Jernej Kruder, one of the most multi discipline climbers in the world, has done a trad ascent of the bolted route Umazana igra 8b+ in Kotecnik. "I don't want to chop the bolts. It's just some people that say it is more ethical to removes bolts at such routes. At around ten meters you have two good cams and then you have to climb 15 moves (quite hard) and then you place one cam below that is hard to place...but still you need to do the last crux move above that." This year, the Slovenian was #7 in the Boulder World Cup. He has done two 8C's, DWS 9b and several hard multi-pitches. At the same time, the 26 year old has started to do Lead and Speed comps so it might be that the big plan is also to go for the Olympics. Today he was #11 on the the first qualification route in Villars but did not make it to the semi.

Reza Alipourshena and Anouck Jaubert won the Speed event in Villars and in fact, Jaubert did do the final twice as in the first final she had the exact same time as Iuliia Kaplina. Among the guys going for the Olympic, Jan Hojer impressed the most at 8.56 being overall #29 of the 40 participating. Video high lights (c) Eddie Fowke has presented a nice Gallery as always. Complete results

Dani Andrada reports on Instagram that he has done the FA of De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté in Rodellar which was bolted by Serge Casteran. Being uncertain of the grade he choose the double slash grade 9a+ or 9a/+, "to be decided by the repeaters... for me it is a very special route with a history in a very special place." The 42 year old is the one who has put up most hard routes around Lleida, making it the world's most popular hard core climbing area. For some 15 years ago, he started bolting in Santa Linya where he has put up a dozen 9a or harder routes. When it comes to 8a routes or harder, he has done to date 3.715 routes. The often used "A muerte" was also originally his trade mark.

William Bosi, who previously has done four 9a's out of which he gave 8c+ for two, has done a very quick ascent of Evolution 8c+ in Raven Tor. In the last European Cup he was #3 which also was the case for the last Boulder World Championship. (c) Band Of Birds "Evolution is an amazing route with climbing well suited to my style. I had set myself the goal of getting all the moves down in a session but I did not expect to send it. On my first go I went pretty quickly up just doing each move once and finding where to clip each draw. As soon as I got to the top I knew I could do it and believed I had a chance that day. My next attempt was just to put the rope in the second draw for the redpoint attempt. Next it was the send go! Everything came together really well. I climbed the route perfectly up to the half way make where I started getting tired. I almost blew it at the top as I hit the third to last hold with only two fingers but managed to sort myself and finish the route."

Marine Thevenet reports on Instagram that she has done her first 8B, Fragile Steps in Rocklands. In 2014 she was #7 in the Bouldering World Cup and later she left the scene. (c) Clément Lechaptois

Lucien Martinez has done the FA of Descente en Terre Inconnue 9a in Sabart. Here is some of his story on Crimpoil. "The route starts with a short and endurance 8c+ on bad pinches for which I needed very good friction. Then you have to do a very long 8c with good 'batman' rests crossing the whole roof in the cave. That day, weather was incredibly cold for the season around 16 degrees with wind, and I managed to send the route with a great battle at the very end where it's supposed to be done."

Loic Zehani has recorded his fifth 9a, the FA of Mon oncle d'Amérique in Gargantua. Video "The route is a connection by three routes. It begins with the first pitch of an 8b+ (Las Vegas Parano), then without rest you climb the hard section of an 8c (Uncle Spit) and after a rest you finish with an hard fingery section of an 8b (Gargantuesque)."

Steve McClure put up the still unrepeated Mutation in Raven Tor in 1998. It is like an 8A extension to Evolution which 8c+ grade, at the time, was questioned. Mutation took another 21 days after having done Evolution in six days. © Keith Sharples - I just thought Mutation was more than a grade harder than Evolution but as it had also been called 8c, I thought 9a seemed appropriate. Today, I guess Evolution is considered as an 8c+ and has only gotten five repeats since Jerry Moffatt put it up in 1995. Having trad climbed for 20 years, Steve started sport climbing when he was 24. At 26 he made his first 8a redpoint and within a year he did Evolution and two years later the FA of Mutation. In total, without counting variations and link-ups, he has done nine 9a to 9b FAs out of which five are still unrepeated. Adam Ondra did the first repeat of four confirming or even saying that they are at the upper end of the grade. Several climbers over the years have tried Mutation, including brief attempts by Sharma, Ondra, Megos and Brit Pasquill but nobody has come even close. It is possibly time to call for an upgrade to 9a+. This would make Steve the second person in the world doing a 9a+ after Alex Huber but before Chris Sharma's Biographie.