In 1994, Alex Huber made the FA of La Rambla 8c+ to the first anchor, some eight meters under the original anchor. In 2003, Ramon Julian Puigblanque did the FA of La Rambla original 9a+ by traversing into the neighboring bolted route and continuing to the original La Rambla anchor. Ramonet did try to stay as close to Huber's original line as possible, meaning he eliminated a very good jug further out to the right. Until now, La Rambla original has been repeated 15 times, making it the most repeated 9a+ in the world. Everyone has used the jug to the very right of the traverse but Adam Ondra, who commented, "without the resting hold, although it is nonsense to consider it as prohibited. Ramonet has said that his 9a+ grade was based on doing the route without using the resting hold. Noteworthy is also that in 2008, Ramonet did the FA also of the neighboring route and gave it 8c. It has later been upgraded and nowadays, in fact, most even think it's 9a. La Rambla original is today a well confirmed 9a+. At the same time, both Huber and some repeaters have said that the extension does not add that much difficulty so his FA from 1994 should have been 9a by today's grade standard. By using the same grade devaluation logic, some ten years ago, La Rambla original was probably just a hard 9a if you used Ramonet's eliminated jug. Greg Mionske

“Cerro Torre” is a thrilling coming of age story centered around David Lama and his attempt to become the first person to free climb the infamous south east ridge of Cerro Torre, something that was said to be impossible for decades. Nobody could have anticipated the events and difficulties leading up to David’s successful climb, but in the end they turned the movie into a suspenseful feature film unlike any other. Here you can watch the 100 minutes movie. Being 15 years old, David Lama was second in his first Lead World Cup. The next stage he won as well as his first Boulder WC and the European Championship. Two years later, he also won in Lead and Bouldering but he stopped competing in 2010 at 20 years old.

Marketa Janosova, who last year did two 8a's, onsighted her first 7c and was able to complete her 32 pitch dawn wall challenge during eight days, just like Adam Ondra. "In November 2016, I had plenty of time to watch Adam Ondra on his mission in Yosemite. My hands were sweating when I read his report from the Dawn Wall. I imagined how I would have felt had I been in his place and came up with a project My Dawn Wall. This project consists in climbing 32 routes in 8 days. The difficulty of the routes should match my capabilities. For example, Adam's dream is 9c, my dream is 8a+, so instead of 9a I will climb 7b+ (8c +: 7b, 8c: 7a +, etc.) The main goal of the project My Dawn Wall is to find out how Adam felt and show you that climbing easier routes can be more fun. Let's save the difficult routes for later and let's go gather meters. Are you in?"

V 1994 spravil Alex Huber prvý prelez cesty La Rambla. Jeho verzia končila o cca osem metrov nižšie ako terajšia a ohodnotil ju na 8c+. Autorom línie ako ju poznáme dnes je Ramon Julian Puigblanque. Cesta vznikla, keď odtraverzoval do vedľajšej línie a ďalej pokračoval do dnešného zlaňáku, pričom sa snažil čím viac sa držať Huberovej línie, čím vynechal veľké madlo vpravo. Doposiaľ má La Rambla 15 opakovaní a je tak najviac lezeným 9a+ na svete. Každý z prelezcov, až na Adama Ondru, použil spomínané madlo a aj Adam svoj prelez okomentoval slovami: "bez oddychového chytu, aj keď je hlúposť považovať ho za nepovolený." Ramonet sa vyjadril, že obtiažnosť 9a+ navrhol na základe prelezu bez použitia madla. Za zmienku takisto stojí, že v roku 2008 spravil Ramonet prelez susednej cesty a oklasifikoval ju ako 8c. Neskôr bola jej obtiažnosť zvýšená a dnes je väčšinou považovaná za 9a. La Rambla originál je dnes potvrdeným 9a+. Alex Huber a viacerí jej prelezcovia však povedali, že predĺženie nepridáva výrazne na obtiažnosti, takže by Huberova pôvodná verzia za 8c+ mala byť podľa dnešných štandardov 9a. Ak použijeme túto istú logiku, pred desiatimi rokmi by Ramonetova verzia s vynechaním madla bola pravdepodobne len ťažkým 9a. Greg Mionske Autor: Jens Larssen

Caroline Sinno, who did her first 8B in Fontainebleau this spring, has done her long time project La cicatrice de l'ohm 8B+ (B). Here is her progress report from last October and her success comments. "My biggest fight in Font, it was more of a mental thing in the end. Very very pleased to have put a lot of dedication, training and hard work into this! It was nice to rediscover a forgotten line that wasn't climbed since it was opened roughly 10 years ago. It was put up at 8b/+ trav grade by Arnaud Ceintre but I did the natural exit of the line which makes it a real boulder problem around 8A+/B I think. Otherwise if you are willing to try it please be respectful of nature and brush your tick marks!! I found the line pasted with chalk. I don't want it to become like les beaux quartiers."

Julia Chanourdie, #8 in the Lead World Cup 2016, reports on Facebook that she has done her first 9a. "WAOUHHH ! Yesterday I did my first 9a, Ground Zero at the Tetto di Sarre in Italy !!! It's definitely the best moment, to be like the "queen of the world" for an instant... Three weeks ago, she was #2 in the French Bouldering Nationals so the 20 year old is one of the few that can combine world class level in two disciplines.

It is natural for the human being to eager for progress and the media is just full of short cut magic recipes. The problem is that if you get to obsessed with progress you forget about exploring climbing. Instead you will only be happy when you make progress on your training board or on your project. This means also that you will develop more anxiety and in the end you will forget how fun climbing is. Instead of making climbing your great lifestyle, travelling and meeting nice people you might even stop. The easiest way to see if you are at risk is by checking how pointed your grade pyramid is. The general rule is that the base should be built up by a factor four. Another way is to ask yourself if you are looking forward to the following structured training sessions. Skip your short cut training for a while and just enjoy to make your pyramid wider and you just might become a better and more enjoyable climber in the long run.

Caroline Sinno si túto jar vyliezla vo Fontainebleau svoje prvé 8B a teraz preliezla aj svoj dlhodobý projekt La cicatrice de l'ohm 8B. V tomto článku píše o celom procese, ktorý k prelezu viedol. "Môj najväčší boj vo Fontainebleau, ku koncu to bola skôr záležitosť psychiky. Som veľmi, veľmi šťastná, že som do tohto bouldra investovala toľko odhodlania, tréningu a tvrdej driny! Bolo pekné znovu objaviť zabudnutú linku, ktorá sa od svojho prvého prelezu pred cca desiatimi rokmi skoro vôbec neliezla. Pôvodne bola klasifikovaná ako 8b/+ traverz, autorom je Arnaud Ceintre, no ja som sa rozhodla pre prirodzenejší výlez, čím sa z línie stal plnohodnotný boulder, obtiažnosť je podľa mňa 8A+/B. Inak, ak chcete boulder skúšať, prosím rešpektujte prírodu a vykefujte si po sebe čiarky!! Líniu som našla zasypanú mádžom a nechcem, aby sa z nej stalo ďalšie les beaux quartiers."

Julia Chanourdie, šiesta v poradí v minuloročnom svetovom pohári na obtiažnosť, oznámila na Facebooku prelez svojho prvého 9a. "WAOUHHH ! Včera som vyliezla svoje prvé 9a, Ground Zero v Tetto di Sarre v Taliansku !!! Bol to jednoznačne najkrajší moment, byť na chvíľu ako "kráľovná sveta..." Pred tromi týždňami skončila druhá na majstrovstvách Francúzska a je tak jednou z mála lezkýň, ktoré dokážu skombinovať svetovú úroveň lezenia v dvoch disciplínach naraz.

Studio Bloc Masters will take place this weekend with live streaming on Sunday. Semi starts at 11.30 and the final at 16.00. In total 500 athletes from 34 countries will participate including more than 50 % of the best ranked in the 2016 World Cup. The prize money is Euro 10 000 and all profit will be donated to Climbers Against Cancer. The Circuit Climbing has the qualifying report.