NEWS

13th 9b FA by Adam Ondra
Adam Ondra has done the FA of Disbelief 9b in Acephale. "Project from Calgary climber Josh Muller who worked on it quite a bit and actually did all the moves! Took me 8 days of effort, mental battle with one low percentage. In the end, I think it is pretty high-end 9b, but I do not have the courage to call it 9b+. 7C+ into 8C boulder without any rest into easy finish." More info on his Insta where he also says, "I cannot think many other routes where I climbed so close to my limit."(c) Petr Pavlicek - Bernartwood In total Adam has now, beside three 9b+' and one 9c FAs, 19 routes graded 9b out of which 13 FAs. The runner ups in the 9b and harder stat are Chris Sharma with eight routes followed by Stefano Ghisolfi four, Alex Megos, Jakob Schubert and Dani Andrada with three.

21 July 2018

Briancon Finals

Megos and Garnbret win in Briancon
Jessica Pilz, winner in Chamonix last week, topped the spectacular route putting pressure on Anak Verhoeven and Janja Garnbret who started last out. Anak did also reach the top jug but fell of meanwhile Janja seemed to have full control, securing her 12th Lead WC victory. Among the male, Alex Megos got his first victory by getting two holds further than the rest touching the last hold. He said he thought the route suited his style with some crimpers in the end instead of the modern volume and vulcano style holds. Noteworthy is that none of the athletes were even close to be timed out so it seems the athletes are getting used to climb a bit faster at the same time the route setting was quite straight forward. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Janja Garnbret SLO - Alex Megos GER 2. Jessica Pilz AUT - Roman Desgranges FRA 3. Anak Verhoeven BEL - Domen Skofic SLO Complete results

8a+ flash and much more by Oriane Bertone (13)
Oriane Bertone has during the last two weeks done ten routes 8a to 8b including four flashes where La Ballade dโ€™abdallah 8a+ in St Leger sticks out. Previously the 13 year old has done two 8B boulders, being 11 years old, and one 8B+ being 12.

8A+ (B) by Anna Liina Laitinen
Anna Liina Laitinen reports on Insta that she has done Daniel Woodsโ€™ Fragile Steps 8A+ (B) in Rocklands. (c) Jess Talley Previously, Anna has done several 8c+โ€™ as well as 8b onsight. โ€This year I wanted to go somewhere where I havenโ€™t been before and Rocklands is a good place to go on a summer time and it was a new one for me. I also wanna get more powerrrrr :) I learned alot on this trip and everything Iโ€™ve learned will help me on sport climbing. Iโ€™d also love to do trad this year and get better as a climber in general, challenge myself in a different levels etc!!!โ€

Exciting end of the semi in Briancon
Kind of a slow semi until Anak Verhoeven was timed out and pulled down as she was getting ready for dynoing to the top. Then, suddenly, a heavy rain storm started as Janja Garnbret and Romain Desgranges started to climb and luckily they both made it to the finals as the wall begun to get wet from above. If the rain storm would have come just some minuters earlier, the whole semi might have been cancelled. (c) Eddie Fowke Noteworthy is that 50 % of the female finalists come from Slovenia and Domen Skofic is leading among the male. It should also be mentioned that most of the best Japanese and Jain Kim from Korea did not participate due to the Asian cup coming up. Nevertheless, Japan did have seven guys into the semi. Complete results

19 July 2018

Kyparissi

Cathy Wagner has done her 15th 8b, Requiem in Prรฉcipice de Corbiรจre. The almost 53 year old did her first 8b being 35 years old and as a matter of fact, during the last year she has done three 8b's and 16 routes 8a+, meaning she has her best year ever. In total, Cathy has done 670 routes 8a and harder, out of which possibly a third second go. "Really unexpected to do this outstanding king line! A massive overhang offering climbing at its best:perfect rock, two hard sections, a technical wall at the end and knee bars to make it possible to control this beast! What a great day shared with a lot of friendly climbers! Super contente!!"