Many have said we cannot climb much harder. We have reached the physical human limit and actually there was some stagnation going on some years ago. However, 2015 was a record year when it comes to achieved grades for the community; especially for the youngsters and the female. Interesting is that this trend has continued during 2016 but it relates mainly to doing longer routes and boulders. If the trend continues, male doing 9a endurance routes will soon stop creating headlines. It might be that in 2020, ten guys including Ashima Shiraishi will do 9b and Climbing will be recognized as the most gender-equal sport in the world. At the same time, the first 9A boulder and several 8C+'s will be done including also female ascents. When it comes to grades and ages, there might be several showing the same standard as Adam Ondra and Ashima Shiraishi. In a longer run, there will be loads of 50+ doing 9a's and 8B+'s. The future looks bright :)

About a month and a half ago Iban Larrion added a new boulder-route in a smaller grotto aside the Baltzola cave, Mikelon, for which he suggested 8B+/C (remember that in 2012 and at the same spot he also made the FA of 'Airian', suggesting 8C for it). At that time we talked with him in this interview, where we also asked him about his long standing project with a rope in the same area, Iñi Ameriketan 9a+, which he was finally able to send about 2,5 weeks ago after trying it for 6 years. Pic© Estibaliz Díaz. Iban is the fourth to clip the chains of what was born as a 100% natural route (so far just a crimp broke and was glued back on the same spot) bolted by Iñigo Basterra in 1995 which first ascent was claimed by Rikar Otegi in 2002 saying it was a 9a. One year later it was bagged by Patxi Usobiaga agreeing with such difficulty proposal. Second repetition didn't happen till 2014 with an Adam Ondra well used to revise a good number of routes downward but registering this one with a 9a+ in his scorecard with the following comment: "Harder than 'Il Domani', even though easier beta than Patxi and Rikar used has been found. 2 days, sent in humidity." Iban confirmed us that Ondra used his method and coincide with him on his grading, even if "an intermediate in the crux section broke off, but this didn't mean that plus." We, in the Spanish 8a.nu site, have asked him some few more questions that you can read in this new interview.

Gerhard Schaar has published a new topo of Malatal, which offers around 350 sport routes, 80 multi pitch routes, 10 selected alpine climbs and about 200 boulders. "The Maltatal is quite unique, because first of all you climb from a sea level of 800m up to 3350m. And secondly there are a lot of climbs right next to the many amazing waterfalls. There are a lot of lines from 7a up to 8c+, and a good share of great and easy climbing on slabs with superb quality. Me and Markus Pucher started bouldering here around 1993, when we opened the majority of easier problems. With the arrival of Klem Loskot in 1997 the Maltatal started to be recognized as top secret spot and attracted much more climbers, leading to all the access issues mentioned before. To cut a long story short I was planning to a guidebook as I was amongst the busiest pioneers in bouldering, as well as the main developers for sport climbs by opening about 250 lines over about 20 years. Facebook and here you can buy buy the topo for 31 Euro.

I have been training hard indoors, following different programs but I do not feel any progress outdoors on my route projects. How should I change my indoor training? This is quite logical as indoors and outdoors climbing sometimes challenges different strength. Focus on climbing many easier routes in order not to compare and be so performance-oriented outdoors, which can create anxiety. Regarding your indoor training, try do focus on more outdoor look-alike moves, which usually means Bouldering less steep and especially using smaller footholds. It just might be that your outdoor projects involve some closed crimping moves which you probably have not trained so much indoors during the winter. If so, just do a couple of sessions where you focus a bit more on crimping in order to recruite the strength which may be needed for your projects. Good luck! Feel free to ask more questions in the forum or send them to [email protected]

The number of climbers is increasing dramatically. Here is some knowledge that could help beginners to learn how to act and understand the sport. Click on he picture! Access & Human Waste Safety and Belaying technic Practice & Ethics Grading in theory & Reality

Detailed info about the job of a communication assistant at IFSC.

In modern climbing heel- and toehooks are used more often and this is why the new La Sportiva shoe - Skwama focused on enabling you perfect friction on such moves. Furthermore, it is a high end, rather soft performance shoe where they have used their patented P3 midsole technology to keep the aggressive profile of the shoe over its lifetime. Comparing sizes, it seems like half size bigger than similar La Sportiva shoes. "Details: Patented S-Heel™ construction provides optimal heel hooking maneuverability and the perfect heel cup fit P3® patented technology coupled with the new innovative split-sole construction allows the sole to spread when weighted, reducing edge deformation Sticky rubber toe patch for toe hooks and scums"

Nika Potapova has done her second 8b+, Marioneta and the day after also her first 8c, Strelovod in Osp/Misja Pec. Last year, she set a female world record on the Zlagboard, hanging for 2.40 min. This is some 40 seconds more than the second best female and in fact she is #2 overall behind Ramonet's 2.45. Nika normally does seven training sessions a week including two rest days. - I "put an eye" on Strelovod in my previous trip in November last year. There is a big hold on the second half of the route where you could relax but it was not so easy for me to reach it, small holds long reaches. I had to use my foot regular on the heel because of my height. It took 4 days, 14 tries for the realization. I am very happy and have new plans: a trip to Arco and competitions in Imst. I want that May become soon!

Climb Kalymnos comes with great news. A total of 297 routes were partially or totally rebolted and another 100 new routes have been bolted. The new routes are not yet climbable so no topo is available but one of the new sectors is in the shade on the other side of Arginonta. In the picture there is the one who probably has spent most time bolting on Kalymnos, Claude Idoux. Furthermore, the article tells about the refugee situation which seems to be under control and that there will be a climbing festival starting 8/10.