Giuliano Cameroni, who did his first 8C+ last month, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of REM 8c+ in Cresciano. It shares the start of the classical Dreamtime and then it goes straight up so climbers should have looked and tried it for 20 years. The 21 year old Swizz is #2 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Hannes Kutza "The crux is a low percentage move off two micro grips. Fell on this move for a month, then took two weeks off the boulder and did it first try at 1AM!"

Climbing is unique as there is no other physical sport where female are so close to male top performance. Actually, there are some examples where women have actually performed on a higher level than male like Lynn Hill making the FA of The Nose 8b+ MP in Yosemite and Ashima Shiraishi setting age grade world records. Another example is Beth Rodden doing the first 8c+ trad climb. Several coaches and route setters have over the years said that, if the routes had been adjusted to female lengths, the best would always made it to the semi and possibly the finals. Two years ago,being 15 years old and 152 cm, Ashima's outdoor performance would have placed her Top-20 among the senior male. Talking about multi-discipline climbers, Barbara Zangerl would easily fit into Top-30 or even Top-20 in the All Time High list. Climbing is a great powerful platform for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls.

Commenting on Youtube, the climber said that he made some novice mistakes. I do not agree at all. Easy routes should be better bolted!

Escalade9 keeps track of all the 8c+/9a and harder ascents. In total there are 17 female that has done a 9a and harder and another five who has done an 8c+/9a. Era Vella and Esclatamasters are examples of routes given 8c+/9a. Here is a list of the ones having done at least two 9a's 9b: Angela Eiter (c) Red Bull Contenpool/E. Holzknecht 9a+: Margo Hayes (2), Anak Verhoeven, 9a: Angela Eiter (2), Anak Verhoeven (2*), Josune Bereziartu (2), Julia Chanourdie (2), Ashima Shiraishi (2) Here is a ranking based on the 8a points, excl. 8c+/9a 1. Angela Eiter - 4 000 2. Anak Verhoeven - 3 950 3. Margo Hayes - 2 700 4. Chanourdie, Bereziartu and Shiraishi - 2 600 5. Eleven female with one 9a - 1 300 Noteworthy is that Angela Eiter is a contender for being the best female Lead competition climber having won four World Championships and three times she won the Lead World Cup.

Over the years, I have checked and asked possibly around 100 athletes and at least 20 coaches to understand what is the best training practice. In general, there is actually no mainstream idea but instead many different approaches. This means that you should not try to copy the ideas from just one athlete or coach randomly but instead try as many regimes as possible before you will find what suites you best. However, what has struck me most is that the best male like Adam Ondra, Chris Sharma and Daniel Woods are that they did not followed any training regime being teenagers. They just followed their passion and climbed as much as possible living the moment instead of just focusing on short term progress. The other thing that have made extreme impression is watching and talking with the Japanese athletes over the years. They can not stop playing around having fun together. After the final in Munich 2017, when everyone had left for the party, they continued trying the final boulders in their sneakers for an hour until their hands were bleeding. Thirdly, Jernej Kruder won the Boudering World Cup in 2018 did contrary to most of the successful boulderers not focus on indoors. Instead of power training and jumping around on volumes indoors, he spent many hours sport climbing, DWS, bolting and even doing vertical multi-pitches, see picture. On the other hand, there are several athletes that have been successful following extreme training programs mainly training alone. In other words, the best training is individual and you better start trying them all. It seems it does not matter so much what you do as long as you are so motivated so you put in as many hours possible.

Lynn Hill was the best female climber in the world in 1990 when she won the World Cup and did the first female 8b+. Remarkable to say the least as she in May 1989 had fallen 22 meters into a tree in Buoux as she had forgotten to tie in properly! In 1993, she made the FA of The Nose and graded it 8a. The consensus grade is now 8b+! In 2008, she did Chblanke 8A (+) being 47 years old and now 11 years later she is still pushing hard and has done the Orb 8a in Boulder Canyon.

Climbing is getting out there more and more on the public scene. Now you can see The Dawn Wall on Netflix.

Seb Bouin, who previoudly has done 32 routes 9a to 9b, has done Chris Sharma's 50 meters test piece Pachamama 9a+ in Oliana. (c) Jon Cardwell "This line is for me one of the best in Oliana (or the best). Thank’s Chris Sharma for bolting this one. I tried it last year but weather was a disaster. It was wet every time. This year it took me two little travel (1.5 weeks both). Next plan, maybe other route in Oliana and Spain. But the main plan is to be ready for Move in Norway (Flatanger).

"Have you started prepping for your summer climbing trip? Jump into this month's Challenge to get yourself ready. Climb 500 meters and you'll be entered into the prize raffle, where you can take home goodies from sponsors like @lasportivagram, @bergfreundede, @chillaz.international, @borealoutdoor and @frictionlabs. TIP: Zlags collected from Training Plan workouts are also counted among the meters climbed. Create a single-day training plan at your gym, on the app, for free, and start Zlagging your climbs! Join the app and take part in the challenge!⠀ More info."