BLUE ICE III from Christian Welkhammer on Vimeo.

On the 17th June 2017, Alex Megos climbed the first ascent of a new f9a+ at Götterwandl, close to Nassereith, Tirol. The route, named ‘Clash of the Titans’ links the start of Juturna f8c+ (which Alex climbed on his first redpoint the previous day) into the ‘Vulcanus’ project (as yet unclimbed). “I feel certain that this route is f9a+. The route consists of two distinct sections, the first part is around f8b+ /f8c and leads to a poor rest that was enough for me to take a moment to shake out. This is then followed by the crux. The sequence involved around 10 moves of consistent font 8a+ / V12 climbing. The moves are powerful and the holds are small. The crux finishes with a throw from an undercling to hit the top crimp and then there is easy climbing to the top. This is the first time I have been to the area and the Götterwandl wall was absolutely amazing. Tirol as a whole has been brilliant. I was shocked to say that I had never been before. I always thought I needed to travel far away to find more world class climbing; Tirol showed me that it’s possible to find incredible climbing right on your doorstep.” (c) Liam Lonsdale

Oriane Bertone, who previously has done one 8B, has done her 13th 8A, Psychopad assis in Colimaçons.

Alex Puccio, who was #4 in the Vail WC has done her 19th 8B, Bear Toss in RMNP. She has also done two 8B+ and she is the female who has done most hard core boulders in the world.

Duygu Haug has done her first 8c, Zor in Datça. Interestingly, she did her first 8b at 36 and during the last seven months, the Turk has done four 8b+'s. How come you are such a late bloomer? I can still give my best because I am still a young chicken, I am joking. Seriously, age is not really important for me. I don’t put any limit to my climbing about age or a grade, I think that kills your motivation once reaching an age or a goal. When I climbed my first two 8a+'s I was 28 years old. And at that time I had to go to Izmir every weekend 8 hours by bus. I had just weekends and 2 weeks holiday a year to climb, actually not too much. Even though I traveled as much as I could. For sure it was tiring after some hours on the way then to go directly to work. But I never complained. My situation was like this and climbing was my passion. Maybe I could climb earlier 8b, 8b+, 8c or more... If I climbed and trained maybe more, because I think I am talented at climbing and I love climbing. Climbing is my life style. I could climb a lot after I moved to Geyik bayiri. And the summers I climbed in Europe. I improved very fast. I don't train maybe I should. I climb just in the rocks, 4 to 5 days in a week.

David Fitzgerald started climbing five years ago when he joined the University. "The obsession was instantaneous" and within six months he had done his first 7C and after 3.5 years, his first 8B+. Yesterday he did The Buddha Extension 8B. "It took me roughly four or five sessions to do - the Irish grades are extremely stiff. Throughout the higher grades in Ireland, almost every line should be given either a plus grade or a full letter grade harder. In the lower grades, sometimes giving two or three grades harder is appropriate. It's a funny consensus that we always joke about, but at the same time, we continue to sandbag at every given opportunity. " It will be very interesting when this super gifted boulderer, later this autumn, will hit more modern grading travelling to Finland and Austria. "I always try to focus on the finer details in climbing. This attention to detail is important and requires you to be honest with yourself. I think I've progressed as quickly as I have because I obsess about climbing. It's always on my mind. I constantly question what I'm doing and I draw inspiration from how every other person moves. I've always been my biggest critic and I feel that this mindset has helped me get to where I am today. I train 5 days a week, sometimes 6. On my rest days, I like to stay active by either running, stretching or doing antagonist exercises that target my forearm extensors or my shoulders. When I'm training, I usually climb for about 2-3 hours on the board and then add an extra hour of either fingerboarding, ground core exercises, front lever training or pull-up/push-up pyramids (each exercise lasts for roughly 30 mins, so I'd pick two exercises after each session). All of these sessions end with 30 mins of stretching also. I just finished my studies this year, so now I can focus all of my energy into climbing. Between training, home projects and trips abroad, I'm very excited to push my personal limits this year."

Seb Bouin reports on Facebook that he has done yet another 9a. (c) Raphael Fourau "Legend"!!! The first route of the Pic saint Loup waited 20 years to have a First Ascent. I did this beautiful powerful line today. For the grade I propose 9a. For sure one of the more beautiful on this crag. It's time to pass on the next level : "ariégeois cœur loyal" the legend extension. It's my new bolted route where "legend" is just a way to arrive on the crux..."

Joker Plus is presented among Boreal's "Comfortable" shoes and the 2017 version has an updated fit and rubber compound. The 8a testers have said that this is the most comfortable shoe that they have ever used. As soon as you put it on you will notice the soft padding in the front of the shoe which will make you feel like you have a sock on your foot. Also the heel is padded and below it you have the cushioned heel system which will make boulder landings softer. This anti-impact system feels similar to what is found in running shoes when we actually tried to run with the climbing shoes. This shoe you can use comfortably for an all day session. If you decide to go for smaller size, it is easy and fast to take off and on with the three opposing straps. Even for the advanced climber who mistreat their feet, this could be like a present for the feet, while warming up or doing laps in the indoor gym.

La Sportiva has presented a great article with the Hörst family where Eric, who is a famous trainer and auther, explains how they climb as a family and what is most important. "Anyhow, as a parent to two youth climbers I’ve encouraged my boys to play multiple sports. Currently, they both play high school football (August through November), dabble with skiing, train for climbing in the winter, and then climb outside as much as possible from March through July. Via this approach, Cam and Jon have become elite climbers (both regularly climb 5.14a), while also playing a team sport with their high school friends. Most important, they’ve remained injury free and extremely passionate about both sports and the training required for each!"