Based on an incident where the webbing of a quickdraw was cut after six sideway falls, the normal hanger was replaced with a Raumer "caving" anchor, see picture. The idea was to move out the quick draw so that the webbing should have less contact with the sharp granite just below the hanger. Although such hanger can be used in a top anchor, creating less rope drag as the quick draw or the screw carabiner get perpendicular, this hanger is not designed for dynamic load. Further more, it is important that the load stays downwards. The "caving" hanger could put the quick draw in a bad position which can lead to ruptures, i.e. carabiner breakage. Emanuele Pellizzari, who is selling Kinobi bolts etc since 15 years, explains the risk which also Raumer, the manufacture of the bolt, have confirmed. "That hanger is not meant for climbing falls. It is meant for static load with a clear direction of force. In fact it keeps the biner perpendicular to the route, like in belays/rappels. It should be removed and replaced with a regular hanger. This is a typical case of mis-use by the equipper."​ What is your best advice if the local club do not want to chop the bolt and drill a new hole? What about replacing the having hanger with an anchor with two rings?

David Firnenburg has done the second ascent of Fred Nicole's boulder route L'isola che non c'è 9a in Amden from 2009 after some eight days of work. (c) Lars Scharl "Fred didn’t give it a grade, just said it lies somewhere around the 9th french grade. David proposes 9a for a powerful Fb 8A boulder (so called “Cavernicole”) at the start, a Fb 7th graded traverse into a horizontal rest on a mini jug with heel-toe cam followed by a long and powerful Fb 8A+ boulder with spectacular swing and feet forward sequence at the very end. You sit start on crash pads and finish with a rope approx. 10 meters above the ground." More comments on Insta.

The German Alpine Club organize Halls & Walls in Nürnberg 23-24/11 including 15 lectures and product presentations focusing indoor climbing. In total there are more than 120 exhibitors listed out of which many are producing climbing holds. On Friday there is also a party and on Saturday after work bouldering and a World Cup simulation.

Katie "Lamb" Ledecky has done her third 8A+, A maze of death in Bishop which just took her three sessions. "Very technical movement on bad feet. The hardest part is figuring out the foot beta." The 21 year old has been climbing since she was 8 years old and being a teenager she did win the nationals a few times. Her next goal is to do Mandala.

Jonathan Siegrist has done his 29th 9a, Spicy Dumpling in Yangshuo. "Fickle boulder problem to an amazing endurance finish without good rest. Finding acceptable conditions is still the crux!" (c) Tara Kerzner In the 8a ranking game, Jonathan is #4 also including Jumbo Love 9b.

Here is the 12 year old 8a Access flyers with advices including some specific instructions from The Access Fund in regards Human Waste. As the climbing community is growing bigger, the number of access problems are increasing and although almost everyone behave respectful, it just takes some misbehaving to irritate the landowners etc. Spreading information and creating awareness are important but what is crucial is to actually talk directly to the climbers misbehaving. One way of making this easier, is to post signs at the crags meaning we only have to refer to something "official" while talking to the climbers with bad access behavior.

Adam Ondra has described his onsight of Just Do It 8c+ at Smith Rocks with a great picture of Bernardo Gimenez. Good news is that they also got it on video. "It was freaking windy, but I was hoping that down at the base it would be less windy than up in the pass from where it is really nice to check the route. I was trying to convince myself by seeing the no quickdraws moving in the lower bit (well, those quickdraws are in vertical wall so it is clear they were not moving so much). At base it was too obvious that it was freaking windy. But I just set off." Full story at his Insta.

Over the years, Japan has become the most successful nation in the Lead and Boulder World Cup. In the Combined World Cup 2018, Japan male had four in Top-6 and the female three in Top-7. In male Bouldering, ten out of the Top-21 in the overall WC are from Japan. Based on the Asian Championship, where as an example Japan did only get four male in Top-9, we can see that also other neighboring are coming strong. In the Combined YuFei Pan (18) from China was #3. It just might be that Asians will dominate in the future. South Korea has been one of the best countries in the world for a while but now also the youngsters from China and Hong Kong is knocking at the door. In a few years, it just might be that also these countries will advance high up in the rankings. National Team Ranking Lead + Boulder in 2019 1. Japan 3 618 2. Slovenia 2 817 3. France 2 263 4. Austria 1 805 5. South Korea 1 313 Complete results

Miho Nonaka, who won the Bouldering World Cup in 2018, set a new Speed PB in the Asian Championship at 8.57. As a matter of a fact, three times she did go below nine seconds which can be compared to Janja Garnbet and Akiyo Noguchi who has never gone under 10 seconds in an IFSC event. Among the male, Keita Dohi was fastest at 7.18. Winners of the Combined event were Meichi Narasaki and Akiyo Noguchi. Interesting was also that Bouldering specialist Kokoro Fujii won in Lead.