Alexey Rubtsov started climbing at 17 years old and three years later he was the 2009 Boulder World Champion. This is the first year the Russian has been a full time climber due to more support from his federation, prize money and better sponsor deals with Mad Rock, Nihil and Russia Climbing. He started the season by doing his first 8C and he is #2 in the Boulder World Cup after he won the last event in Tokyo. He has no coach and most of the time he trains by himself. "I climb mostly my boulders. I train 4-5 times in gym in week, 3 hours a day. More than last year. Sometimes I do body power training after climbing but mostly just bouldering, I like it. Yoga can kill you, running did not work. This is my opinion." Talking about advantage of any starting positions and the new trend with slabs in the World Cup, he is equally outspoken. "Starting 1st in final and in semi are best. No pressure and better friction. So many slabs this year. It seems like best climber is the one who can walk better along the wall. Slab and jump and jump on slab that is so far from rocks. I don't like it. I like more power boulders. Slopers and crimps on steep walls :) I hope we will see it this year! This is the first year when I am a professional climber. I almost did not work, just trained. I spent more time thinking about the training process, I found several interesting techniques. Last year there was a new strongest team in bouldering (the Japanese), and I took it into account. I am very pleased with the strong rivals, they do not allow me to relax but to push for progress. I'm training alone and making programs, but it's even more interesting, no one tells me what to do and I decide what's good for me. Honestly, going out for the season I did not know what to expect from myself this year I was more aiming for the whole season, and not for the first positions, as in the past. As a result, now I feel better than a year ago in the middle of the season." (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

Everything ready for today in Melloblocco celebrating also the Italian Bouldering Cup.(C)Talo Martín/Muérdago Films More than 2.000 pre-registered climbers and more tomorrow will take part in one of the biggest bouldering events in the world. The forecast will be rainy but just in the evenings during 4 days of competition, party and live music. The organization also has covered with big canvass a bunch of boulders to avoid the rain. Vertical-Life have been invited and like last year they will run a Zlagboard and a scorecard contest, through their App. If you break the 2.44 world record by Ramonet you get 1 500 Euro.

Luis Gerhardt has had an amazing long weekend in Fontainebleau having done one 8B, and two 8B+', Mecanique Elementaire and Jour de chasse which many think is 8C. (c) Markus Ixmeier - Boulderclassics "Well... I don't know how to grade it ... If you climb it like Jan it's harder for sure!! But with the heelhook at the beginning, Giuliano could also be right ... Anyways a sick boulder!!!" What is your plan and ambition in 2017? Wow that's a hard question... The first stop is Céûse for sure in the end of may. Wanna try Baa Baa Black sheep because it looks pretty good! After that I have no plans I guess.. trying Action Directe probably and in winter The Island ... But I will see! I'm just psyched for all the nice stuff!! And travel as much as possible to see all the nice places I wanna go.

Many young climbers find it hard to combine their sport with studies, once they go to university and have to move to another city. The good news is, there are a few renowned universities in alpine regions. One excellent example is the Free university of Bozen-Bolzano, located in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. It particularly supports students from abroad, as lectures are held in three languages: English, German and Italian. The Dolomites within reach, the region of South Tyrol is a good choice for those who love rock climbing and with an hour you reach most of the crags in the Arco region. Just around Bolzano there are some 15 crags really close and some are possible to climb also during the winter. Also, you find several big, well-equipped gyms, many sports facilities and hundreds of ski lifts. Student jobs are easy to get, and startup companies in the outdoor sector are constantly looking for young talents. Please feel free to suggest other European climbing cities where you could study in English.

Cathy Wagner, who did her first 8a in 1994, has done El bicho in Rodellar in just three tries, suggesting a personal grade of 8a+. "For me, a fantastic impressive line offering both physical AND technical climbing up there, over two roofs. But the official grade (8b) doesn't reflect the difficulty of that route, 8a+ is closer to reality - and honestly I've done harder ones. Have been on it three times altogether." It total the 51 year old has done almost 600 routes 8a and harder out of which 45 only the last year. This means in fact, that her last year should be considered as one of her best years ever. Bear in mind also that she frequently suggests personal down grades. Interesting is that she previously has said that she warms up less and less and instead just does some tai-chi movements.

Vertical-Life is part of a great exhibition in Berlin featuring 129 Climbing Gardens of the World with stunning pictures. In the website presentation, there is a link to the 8a Tick List and some 8a statistics about each crag. It is truly a must to look at the pictures and get inspired planning your next trip. They have also transported big rocks of all stone qualities that we are climbing on around the globe. You can also take a selfie where you climb in any of the most beautiful places in the world. Just after five days of the exhibition, almost 2 000 have taken the picture and overall, the estimate is for a couple million visitors.

Narasaki, Fujii, Rubtsov and Chon were the first four in the Boulder World Cup in 2016 and all of them are Top-5 after Keita Watabe this year. What is pretty amazing is that among the next 10 highest ranked only Kruder and Hojer are performing at a high level also in 2017. Rustam Gelmanov was #4 last year followed by McColl, Stranik and Bonder. These four athletes have just, all together, made it three times to the Top-20 semi (Bonder #10, Stranik #17 and McColl #18).

Comparing the style of Jongwon Chon, standing on just part of his toes and failing and missing the final, with Alexey Rubtsov, the winner, doing the friction dependent move using more sole, just confirms what Ondra said during the La Sportiva media day. This was reported just two days ago. "Sometimes there are slabs where you just stand on volumes, and you could actually climb them in normal sneakers. These boulders are about putting as much rubber on as possible and what is most important is how flexible you are in the foot. He also said that for him it is hard to understand why some of the top climbers on this type of boulder use the same very tight shoes as you would for standing on micros on an overhang." In fact, Ondra actually used Jongwon Chon as an example of a boulderer that might be using too tight of shoes meaning he gets less sole on these just friction dependent volumes. He was critical towards too much of this type of route setting as it mainly just measures how flexible you are in the ankle. In practice, Ondra meant that it would have been an advantage for especially Chon but also others to bring an over sized shoe to the comps, using for such slab volume problems, and start training ankle flexibility.

1. Janja Garnbret 4t5 4b4 SLO - Alexey Rubtsov 3t8 4b13 RUS 2. Akiyo Noguchi 4t9 4b9 JPN - Tomoa Narasaki 3t9 4b10 JPN 3. Miho Nonaka 3t4 4b5 JPN - Keita Watabe 2t5 3b6 JPN Complete results Four Japanese on the podium and in the overal WC rankingl, four males are among Top-6 and two female among Top-4. A Japanese coach try to explain why they excel. Besides the first 20 minutes in the female final, where all the athletes had flashed the first boulder and later the first four had hit the last hold on the first try, the final was once again an amazing show as all comps in 2017. Some might dislike the more parkour balance type of route setting mainly based on volumes but in the end it was exciting as you never know what can happen. Among the females, all pressure was on Janja before she started on the last competitor on the last boulder knowing that she had to do it in a couple of tries. Yes, she did and in the end she looked superior. In the winning interview, Janja expressed that part of the reason why she is competing is because she like to be put under pressure. Among the male, Narasaki had flashed two of his three tops and as the two guys before him had made it, everyone thought this was just going to be a walk in the park for him once again. Then Rubtsov, who had not flashed any of his three tops, did the last boulder on his third try, beating Narasaki with one top attempt. Once again, everyone thought that Watabe, the leader from the semi and also the last winner in China, would do it easily but no. Not to be missed is the Ondra shoe and volume analyses he made three days ago which is presented below and to the right. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

1. Shauna Coxey 335 GBR - Keita Watabe 285 JPN 2. Janja Garnbret 327 SLO - Alexey Rubtsov 252 RUS 3. Miho Nonoka 232 JPN - Tomoa Narasaki 249 JPN 4. Akiyo Noguchi 180 JPN - Jongwon Chon 226 KOR 5. Petra Klingeler 178 SUI - Kokoro Fujii 203 JPN 6. Stasa Gejo 176 SRB - Rei Sugimoto 164 JPN Complete results The domination from Japan is just amazing especially among the males where the Europeans keep struggling. Just like in the overall last year, not one boulderer from western Europe within Top-6. Among the female, Shauna who has been Top-2 in eight of the last ten events, is clearly challenged by Janja Garnbret who has three straight Top-2 results.