A great show in CWIF was won by Alma Bestvater and Kokoro Fujii. Big favorite Stasa Gejo was only four but with the old rules she would have taken the silver. Here is the scoring based on points/attempts, if needed, and the official scoring with Tops Zones and Attempts. The standing scoring was occasionally shown on the screen but anyhow, the commentators could sometimes not give the correct conditions before the last boulder. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Kokoro Fujii 44 points (6 attempts) - 4T4z 6A 2. Alex Khazanov 44 (9) - 4T4z 9A 3. Tim Reuser 34 - 3T4z 4A 1. Alma Bestvater 24 - 2T4z 3A 2. Michaela Tracey 14 (3) - 1T4z 3A 3. Leah Crane 14 (4) - 1T4z 4A

Caroline Sinno has spent the weekend in Targassonne where she did Bouillon de culture 8B and she is #9 in the ranking game. "So happy and such a memorable fight! Props to Rackam for putting up this cool line. Nice moves on slopers and then into a tiny crack. Felt harder than la cicatrice de l'ohm in the same style in Font. I like Targassonne because once you get used to the rock, which is granite, you can really find cool boulder problems. It’s a nice scenery in the Pyrenees, no one there and weather is very often perfect."

Chipping means normally that somebody has used a hammer or similar to artificially make a route easier to fit the FA capacity. In other cases, it is done to even out a 7a route that has an 8b crux or sometimes it is done to make a hold less sharp. Chipping was quite popular in the 90-ies especially in France and Italy and also today, the smoothing of holds or even out easier routes occurs. On the other hands, setting up new hard routes based on drilling or hammering out holds are rarely done and if so, most think this is really bad. One way of reducing future chipping is simply to mark them as "Chipped" in the 8a data base. As a matter of a fact, the the hard core climber using this feature most frequently is Adam Ondra. Already in 2018, he has markes eight routes as chipped.

Based on 1 000+ unique votes in regards chipping, we can see that the community is actually slightly more positive compared to an identical poll four years ago. 10 % YES! = Better climbing (7 % in 2014) 10 % OK, but very seldom (9 %) 02 % I do not know (2 %) 58 % No, but cleaning is OK (54 %) 19 % NO! Brush is the limit (28 %)

Ben Moon, one of the greatest climber in the history, created the Moonboard in 2005 which has been a smash hit including the App and led marked boulders, introduced in 2016. Lately, we have seen many have copied the invention and it will probably not take long until the climbing wall producers will give us 15 meter high MoonBoards. Imagine going to your gym where you can choose from 10 000+ routes marked with led lamps or similar instead of just having new routes every other months on a panel. Sure there can be walls where the route setters can create routes in the normal way and of course the holds on the Moon board needs to be washed but in practice, the gyms will also save a lot of money for route setting. Further more, world or national wide competitions can he held just like already has been done with the Moonboard. In the long run, I would be surpiced if not digital led walls will be the standard in gyms.

Angie Scarth-Johnson has taken two months off from her school in Australia to visit Spain like last year. This week she has onsighted Sense friccio 8a in Margalef and a 7c+. In the Gender and Age ranking game, the 13 year old is #11 but with one more 8a onsight she is #3. On the picture by Joao Giacchin, we see her non-climbing mum and dad who have been travelling around the globe with her for some years now. The first long trip to Spain they did in 2014, when she did her first 8b being 9 years old. This is what her mother, who is a teacher and do home schooling with Angie, told us then, "We believe that the experience of learning while traveling is very valuable for Angie and hopefully opening her perspective on the world."

Oriane Bertone has done La Cicatrice de l'Ohm 8A+ in Fontainebleau which actually has been 8B. Amazingly, the 12 year old did only need three attempts. Previously, Oriane has done 22 boulders 8A and harder including Golden Shadow 8B (+) in Rocklands. In the 8a ranking game she is #3.

ADVERTORIAL - These top five climbing routes in Tirol have been chosen according to their nature, route and rock quality as well as the mental and physical challenge posed by the climb. 1. Number One, Schleierwasserfall Waterfall, 7b Two challenging sections near the bottom with long moves demand maximum strength and good foot technique. At the top there is one final tough pitch. 2. Puls 2000, Chinesische Mauer climbing area, 7c+ Small holes, reverse holds and narrow ledges demand both strength and endurance. Climbers who make it to the top are rewarded with spectacular views. 3. Le Miracle, Niederthai climbing area, 7b A single block of granite with a crack running from bottom to top. With the right technique an absolute pleasure to climb. 4. Weißer Riese, Nösslach climbing area, 6b Large and small holds, tiny cracks and finger-punishing ledges make this route a technical challenge even if it is rated only 6b. 5. Another Play in Paradise", Dolomitenhütte climbing area, 7c Climbers wanting to make it to the top should not let themselves be distracted by the incredible views, even if this technically challenging route has plenty of anchors drilled into the rockface to catch you if you fall.

Covered in the great interview with Adam Ondra is Silence 9c which took 200 tries, the 9a+ and the Olympics. In 2019, he will do all Lead and Bouldering WCs and in regards Speed it is an Olympic training sacrifice gamble. "How much training you should sacrifice into Speed and how much impact it will have on Bouldering and Lead... all of us who want to go to for the Olympics is kind of gambling on that.

8a wants to support the International Women's Day. Often podium prizes are not equal, or a route is downgraded when a woman does it, putting on doubt hard ascents just for the only reason of be a woman. Climbing has the same value if you're a man or a woman, a boy or a girl. We would also like to see more female bolters as well as bolting being more adjusted to girls and female height. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing On the competition scene, female is getting closer to male performance and Janja Garnbret, on the picture, has often climbed as high as the best male during training. When it comes to junior training and competitions, girls often outnumber the boys. In bouldering, Ashima Shiraishi did an 8C when she was 14 years old which no boys have done yet. Last year, Angie Eiter ldid a 9b meaning only two male have climbed a harder graded route. When it comes to gender performance equality, this means that climbing is a unique sport and, even so, probably we have just seen the beginning of the climbing Girl Power!