in Brixen. Runner up was Austria with two golds and one silver. Surprisingly Slovenia got empty-handed as also Germany. As a matter of a fact, Slovenia did just have three Top-8 results and Germany two. This can be compared with eleven Top-6 results for France. Overall the competition was a great success for the route setters with 17 out 18 almost perfect rounds. Oriane Bertone and Paul Jenft, both from France, were the only ones topping all their 16 boulders.

Closed projects have created a lot of controversy over the years. I have bolted some 500 routes but tend to stay in the middle out of the two extreme opinions. My idea has always been that anybody is allowed to climb my routes as long as my project name is kept. Once Yuji Hirayama showed up and wanted to climb a cool line my friend had bolted and was working on. We come up with the solution that Yuji could climb it as long as he symbolic grabbed the anchor while clipping it. Yuji thought that was great and actually found a better solution on his onsight and my friend did it soon after. In the topo of Göteborg, my name is all over the place but for some hard routes I did not do the first, two FA names are mentioned. This means both the name of the first ascent as well as the founder ascent are mentioned. I think this is a nice midways solution for the controversy of closed projects. We have to bear in mind that nobody can climb ownership of some piece of rock but on the other hand, it could be nice to show some respect to the guys investing money and time in order for the community to get some more climbing challenges. As long as we are talking routes of climbs not that hard, there should be no such thing as a closed project or a challenge for the first ascent. What is important is the founder ascent, i.e a new way of saying FA. I think we should respect red-tagging in the first hanger but this means that the Founder should actively work on it. However, anybody should be allowed to try it out. When it comes to boulders and trad routes, I think in general that they can not be closed if it does not relate to investing multiple of hours cleaning and building landing platforms etc.

1. Stefan Scherz AUT 44/4 - Sandra Lettner AUT 34 2. Nicolai Uznik AUT 44/5 - Camilla Moroni ITA 33 3. Maximillian Milne GBR 44/6 - Flavy Cohaut FRA 33 Complete results The European Youth Championship in Bouldering in Brixen have had a good start. The Norwegian coach Reino Horak says great organization and route setting in all rounds so far besides the male junior final which was to easy. Maximillian Milne was #3 doing all four problems in six tries including having been called down due to a false starting, which cost him the silver. Here is the video from the streaming. Finals for the younger two categories continues today and you can follow it on the Live-streaming.

1. Oriane Bertone FRA 44 - Toby Roberts GBR 33 2. Zélia Avezou FRA 34 - Edvards Gruzitis LAT 24/2 3. Markéta Janosová CZE 24 - Alessandro Mele 24/4 Complete results Oriane Bertone, who won two golds in the Youth World Championship in Arco and almost made it to the final at Adidas Rock Master, got another superior victory. In the 8a ranking game, the 14-year-old is #3 after having done multiple 8B's. Her father accompanies on all trips. "We still live in Reunion Island. Sometimes it is difficult because there are 11 hours of flight from Paris. For example, we return Monday, September 2 after Arco and we return to Stuttgart for Adidas Rockstar a week later. Then in Brixen for the European Championships on September 20th. In short, it's tiring. To prepare competitions, she does nothing but climbing outside and on plastic. There is nothing special about training. Climbing a lot, solving problems, doing hard projects and so on, is very motivating for her and it makes her progress without having the impression of working."

From 19 to 22 September, Europe's young talents will be competing for the Boulder titles at the European Youth Championships. More than 300 athletes from all over Europe are expected. Starting List The event takes place in Brixen/Bressanone (South Tyrol, Italy) and is organized and hosted by the Brixen section of the South Tyrolean Alpine club together with the local climbing gym 'Vertikale'. Free access for all sports climbing enthusiasts and interested parties! Live-streaming

Adam Ondra has taken some free time from competition preperation by doing his 42:nd 9a+, Qui in Geisterschmiedwand. "2nd ascent after 23 year, FA Stefan Furst in 1996. It took me over 10 years and roughly 10 days. 1st day this year. Stefan gave it 9a, possibly something have broken, but very possibly it has not got much harder due to breaks. I believe it is more 9a+ now, even though the crux is very hard to grade. The difficulty is not to be underestimated as the first 8c section is suprisingly tiring and makes the crux so much harder." Really nice that his belayer was Furst captured on Adam's Insta, with all details. Interesting is that Furst gave it 8c+ in 1996 as Action Directe was considered 8c+/9a at the time.