Until 2005, when Dave Graham gave The Story of Two (Grading) Schools 8C, the upper boulder grades outside Fontainebleau were inflated. Many thought Graham's boulder should be given 8C+ to fit the modern grading. Today, Graham's masterpiece is considered to be a soft 8C and as a matter of a fact, gradewise, the hard core bouldering scene has not progressed that much during the last ten years. The reason for this is that during the last few years the inflated grades have been deflated instead. It is time that someone make another statement putting up The Story of the three grading schools giving it 8C+. What has happened lately is that the deflation has had also an impact of 8B+, which is now super wide. As almost nobody dares to put up an 8C+, even if the community gets stronger, also boulders that should be 8C's, are becoming 8B+'s.

VERTICS.Sleeves were chosen by an international jury as ISPO BrandNew Finalist in category Accesories. In the B2B trade fair from 24 to 28 January in Munich the finalists of the BrandNew Awards are in Focus of the sports industry and traders as well as the press'. VERTICS.Sleeves are used in climbing, biking, rowing and motorbike racing sports, and they are allowed at competitions! What is kind of strange is that beside the Vertics sleeves only a chalk bag from Hanchor was among the finalists representing the climbing industry.

ZA: The Trailer from Big Paw Productions on Vimeo.

Laura Rogora has done two more impressive ascents in La Fortezza; Aia 8c redpoint and Thor onsight, giving it a personal grade of 8a. The Italian onsigthed her first two 8a+'s and redpointed her first two 8c's being 13 years old and she is #2 in the 8a ranking game. Here are some comments from her from last spring: "I have got a trainer and he is very good. He always gives me good advises not just about the sport but also for many aspect of my life. I' m training alone because in Rome there aren't many strong people at the same age as me but I would like have someone to train with." I love to overcome my limit, winning the steady struggle with myself, and whether I do not succeed, I still like to feel the harmony with the rock experiencing each single movement.

Domen Škofic has done Seleccio natural 9a in Santa Linya on his 3rd go. Having done this and onsighted Rock fucks, he goes to the 4th place in the ranking game. His first 9a he did when he was 15 years old and since then he has developed in an interesting way. This year the 21-year-old was also #4 in the Lead World Cup and being from Slovenia, he is a part of their success story.

Giorgia Tesio has done her fourth 8A, Flower Power in Ciciu. Last year, being 14 years old, she did her first 8A+, Excalibur sit in Varazze and she is #12 in the female ranking game. Earlier this year, the Italian won the Bouldering European Championship. The picture is from the video from last week, when she did Noi 8b+ in Adonno.

Jacopo Larcher reports on Facebook with a great picture by Richard Felderer that he has done Lapoterapia 8c in Osso without using the bolts and protecting it by crash pads and trad gear instead. "I arrived by night and rapped down to check the gear by headlamp, in order to have more time to work on the route in the next days. Surprisingly I didn't need so much time, and 3 goes were enough to reach the belay of this beautiful pitch without clipping any bolt! If you make everything well, you shouldn't hit the ground...but well... to place, and trust, the small gear made everything harder and spicer!" Interesting is that with an 8c grade, this route is a contender to be the hardest trad ascent in the world, which might actualize the problem of different grade systems for trad and sport climbing. The only 8c+ suggested trad route is Beth Rodden's Meltdown.

Ramon Julian, the best competition climber in the world of the last 15 years, is having his best outdoor season ever. After five days of work, he made his third 9a FA, Cal Rubell in Catalonia. In total, the double world champion (who won his first WC in 2002 and this year got the European Champion title), has done 47 routes 9a and harder, out of which 16 are FAs.