Jon Cardwell reports on Instagram that he did Papichulo 9a+ in Oliana on his last day before returning back home. The American has spent two months in Spain including actually extending his trip waiting for his project to dry up. (c) Javi Pec Last year Jon did his first 9a+, Biographie, and explained to 8a how he had become a better climber. "I think in the last year, I really improved as a climber. Mostly in my ability to climb with less hesitation - in the last year I really focused more on onsight and flash and I think these forms of climbing really help that, more than physical challenges they are almost the best training for one's climbing mind! You must make important decisions quickly, without self-doubt, and when you make a mistake you're often finished. This really helps your mind act without emotion - which often gets in the way of hard redpoints - "is this the try?" "Are conditions perfect" etc....once I realized thoughts like that didn't help, I moved with more confidence and was able to perform to the best of my ability (still far from the super stars we see today) but definitely at a higher level than last year."

IFSC and Flosports have signed a 3 year contract hoping to get some good money to both parties, based on a 20 USD a month deal for live-streaming of World Cups. For some reason, IFSC did not bother to communicate and explain the rationale neither internally nor externally. Because of the extreme criticism from the climbing community, Meiringen was streamed free of charge on Youtube. On Wednesday, "Various possibilities for the live streaming of IFSC events will be discussed throughout the week with the stakeholders to make sure the IFSC continue to promote both Athletes and Events in the best way." IFSC has signed a contract which means they can not just break the deal with Flosports without paying a penalty. The only way for the community to break the deal is to not pay the USD 20, making Flosports understand they will loose money in the long run. Even the athletes have been discussing refusing being interviewed in the live-streaming. Even so, it is important that somebody in IFSC takes the blame and steps down, as otherwise, the organisation can not be trusted to make other bad decisions in the future.

The athletes' commission, including 13 athletes, has written an open letter to create awareness and explain their stance on media communication. Jorg Verhoeven has said in the forum that he can answer any questions regarding AC's position. "The last few days have been dramatic - never before has the climbing community been so vocal and united in opposition to a decision involving our sport. The IFSC rightly states that it values good governance and transparency, and that its athletes are included in decision making processes at all levels. However we would not be where we are today if this were completely true: - rule changes have been introduced with little communication or debate, and in our view without proper consideration of the consequences; - the media rights for our sport have apparently been sold with no consultation, and with no apparent consideration for the effects on athletes, sponsors, organisers or the community that ultimately makes climbing the sport we love. We are saddened that the IFSC has chosen not to be open, not just with us but with the climbing community at large. To us, this is opposite of the spirit that defines our sport. We are speaking up now because we are disappointed and frustrated; we feel that we have reached a dead end in trying to influence the IFSC quietly from the inside. If we believed that it was too late for the IFSC to act in accordance with its stated values we would not be writing this, but we have to call for a change in behaviour. We are concerned that the IFSC will try to manage its way past this crisis and then go back to business as usual. This is not a course of action that we can agree with. To make our voices heard, starting at the Meiringen World Cup, we have asked the athletes to withdraw cooperation with the livestream media until changes are made. Our aims are to have: - effective consultation on (rule) changes that effect the athletes; - a free livestream on an IFSC platform indefinitely. We are speaking out publicly because we believe that the IFSC and its board members will rightly be judged by their action or inaction. We hope our actions will help the IFSC hold itself accountable, not to us, but to the climbing community at large. As athletes, we want to see our sport grow and prosper, but success must be measured in more than financial return."

Adam Ondra has onsighted another two 8c's, Masters of the Universe in Frankenjura and Helel ben schachar in Kalkofen. In total, the 24 year old has recorded 77 onsights, 8c to 9a, and bare in mind that often he puts down his personal grades. In comparison, the runner up in this statistic has onsighted less than ten 8c and harder. The picture is from his Instragram, Naturalmente 9a+? in Camaiore, Tuscany, Italy. It could be a good reminder that just training power and endurance following a scheme is not enough. It might be a shortcut for you to instead focus on improving your flexibility and knee drop technique in order to climb harder routes.

Gonzalo Larrocha, who previously has done five 9a's, has repeated the classic Estado Critico after just some ten tries giving it a personal 8c+ grade. The high class route was put up by Ramon Julian Puigblanque as a 9a in 2004 but later it was down graded. In 2010 a hold broke and since then, everyone has said 9a although several have done it quickly and commented: soft. Gonzalo does not think the route got that much harder with the broken hold as you still can do the same dyno. Further more, "The people who did the route before did a harder traverse than the traverse, one meter higher up, that I used." In 2013, Alex Megos onsighted it as the first 9a in the world, which should be the official grade as of today. Anyhow, Gonzalo's personal grade once again shows that the grades are not set in stone.

Anna Stöhr, the best female competition climber in history, set a new record by doing an 8B and a 8B+ during a day. Mammut present her story - My Dream Day in Magic Wood. (c) Alfons Dornauer "I had actually climbed Steppenwolf and NBL (New Base Line) in one day!! It was even more meaningful to have such a day in a place that is so special to me. When I was a teenager standing under these boulders in Magic Wood, I would never have dreamed about climbing these two gems in one day. As I write this, I am still feeling overjoyed and I can’t stop smiling."

Ashima Shiraishi, the world's best female climber outdoors since she was 13 years old, reports on her Instagram that she has signed a contract with Coca Cola. Currently, she is working on Ondra's La Capella 9b. At the moment, her Insta has 167 000 followers.

Hatalmas hír söpört végig a facebookon szombat este, Márk harmadik megmászását könyvelhette el (Urbanics és Farkas után) a Zed is dead nevű 8c/+ útnak, mely Magyarország jelenlegi legnehezebb sportmászó útja. A Zed "kiegyenesítését" Áron projektelte hosszú évekig - s a fokozatot félig meddig kérdőjelesen hagyta. Az első ismétlő Tamáska szerint "Nagyon specifikus út, ami 175cm alattiaknak inkább 8c+, de a magasabbaknak 8c! A fokozattól eltekintve a teljesítmény szenzációs bravúr. De nem csak Geriben füstöltek az alkarok: Simon Bence Szlovákiában megmászta a Morálna kríza 8b-t! Benke Balázs pedig befejezte a Szilfidet érdekes kommenttel fűszerezve azt: meglepetés megmászás. ezennel fel is fokoznám 7c/c+-ra. az eleje boulder van olyan nehéz mint pl a molyoló manoló, márpedig az 2 méter... A Retek 7c pedig a hosszú ideig sérülésekkel bajlódó Miskó Róbertet emelte a kilences fokozat világába. A kis utacska már számos fejtörést okozott a fokozatát illetően, de néha kell hogy valami mindenki első útja legyen. Ilyen a Retek, ilyen a Lélekharang és ilyen a Sarlatán is. Grat a megmászóknak.

Shauna Coxsey, the winner of the Boulder World Cup 2016 and in Meiringen last weekend, speaks out in regards the IFSC decision to sell out to Flosports. "The Athletes Commission strongly disagree with the IFSC on the matter and even asked athletes in Meiringen to refuse to be interviewed on the live stream, a request I was happy to comply with. At no point were the athletes asked for their opinion on the paywall. I have not yet spoken to one person who knew about the partnership between the IFSC and FLOsports before the announcement went live. That includes the athletes, event organisers, National Federations, IFSC staff etc. I am disappointed."

In a new Sharma interview, Climbing says that Chris has done the first 9a+ and 9b in the world. To state this as a fact is not just correct and it also discredits climbers like Alex Huber who did 9a+ several years before Sharma. Since 2000, 8a has continuously questioned grades and often published lower grades in comparison to how the media and climbers themselves have reported. In some cases, we have said that grades in some areas are just exaggerated and in every case, later it has resulted in down grading. Even so, it is a fact that the grade inflation has continued. On the other hand, we do think that there is nothing wrong with the fact that climbers often just report that they have done a route without giving it a grade or just use what the topo says. On the other hand, this means that the media needs to take their grades responsibly in order to not mislead the readers.