Leah Dempsey has done Combat Wombat 8A in Sunny side outside Sydney. ”Epic fun! Not too hard with the right beta, despite the forever wet juggy pocket, blehhh.”

Martin Stráník, silver in the WCH in bouldering in 2007 and also in a WC in both 2015 and 2016, has done the FA of Tekuté Štěstí 8C in Moravsky Kars. In the 8a ranking game, the 28 year old is #3. More info on his Insta. "I tried it barely during last years doing stand up version and figure out sitstart moves, proces of proper trying was three days. It is great powerful problem with hard ending."

Shawn Raboutou reports on Insta that he has done Nalle Hukkataival's The Finnish Line in Rocklands. Hukkataival gave it 8C/+ but also 8C+ have been forwarded. Shawn is the first to suggest 8C. Shawn is son to some of the best climbers in the world during the 80-90'; Didier Raboutou and Robyn Erbesfield. Including several 8C's and also 9a+, Shawn, as well as his younger sister Brooke, are also two of the best in their generation.

If you are up for a long dynamic move and the hold you are landing on is a jug. It is pretty simple. Just go as dynamic as possible. If you on the other hand, is going very long for a smaller hold, it is very important that the dyno is done as static as possible. The reason for this is that once you are going dynamic, you have almost lost all contact with the lower hand. Without and contact strength on the lower hand, it is less likely that you will control the upper hand. In pother words, doing a long move to a not so good hold, it is about being brave and doing the move as static as possible which could mean you are not actually getting the height for it. It is also about, thinking about your power in the lower hand, meaning NOT focusing on the upper hold. This is pretty advance as your eyes are looking at the hold and fingers which should not, power wise, be in focus. As a matter of a fact, the best way to practice this is that your partner say something like - Lower hand static strength, just when you are about to execute. Otherwise, your reptile brain is most likely to kick in and you launch yourself like a rocket to the next hold.

Here is a popular article from 2005 - Short cuts to 8a. "We have ranked 12 strategical and practical short cuts in order to push grades. Most climbers focus on strength, i.e. in comparison it is easier to develop technical, tactical and mental skill, which are in focus here. Give highest priority to the first four short cuts as the biggest gains are found here. The last four are really supplementary studies for reaching 8a and beyond."

Domen Škofic, Lead WC winner 2016, has had a great day in Kotecnik where he did two 8c+'; Miza za šest and Beautiful Pain, which he did second go. (c) Just Vidic How is your training preparations for the Lead WC going Nothing special, the only thing is that I finally started to climb more outside again and I like it a lot. I feel in a good shape but everybody trains hard and we’ll see what happens this year. I’m just excited for the season to finally start again.

An "air sofa" cost like Euro 20 and we have been testing it as a crash pad supplement with great experience. If you are going for a high ball, you can use one or two air sofas as a sandwich in between two crash pads. Actually we have tried to just have the crash pad on top and although pretty high impact, the air sofa did not collapse. Obviously, it is not good to land on as you will bounce away but for the kids it works fine spotting them carefully.

Gonzalo Larrocha has done Victimas Perez 9a in Margalef. In total, the 33 year old has done 1 063 routes 8a and harder. ©Silvia Abad "Perfect breezy day. Thanks Campe for coming on his rest day, Sergio for all the days he came up and Silvia cause always encourages me. Fell 8 times in the very last crux but finally happy."

Kids love to climb but it is rather difficult to make the youngest once start liking outdoors. Indoors it is much easier as the holds are bigger, the mattress are softer and it is easier to be rappelled down, on a vertical wall. In fact, rope climbing outdoors will almost always end up with a problem lowering down the small kids on a slab, especially when they have a full body harness. In such case, it is almost impossible to make the youngsters to lean out backwards to be able to walk down like the firefighter. In one way, it is best to start climbing by bouldering outdoors if possible. You do not need any climbing shoes. Just help them push their gymnastics against the rock so the do not slip and hurt their knees. The only climbing shoes our kids use is the sandal look-a-like, Grip-it from La Sportiva. These they can use for hours and even walk to and from the crag. All normal climbing shoes they refuse to use. They are simply to hard and uncomfortable. Do not forget the helmet and once again it should be a cool and comfortable one so it can stay on for several hours. It is also good to have knee pads or rough trousers because the most common incident we have had is bruises on their knees. It should as always be noted that once inviting beginners to our rock climbing scene, make sure you begin super ultra easy on short walls. In practice this means bouldering grade 2a on 2 meters boulders or 8 meters rope climbing. Then they are of wanting to challenge themselves on more difficult and higher walls. It will not take long until they learn the grade system so you better start setting goals like climbing 100 meters or doing 10 boulders instead.