Felipe Ho Foganholo has done the first repeat of Felipe Camargo's Libertadores 8B+ in Ouro Preto. The 16-year-old did his first 8B last year and in 2016, Felipe has already done nine 8A's and harder. "I was trying this boulder for almost 8 months. During this time I spent tree trips for Ouro Preto MG as an investment for sending it! I belive that the most difficult part of the hole thing was battle with conditions. It was always raining and what had more afflicted me was that just the last grab was wetting (which the crux is to hold the swing on it) and all the other sequences was possible to figure out, because the boulder is a long roof... Certainly is the hardest ascent I have ever done! Here in Brazil 8B+ is definitively an step above... We just have 3 climbers which reach this step and is an honor to be one of them!"

Almost all gyms around the globe run Boulder comps at least every other month but very few run the Lead ones and it is the same trend for the national federations. Another example is that the IFSC plans to have four Euro Youth Boulder Cups but just one Lead Competition. The dilemma is that youngsters should not focus on Bouldering due to much greater risk of injuries, including also stress fractures in the growth plates. The main reason why both gyms and climbers prefer Boulder comps is the new format (60+ boulders in 2+ hours), which has nothing in common with the IFSC onsight Boulder rules on 4 - 6 boulders. In Sweden, more or less only the nationals (with some 20 participants) were organized last year in Lead, not counting two national Challenges with a totally new concept. The basic idea is to run the qualifications like a normal day at a crag, with no referees or belayers. You just open the gym up in the morning and invite the climbers to try any route. The point system is based on the 8a scorecard. The biggest invention, however, is that you get points also by the number of clips you do instead of scoring holds. In practice you get as many points for topping out a route as for coming to the eighth clip on a two grades harder route. If you want a full scorecard point table in order to try out, please contact [email protected]. All national lead comps in Sweden will be organized in this way in the future.

Old article from Huffington Post discussing - as in the heading - How Rock Climbing Does Your Mind And Body Good. - Boosts brain function - Reduces stress - Teaches valuable life skills - Builds muscles and endurance "Research shows that time spent outside may decrease symptoms of ADHD, improve memory, boost creativity and even wake your brain up with the same effect as drinking a cup of coffee."

Based on 2 000+ unique votes from the poll "Which skill do you lack the most?". 31 % Finger strength 24 % Endurance 18 % Mentality 15 % Flexibility 7 % Technique 5 % Other Most of climbers are focused on finger strength and endurance. What is quite interesting, although technique is seldom trained, climbers seem to think they do not lack this skill :)

Guillaume Glairont Mondet reports on his blog that he completed his long time project in Fontainebleau, "Le Pied à Coulisse", grading it an 8C+. Previously Guigui has done five 8C's in Font. How many sessions did you need to do "Le Pied à Coulisse"? It took me around 25 sessions over 3 years, 12 between October and January. Is it your style? I would say yes, even if there's a little bit of everything in it : heelhooks, toes, mantle, with both tension and a dynamic move. How do you split your time between comps and projecting? I take advantages when conditions are good to work maximum intensity outside. for this one, I could only manage 3 tries before been wrecked for a day. It's pretty complementary to my indoor training regime. You explain a lot about the grade in your blog post, but how did you came up with 8C+? For me, it was very tough to break down the climb. My friend Nico would say 8B into an 8B, I would say more 8A+ into 8B+, but anyway it doesn't make sense to me. I know for sure that there aren't a move below 7A, and some feel close to 8A in themselves. And there are 14 of them. If I try to compare with other problem in Font, as I said, it was clearly harder for me. If I compare it to the other 8C's I've tried on my recent trips, I come to this conclusion: Individual moves are nowhere as hard as Lucid Dreaming, but there are only two in that one. The Story of Two Worlds have more moves, but it climb faster and the moves are easier on this one. I tried also Insanity of Grandeur during a session, and it felt easier too. My trip in Swizzy was rather short, and it was vacation, but I could get a feeling of those. Pied à Coulisse took me way more efforts, it is my style, and I needed a rather special day to do it. It's continuous, strenght oriented, and has low percentage moves from the mantle till the end of the heady slab. That's why I chose this grade.

Oriane Bertone, 10, does 12 Boulders from 7C to 8A during two weeks in Rocklands. Her father, Stefano, explains, Typically, when we are in Rocklands, we start to climb at 7. In this moment the temperature is 35°C-45°C between 10 A.M. and 5h P.M. We made two sessions of 1h30/2h (one in the morning et one in de evening). Children climb twice and rest once in turn. After three days of climbing we stop one day to go sightseeing (see cave drawings, go to Lambert's Bay beach etc.). We change sectors regularly and we work on projects adapted to each child's level in these sites.

Alex Wurm, little brother to Jule, the last World and Europe champion, has done an amazingly fast ascent of The Dagger 8B (+) in Cresicano. "WOOOW low gravity day!!! Took me about 45 minutes. First try after figuring out the moves. 8B/+ for me." Also Luis Gerhardt (in the picture), has made a personal best by doing The Dagger, "Feels amazing to climb such a majestic line! Climbed it two times in a row because I wasn't sure the first time if I touched the tree with my pants..." It was Toni Lamprecht who made the FA in 2003 and later Dave Graham added a sit start calling it The Story of Two World's which now is one of the most repeated 8C's in the world.

Phuket Gazette comes with very bad news regarding the Koh Yao Noi climbing. "A new national park chief has banned rock climbing on a number of internationally popular limestone outcroppings in areas under his jurisdiction, ruling the sites as unsafe." The article discusses safety and mentions that loose rocks, human error and unsafe protection are the main safety concern. In fact it is pretty detailed and includes a discussion about stainless steel and Titanium bolts. Koh Yao Noi is a large island located some 60 mins with a speed boat from Rainaly. It has 219 ascents in the 8a data base. (c) Jelmer Folkertsma

Silvio Reffo has done his tenth 9a or harder and reports on Facebook with a great picture by Luka Fonda. "Another great weekend of climbing in Misja Pec, finally I managed to climb Sansjki par extension 9a. I had already tried the route last year but yesterday I crushed it. This 9a is very different despite the other hard routes that I climbed, short and intense.

Laura Rogora has had an amazing climbing day at Sperlonga having done two 8b+'s, Piccoli gesti and Viaggio=infinito Sperlonga. In total, the #2 in the 8a ranking game, has done six routes 8b+ or harder. Her first 8c she did 13 months ago. Last year, the 14-year-old won the Italian Championship beating Lenny Lavarda who was among Top-23 in all the six WCs.