- Put the left foot to the light! Climbing at any of the three beginner crags at Railay is super hectic. Some instructors even have a laser pointer to coach their clients on routes that are way too hard. As can be seen in the picture from Phra'Nang, the instructor is trying to support the beginners, pulling them up. At the same time, they are mostly really nice so you can even borrow their top rope while their clients rest. During the six months of high season, more than 100 people climb daily with an instructor at Railay and with 50 every day during low season, there are about 25 000 beginners trying it out annually. Most pay 1 000 baht, 300-350 out of which is paid to the instructors. This means that there are people making more than 30 000 baht a month during high season. For Thai standard this is quite good as they do not pay any taxes. The head instructor says that even so it is quite hard to find new workers as they normally need to work for free for 2-3 months before they can pass the test. Moreover, the hardest thing for the newcomers is actually to learn English well enough.

"Daj ľavú nohu na svetielko!" Lezenie v ktorejkoľvek z troch začiatočníckych lezeckých oblasti v Railay, Thajsko je poriadne hektické. Niektorí inštruktori majú dokonca malé lasery, ktorými svojim klientom ukazujú stupy a chyty v cestách, ktoré sú pre nich príliš ťažké. Inštruktor z Phra'Nang sa na obrázku takisto snaží začiatočníkovi pomôcť tým, že ho vyťahuje nahor. Väčšina z inštruktorov je ale v pohode, takže nie je problém si napríklad vyskúšať líniu, v ktorej majú natiahnuté lano, kým ich klient odpočíva. Počas hlavnej sezóny, ktorá trvá 6 mesiacov, lezie denne s inštruktorom cca 100 ľudí, mimo sezóny je to cca 50. V súčte sa teda v Railay prestrieda za rok približne 25 000 začiatočníkov. Jeden klient zvyčajne zaplatí za deň 1000 bahtov (26.53€), z ktorých 300-350 bahtov (7-9€) ide inštruktorom. Počas hlavne sezóny si teda môžu zarobiť aj 30 000 bahtov (796€), čo je na thajské pomery celkom dobré, keďže neplatia žiadne dane. Hlavný inštruktor ale hovorí, že napriek tomuto je ťažké zohnať nových ľudí, keďže zvyčajne musia najprv 2-3 mesiace pracovať zadarmo, aby mohli prejsť inštruktorským kurzom. Najťažšou vecou pre nováčikov ale býva naučiť sa hovoriť po anglicky na adekvátnej úrovni. Autor: Jens Larssen

Eric Carlsson started with daily climbing videos a few months ago and now he has 18 000 followers on his Youtube channel with over 2.5 million views. The simple idea is to follow one boulderer doing a problem in his gym Klättercentret in Stockholm, where he works full time running the cafe. He also does training videos and spend about 40 hours a week filming and editing. What is your climbing and filming background? I tried climbing for the first time around 5-6 years ago, got really into it for 2 months, then I started traveling and ended up living in Australia. So after nearly 2 years away from climbing I got into it again and I haven't stopped since. I had never done any filming/photo In my life prior to starting this, so I started completely from scratch, luckily there Is a lot of creative and kind people in the climbing world/gym that helped me every time I needed it! How much time does it normally take to shoot and edit a video? It varies, some days it can take 5h and some days as much as 10h but the average is around 6-7h everyday, so its a fair amount of time each day but its what I enjoy the most, so Im psyched! What's your plan and ambition for these videos? My plan Is to continue sharing these stories, to continue to build a platform were people can share there progression, motivation, failure and success, so we can all keep the psyche high in climbing. I have spent these first 6 months at Klättercentret Telefonplan and It has been great! but I'm planing to travel more, meet more people from around the world and share there stories, see were they climb outside, the gyms that they train In and see what the climbing world has to offer as a whole!

Railay beach has been considered the cheapest climbing destination in the world but as the baht is getting stronger and prices, especially for bungalows, have increased, Kalymnos actually turns out to be cheaper. Norway is considered the most expensive climbing destination in the world and that is probably still true even if the Norwegian crown has dropped over the last few years. The 'climbing currency' that has dropped the most in the last five years is the South African rand so Rocklands is about 30% cheaper for most foreigners compared to only three years ago. It should also be mentioned that the USD is getting stronger so it is more expensive to go to Red River Gorge, Hueco Tanks and other US crags.

Matteo Menardi, who did his first 9a two years ago, has done two 8c+'s in Fonzaso, Drumtime and Il Gladiatore. What are you projects/plans, what about training and comps? Probably I will come back to Fonzaso, because there is still one stunning line to climb; otherwise I'm going to try some unfinished projects closer to my home. I'm also looking forward to climb in the Osp Cave! Because I like climbing outside, I train climbing on hard routes. I also train indoor and, when I do not have the possibility to lead climbing, I enjoy training on a small board in my house. I will climb outdoor and, afterwards, I'm going to decide about the training for the competitions.

"Ha, ha! elő síp, dob, zene! Harsogjon harsona!" Nagy hétvége elé nézett a Magyar (Össze)Válogatott Csapat Romániában. Temesváron rendezték meg az idei Pannonian Bouldering Series első fordulóját, ahol a Magyar csapat tökösen helytállt. A verseny egyik főszervezője és az útépítők koordinátora Luzán Matyi volt a csapat szállásadója, akinek vendégszeretetéről méltán terjed a hír a határon innen és túl egyaránt. A Döntőbe három Magyar fiatal is bejutott, a százhalombattai BXSC két versenyzője Matusz Richard és az első helyen döntőbe jutó Balogh Zsolt, illetve a Gerecse SE versenyzője Izer Bálint. Borbély Gábor a 14. helyezést szerezte meg, a döntőben pedig Ricsi az 5., Zsolti a 3., Bálint pedig a 2. helyezéssel öregbítette országunk hírnevét. A BHSK blog hamarosan prezentálja a teljes hétvégi akciót egy hosszabb videó kíséretében. A One Move teremben megrendezett versenyt egyébként a hölgyeknél a romániai Ana-Maria Zaharia, férfiaknál pedig a szerb Luka Perunivic nyerte. A PBS második fordulója két hét múlva a szerbiai Újvidéken lesz - ahol a fiúknak ismét a dobogó a cél, a harmadik forduló pedig feltehetőleg Budapesten a Monkey Boulderban lesz megtartva. Ha Budapest kész becsatlakozni egy nemzetközi versenysorozatba az nemcsak azt fogja jelenteni, hogy menedzsmentileg (is!) megértünk a versenyszervezésre, hanem azt is; hogy egy hazai terem többet tehet a környező országok versenyzőiért és a közös kapcsolattartásért, mint valaha!

Uncharted Lines from Uncharted Lines Vimeo channel. Paul Robinson has been working on this film featuring Webb, Woods, Ceria, Sharma, Graham, Martin and others for 2 years. Please tell us about the process. Yeah, it has been quite the crazy process! The whole idea began a while back when I wanted to create a film all about the process of doing first ascents all over the world. I was lucky enough to have some amazing friends come along on the journey and be a part of the film. From failures in Siberia, to searching for rock in Zimbabwe, to watching Daniel Woods send one of the hardest boulders in the world, it has been an incredible 2 years.

Ola Przybysz, who had a personal best of 8b some eight months ago, has done her first 8c+, Spicy Noodle in Yangshou. A possible explanation for the great progress can be found on Facebook. (c) Eben Farnworth "Recently I realized that the last couple of years of my life were just a sick game to a person that I thought was really close to me. The heaviness and premeditation of the actions are a real shock to me. There are some things that even with the most detailed explanation I will never understand. It’s just not something from the world I am from....This climb worked like a cure."