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There exist probably no other physical sport where the shorties perform so well. The best example of this is Ramonet at 159 cm and several kids, well below 150 cm, performing world class. However, in reality, the two best rock climbers in the world are 183 cm and many of the most famous climbers are almost as tall. In the latest Boulder World Championship, the average height of the people at podium was 182 cm. Do not forget that also many of the old legends are/were around 180 cm; Gullich, Moon, Nicole, Mofatt, Manolo and Legrand. Surely, shorter new climbers perform better than the taller in the beginning. But once the taller guys have strengthened up their body and improved their coordination, they catch up and often surpass the shorties. With more gyms and trainers all over the world, it would not take long until some "basketball player" will set new standards on reachy vertical climbs as well as doing crazy 8C+ dynos. Image source: Cliparts.co

Jule Wurm, the reigning Boulder World and European Champion, has done two 8A+'s in Hueco Tanks, Rumble in the Jungle and Phantomb Limb, in the picture by Sven Böhme. "We had a fun good trip, competed in the Rodeo and had a good time with the Austrian crew around Jakob, Alfons and Elias! My plan for 2016 is just to climb outdoor a lot and it would be cool to see some new areas. I'd like to climb in the Grampians for example. And maybe some exotic trips, too. We'll see. I'm psyched to do a few fun comps such as the Hard Moves in Wuppertal, but no more World Cups:-)."

Jan Hasenbichler has produced this diagram, comparing climbers' height and their scorecard rankings, showing that the very best climbers are generally taller. Interestingly, the diagram also shows that the sub-35-year-olds are getting taller. These stats goes hand in hand with other diagrams that have been produced by hardclimbs.info and showed in the 8a forum. The same positive correlations for height and performances can also be found in the IFSC competition statistics.

The latest report from Railay is that there will be no hotel complex at Tonsai. No construction has been started yet but there might be bungalows just like on the Railay side. This goes in hand with what we have reported before based on info from Björn "Dr 8a" Alber. Picture by Sumphon Suebhait (King of Railay) - The biggest advantage with a bungalow village at Tonsai is of course that there will be clean water which also the cheaper accommodation and restaurant further up will benefit from. For now, the Tonsai beach is not the nicest place as there are no facilities such as restaurants that would take care of the area, beside Freedom bar. In other words, let us hope they start building bungalows and restaurants.

Bouldering competitions are exciting but it is hard for the spectators to follow and understand the results, e.g. 2t5 2b13. In fact, even the IFSC commentators often make mistakes when they try to say which conditions apply before the last boulder, actually fooling the audience. It is simple to start scoring by points and if climbing is going to be an Olympic sport, IFSC should see to it. The dilemma is of course that the judges have to count and present their results like they always have and then calculate it and show the results also with points. This would make it much more simple for the television commentators, during the Olympics - they would present and analyze the result during and after the event, instead of having just some confusing information, example of which you can see in the picture. One further benefit with an added point system is that you could start using two bonus holds, which will just increase the excitement for both the climbers and the spectators. There is a possibility to calculate the results so, let us say, all eight bonuses on the first try would actually beat no bonuses and just one top on the 15th go. (Examples of different scoring will be presented as a comment). The article goes hand in hand with what Danel Woods wrote in a comment discussing the problems with the scoring system used in the US Nationals.

Felipe Camargo, one of the guys who has put Brazil on the climbing map, has done the third ascent of Chris Sharma's Catalan Witness The Fitness 8C. (c) Marcos Costa "Super happy! The boulder is awesome and I didn't expect to do it in just four days. I've been training a lot of roof climbing! I'm making a movie about only roof climbs! So this year I will be going around trying some hard roofs around the world! The wheel of life, Andrada's Corazon de ensueño in China and In search of time lost in Magic Woods! But first, it dries, is my project in Rodellar! A link into Los Inconformistas which is like an 8c into the 9a! But if it doesn't dry I might just climb in Margalef and Oliana."

Daniel Jung reports on Facebook that he has done Xaxid Hostel 9a and Histerija 8c+ in Misja Pec, "just before the holds got too wet. Not so sure about the grades of the routes I send, maybe they are soft or I trained to much." Daniel has previously done eight 9a's and La Rambla 9a+ beside putting up many routes including trad.

In general terms, all finger techniques are equally good. However, different techniques suite different climbers, holds, angles and rock. Most climbers have a dominating finger position and this position is therefore trained frequently, meanwhile the abandoned techniques are getting weaker. A balanced gripping repertoire is the key factor for any top-climber Learn how to get much stronger in an hour.