The team of Vertical Life from South Tyrol is doing a great job in creating a world wide Climbing Topo App. The team follows strong ethical guidelines and collaborates exclusively with guidebook authors, locals and publishing houses. Many of the most recognized locals like Aris Theodoropoulos (Kalymnos guidebook), Andrea Gallo (Finale and Oltrefinale), Maurizio Oviglia (Sardinia), Markus Schwaiger (Zillertal) and Florian Wenter (Alpen en Bloc from Panico) believe in this promising service and system. This is why 8a decided to team up with Vertical Life. Together we will work on flexible Ranking Games for climbing events and gyms. A few days ago Vertical Life released the complete App update with some quite original functions, a modern style and new content, extending the offer also to Bouldering areas. You can download the App for Android and iOS and check out the climbing guide for 6 crags in Kyparissi, Greece, using this free code: 8ANU.
Download the App.

Rafa Fanega, who started climbing 25 years ago, is having his best year ever. Last week he did the FA of Estado lamentable in Archidona, which is his third 8c+ in 2015. Previously, the 40-year-old did only one 8c+, which took place last year. In total, Rafa has recorded 1 410 routes, out of which one third are FAs. Most of his FAs are from Fin del Mundo outside Madrid, which has been one of the most popular crags in Spain recently, although it is closed between February 1st and June 15th.

Very few climbers do proper warming up. Instead, we warm up with super easy slow motion climbing, which is time-consuming and could create the wrong mind set. If instead you start your warming up with jumping up and down on jugs on a steep overhang where you increase the load, you save time and get a more explosive mind set. Having done some 30 moves during about 3 minutes you can start using your feet and within five minutes you can do big lock off moves. Later you can do the same on crimps meaning that within 8 - 10 minutes you can be ready to climb and give your best on the training with the right powerful mind set.

Roland Hemetzberger reports great Christmas news on Facebook and attaches a picture by Stefan Kuehn, "Oh yeahhhhhhhhh what a f***ing rad XMas present / After 20 years as a project I was able to send it today. I invested so much time in this piece of rock I can't believe it... For sure my hardest climb I ve ever done and it's a big honor for me to freed this old project from "Stefan Fürst" I don't know how hard I would suppose around 9a+ what ever rad one... cheers" The Austrian did a dozen 8c+'s previously and a couple of 9a's, and also an 8c+ on pre-placed trad gear. Many of his FAs has not been repeated yet.

Ashima Shiraishi (14) comes with amazing news on Facebook, (c) Ikuko Serata "Santa Claus gave me the best Christmas present ever🎁! I sent Phenomena V14 (8b+) in Hinokage, Miyazaki!!! This was the 2nd ascent after @dai_koyamada and the first female ascent!! I once again surprised myself by sending it after about 30 MINUTES of working on it!!!" This was the 14-year-old's second 8B+ and one of the quickest 8B+ ascents in the history of bouldering. Adam Ondra and Daniel Woods are the only ones who have flashed an 8B+. In the 8a ranking game, Ashima is #2 in bouldering but if we take in consideration both routes and boulders, Ashima has been #1 in the world since she was 12 years old.

Niccolo Ceria comes with the sad news that somebody has glued one hold of David Graham's classic The Story of Two Worlds 8C in Cresciano. Being asked about his opinion based on the fact that the breakage could have meant it would have been easier or harder, Nico answered as follows. I don't care about what it would have happened. It is not a problem if it would have been easier, harder or impossibile. I think If something has to break naturally, it doesn’t need any glue." 8a agrees with Nico that boulders should not be glued. On the other hand, 8a thinks that for the routes with artificial bolts, where often a hammer is used to clean the loose rock, it could sometimes be OK to use glue on an old line, especially as a broken hold can fall on someone's head.

Edu Marin has done Directa open your mind R2 9a+ in Santa Linya. (c) Giancola "Yesterday was a great day for me! I knew my form was good but after a week in bed because of a nasty flu, I had my doubts for my project. Nothing is further from reality ... I got to take Direct Open Your Mind 9a + R2 and signing the fourth repetition to close a long and successful season!" In a Desnivel interview, Edu explains that he did the full line and he marked it R2 to differente it from the R1 version stopping mid-ways which Ashima Shiraishi and others have done. The R2 adds an 8c after the 9a R1 anchor.

In our database there are now 3.7 million rated ascents that could help you to find the best crags and routes/boulders in the world. Selecting the next destination, you can search the crag list and analyze average stars and onsight rating etc. In the Ticklists, you can select a grade and a sector and make a list of the routes or boulders you would like to try.

Some of you noticed login problems last week. This was caused by some updates we did to the site that had needed to be done in order to support our new server for routes.8a.nu. All is solved now and login (especially with cookies) should go even faster now :). In the weeks to come we are also going to start testing with support for https and hopefully roll out a beta prototype for the new design for the scorecard. Please add your email to our list at routes.8a.nu if you would like to be included in the (private) beta.