Janja Garnbret and Stasa Gejo both scored 4t6 4b6 in the semifinal of the Munich Boulder World Cup which made the route setter have to rebuild one of the male problems. After both had failed to do the first move and dyno twice, Stasa made it and reached one more hold putting pressure on Janja, who missed the dyno again. Among the males Jan Hojer won ahead of Alex Megos creating some unfairness for Jan as he has to stay waiting for the cermony. Jan was not so happy about the new rule having the European Champion during the semi. At the same time the Japanese and Jongwon Chon left the venue directly after the semifinal getting some food and rest at the hote, Jan is still here waiting for the medal cermony. The unfairness was even worse for the females having to do one more boulder. The World Cup final starts 18:00.

Fixed quick draws are potential death traps as the lower carabiner can get so worn down that it becomes like a knife cutting off a rope. This is something that is quite easy to check. A death trap which is much harder to observe is the webbing being worn down on the back side due to friction against the rock. In Sweden a climber broke the webbing on a fixed quick draw on a popular crag some weeks ago. Earlier this spring another climber broke the webbing after just many side falls over a lip. Check also the backside of the webbing the next time you see fixed quick draws especially if it has contact with the rock. A bolter should also have this in mind to never place a bolt which might put the webbing in friction danger. It might also be wise to check your quick draws including the webbing once in a while to check that they are in good shape.

The qualification has started and here you have the Updated results. Live-streaming on IFSC starts with semifinal at 10:00 and Final 18:00. Shauna Coxsey has already secured the title and among the male, Jongwon Chon is #1. If Alexey Rubtsov wins the last event, Chon needs to be #3 to secure the title. The Russian could also win if he is third in Munich and Chon is #12 or worse. In theory, Keita Watabee could also win overall.

Evan Hau, who previously has repeated two 9a's, has done the FA of Honour and Glory 9a+ in Echo Valley. (c) Simon Parsons "Can't believe it's done!!! What an incredible journey! After chasing this grade for years I knew the only way I could get it done was to find and bolt one at home in The Bow Valley, Canada. It took many trips to Europe to try various routes of this grade and understand what I was looking for. At last I was able to find a completely independent line at the perfect difficulty at a cliff I already frequented anyway! I started bolting this route 16 months ago last April and tried to get on it as much as possible since then, pretty much 12 out of the last 16 months it's been climbable. In the cold, in the heat, wet, whatever. Today was incredible. Amazing conditions, I felt tired on the warmup so I didn't really think I had a shot, but maybe that took some of the pressure off. I passed my highpoint and then I didn't fall off the final move like I thought I would. STOKED!!"

Chuck Odette started climbing in 1978 and did his first 7a+ 1989 at 34 years old. Since two years, he is a full time retired climber who is getting a new peak at 61 years old doing the FA of Bulletproof Monk 8b+ in Logan Canyon. (c) Heidi Baxter "Technically, it's been a 2 year process. My wife (Maggie Odette 8b+ in 2016 being 46) and I have been on the road full time since June of 2015, which helps a lot. We've been living in our little Scamp Trailer for the past 2 years and 2 months! We change locations about every 2 or 3 months, following the weather usually. We're able to climb and rest on our schedule rather than climbing just on weekend and training during the week. Full time climbers have it made :) blog. I really started focusing on this route last year when I bombed out in Maple trying to do a couple of the longer 8b+ routes there. I was very close, but the best I could do was to repeat a couple 8b/8b+ routes last summer. The two routes, Ego Boost (8b/8b+) and Mexican Rodeo (8b/8b+), I had done when I was a much younger 50 years old... HA! Logan Canyon was essentially my local "home" crag for many years (1994 to 2002) so it made sense to go back to Logan and try something hard there this year. I had put up a new line called Shaolin (8b) in 2014 and linked it to a harder longer endurance finish and called it Golden Child (8b+) also done in 2014. I tried to link Shaolin into another, more direct finish at that time, which is the finish I just did, but I felt like it was too powerful for me to do at my advanced age. It's 7B or 7B+ boulder grade maybe? Hard for old geezers... or so I thought...??? :) Being away from the route for three years made me think about it more and I felt that it might be possible for me to do if I trained specifically just for that finish. Maggie and I decided to return to Logan Canyon this year so she could do a couple of FFA's or harder 8a+ and 8b grade possibly, and so I could work on linking Shaolin into this much harder finish... To prepare for this, we spent 6 weeks bouldering in the Priest Draw of Northern Arizona, which is steep pocked limestone (like China Cave) and very powerful movement. We trained hard on our portable tripod back in camp every night after bouldering, three days a week. We did weighted pull ups, gymnastic ring push ups and lots of core training stuff. Power is our weakness, so all we did was work our weakness during that time. On our rest days, we both do a lot of Ashtanga (power) yoga for recovery and opposition muscle strength training. Basically, we were doing active recovery while balancing out our pull muscles to help prevent injury. When we arrived to climb in China Cave (Logan Canyon) we were both extremely fit for it. I repeated a handful of routes to build a pyramid toward the ultimate goal of sending the new and harder finish to Shaolin. After repeating The Golden Child, during this phase, I knew I was ready to link the harder variation. It took three climbing days (over a five day period) to work out the moves to the new finish. Three more climbing days later (and another five day period) I linked the entire rig for the redpoint. I felt lucky since my physical, mental and emotional states were all at peak performance levels. Coincidentally, my peak performance level corresponded with cooler temps. We had been climbing in 30-32C temps (in the shade!) and on the send day it was only 25C. Sometimes there's a bit of "luck" involved when sending something at your limit!"

Bernd Zangerl, one of the pioneers of Magic Wood and a leading boulderer some 15 years ago, took a very bad fall in 2015. (c) Ray Demski "I landed hard on my back on my crash pad, followed by a somersault into the forest’s stony ground. Conscious again, I was sitting on my knees looking up at the project five meters above me. There was only little pain in my neck, which I didn’t give much attention to, and I went back home. The next day I went to a spa, relaxing. I didn’t think the fall was anything serious, until a few days later when the pain became unmistakably severe. After a MRI, the doctors explained to me that I was very lucky, but I’d badly injured the 5th and 6th vertebra in my neck. When I woke up a few days later, I couldn’t feel my thumb and index finger anymore. A funky feeling. A few hours later my muscles on my back (terres major and serratus anterior) started vibrating. That was the moment when the brain stopped sending impulses to the muscles. The atrophy started slowly. I didn’t know what was going on. I felt the results eight weeks later back in the gym. I wanted to hold on some jugs, but I couldn’t do it anymore. My arm straightened without any resistance. I totally lost the two most important muscles in climbing, the terres major and serratus anterior! After a 1,5 year of physical training indoor and specific mental work every day, I was super happy to be outside, to climb on the rock again. Into the Sun (8c+) starts with a six move 8A+ traverse into Fred Nicole's old top rope boulder Murgtal Tag & Nacht 8A+ (where gear is placed) and tops out with a 7b link. After this injury, it is not the grade which is important to me. It never really was. The way back to bouldering, to climbing, to what I love can not be measured with numbers. Words can't tell how happy I am to be back on the rock. I still have some more projects which I want to climb in future. I am still not as strong as before my accident but I am getting there:-)

There are 175 males scheduled to compete in the Boulder WC on Friday in Munich. One reason for this is that up to the semi, the event also counts as the European Championship which means bigger interest from Europe. The isolation closes 06:30 and at 07:00, Jongwon Chon and Alexey Rubtsov start competing followed by the lower ranked. In practice this means that the guys competing for the overall title need to wake up at the latest 04:30 in order to be able to perform maximum power and dynos in full swing at seven o'clock. The last male out will start around 14:30 after having spent eight hours in isolation. At the same time both the temperature and the friction will be worse after 85 guys have put chalk on the holds in the two groups.

Jakob Schubert, who was #3 in the European Lead Championship at the end of June just one week after being #5 in Boulder Cup, later took his first ever WC break and instead went to Rocklands. During 17 days he did over 55 boulders 8A and harder. According to his ticklist we can see that he flashed two 8B's Mooiste Meisie and Madiba which he gave a personal grade of 8A+, five 8A+'s and eleven 8A's. In short, this just might be a new record when it comes to a 2.5 week climbing trip. The next week he will compete in the Boulder WC in Munich. (c) Ingo Filzwieser

James Squire has done his first 8B+, The Never Ending Story, in Magic Wood. "Did not expect this today! Massive mental battle. 5th session this trip plus a few sessions over the last two years. Such a classic line, can't believe it!"

The Never Ending Story 8B+ from Beastly Squirrel on Vimeo.

Maria Davies Sandbu, who previously has done eleven 8A's, has sent Nightrider Høyre in Lofoten, giving it a personal grade 8A grade. "Very cool climb on good crimps! The long move in the end was definitely the crux for me. Even though the guidebook says 8A+ I dont think I can claim this to be my first of the grade."