Toni Lamprecht, legendary hard core FA-ionist in all disciplines; 9a routes, 8C boulders, 8c MPs and 8c DWS, has opened another two 8B's in Kochel, Jessica Jones and Tyler Durden. "I worked the whole winter (2-3 sessions in the week, depends if I go skiing or not) on a really hard (8C?) roof project. So "Tyler Durden" is the exit of that project in combination with a 8a+-finish. I tried that 4 days, but I know the exit really well, because it is the finish of "Marla Singer" from 2004. "Jessica Jones" I tried on and off for the last 2 years. It is a crazy short problem with 3 moves. Needed 20 sessions to figure out the right solution and another 3 days to combine it. There would be an 8B sit start to it. Next season? I guess, because the temperatures jumped over 20° now. I might go surfing or do some multipitch stuff near by."

Based on almost 3 000 unique votes, here are the result for - Best Climbing Shoes 2019? La Sportiva continues their domination and Scarpa gets another improved result. Five Ten drops some percentage again. 43 % La Sportiva (44 % last year) 28 % Scarpa (20) 10 % Five Ten (14) 07 % Others (7) 06 % Tenaya (6) 03 % Ocun (5) 03 % Boreal (5)

Moritz Welt has done Guido Köstermayer's, from 1995, Shangrila 8c+ in Frankenjura. In the 8a Combined ranking the 17 year old is #4. (c) Lars Decker ”So happy to climb the ultraclassic "Shangri-La" 8c+ today! Tried this beauty once last summer and had no chance, but last week when I figured out the moves again, it felt completely different! Glad that everything worked out perfectly today!” Next is trying to do Alex Megos' straight up version, Nice Freshly Baked 9a from 2014.

Cathy Wagner has done her 8a+ # 153, Harakiri in Camp. "A fantastic route! The higher the harder ending with a nasty boulder." With 47 8a's, 13 8a+' and two 8b's the last 12 months, the 53 year old continuous to perform at her best ever.

Matt Fultz has done his first 8C, Paint it Black in RMNP. The 27 year old has had almost ten years progress and is currently #7 in the 8a ranking. Video on his Insta, where he comments. "I don’t think it’s the hardest climb I’ve done, and I’m encouraged to know that it is far from my potential. Psyched!"

Felipe Camargo reports on Insta that he has done Chris Sharma's El Bon Combat 9b in Cova de l'ocell. "I dreamed with @davidlama_official last night, woke up super sad...posted about him and was thinking of him all day...the pressure was just totally off, I put things in perspective and felt like it didn’t really matter if I sent anymore...at least not today! I gave a good first try but broke a foot hold and fell. On my second try the wind kinda of stopped, I made through the first crux, got to the kneebar rest and for the first time I didn’t feel any pressure... All I could think while resting was how fucking good @davidlama_official climbed...I remembered some of the World cups that I watched him win, climbing so confident and so relaxed, the wind picked up again and i just went for it...didn’t hesitate, climbed fast and sent!! I clipped the anchors and just started crying immediately..."

Nico Ferlitsch, has done his second 9a in just 10 weeks, Intermezzo XY gelöst in Plombergstein. "I tried "Intermezzo XY gelöst" for only 4 days. This 9a (my third one) is pretty short and has a boulder problem at the beginning. I really like routes like this and I almost feel sad that it's already "over". But the crag Plombergstein near Salzburg has a lot more hard routes to offer. I'm not yet sure what exactly the next project will be but for sure it's going to be 9a or upwards."

Seb Bouin and Kamil Ferenc have done Papichulo 9a+ in Oliana. Chris Sharma put up the stunning almost 50 meter line in 2008 and with 20 repeats it is the most repeated 9a+ in the world. Seb has previously done nine 9a+ and two 9b's and Kamil has previoulsy done eight 9a's. Next project for Seb is La Dura Dura 9b+. (c) William Barchelo - Seb Bouin

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Frances Bensley has done her second 8B, Keen Roof in Peak District, in just three sessions. (c) Jonathan Bean Interesting is that Frances did her first 8A only 18 months ago so wee are talking a late bloomer as she started climbing almost 20 years ago at age 7. "I realized that all of the hardest things I had climbed had only taken a few sessions or a session to do. I had a goal of climbing 8b+ and 8A last year and managed that. At that point maybe I started to realize that in my own style I might be able to climb harder, but just need to find the right problems. Additionally I have made a lot more effort this year to try and identify and work on my climbing weaknesses. I am sure this has helped my climbing overall. I have never had any structure to my training before January - I climbed a couple times a week and I tried hard, either climbing general blocs or a fun board session, but there was never a plan, very little finger boarding (I would occasionally pull onto a finger board maybe a few times a month but with no consistency) and I didn't matter if I only climbed once a week or three times a week. I recently approached Dave Mason and I now have a weekly training plan to follow - its hard work for me because structure is something I struggle with, but it's also good and I'm feeling quite strong."