Easier routes sometimes pass unnoticed among so many hard sends and so many big numbers, although sometimes 'smaller achievements', especially when they are reached at precocious ages like this of our two protagonists in this piece of news, are really praiseworthy. Hector Bazán turned 13 in September and more recently sent his second 8c route some 3 months after his first - 'La Florida' in Rodellar. This time the turn came for L'espiadimonis in La Cova Boix at Margalef. A very different style from that of the previous 8c, but as he once said: "it's a place I like and a style that fits me." A little bit older, more exactly 16 years old, Muriel Ruiz de Larramendi, who not long ago was proclaimed the female Spanish sub-18 champion, has jumped from 8a+ to 8b+ with Tekken in Etxauri, as informed by Desnivel. This line, which can be found in the Kale Borroca sector, is a vertical and technical route, where crimps and thin footwork are predominant. News by Esteban Diez fernández / Translation and pic by Ignacio Sandoval Burón.

Pirmin Bertle, who has done six 9a's, did yesterday do his hardest route ever, which made him share the news that in April he did a 8C+ FA, Drop a line in Couisimbert and that he in August did the FA of Des scènes bizzarres dans la mine d'or 9a+ in Jansegg, video. Last week, he also did the FA of Mediomalomania 8C in Lindental, "but the hardest thing in my life I sent yesterday." Interesting is that he did not climb at all during the first six months of 2014 due to having caught bone mark edema. Then he just climbed very easily for some months until he started to work only on the 8C+ boulder. Interesting is also that he only trains five hours a week and never indoors. More info on his blog and on 8a tomorrow. :)

Drop a line 8C+ at Cousimbert, the real video from Pirmin Bertle on Vimeo.

Click on the picture to see what 8a highlights when it comes to Parking, Trespassing, Screaming, Camping, Litter and Toilet. The Access Fund has also asked us to give some further info on Human waste. If you have any specific access info add it as a comment or directly in the crag data base. During the last year, we heard about increasing problems and bad behavior in several boulder areas and last week a new record was set in Västervik. "He jumped out from a white Volvo, raised his arms, bent backwards arched and did the "helicopter". It was 22.30 and I was on my way home from the stable on a dark dirt road. I called the police as I was afraid that there was a link to the center for girls with self-destructive behavior where I had worked and my mother is the boss." Even if the youngster was wearing orange underpants, it was clearly a violation towards her integrity and just imagine what would happen if the police had caught the boulderers and it had been presented in the local newspaper. As a direct consequence, the recommended parking has been moved tripling the approach to some 30+ minutes. The whole climbing community including gyms, federations, and clubs has to start dealing with the increasing number of adrenaline seeking boulderers, especially young, that go outdoors.

Joshua Ibbertson has done Primeur de luxe 8a+ (b) in Frankenjura and his father, James gives us the story. "We spent the half term holiday with some good friends of ours the Perwitsky family, who live the Frankenjura. They recommended we tried Primeur de Luxe due to the foggy conditions as it's quick to dry. Josh managed to do all the moves that day and link it overlapping sections. We returned the next day but it was his third day of climbing and his skin was too sore to pull on small holds so he took a rest day. Luckily the sun came out, dried the rock and we enjoyed really great conditions allowing him to get it in a couple of tries.

Adam Ondra has done yet another 9a+ FA and his second one in Czech Republic, Predator in Srbsko. In total, the best climber in the world of the last five years has put up 21 routes 9a+ and harder. (c) Pavel Zvire "Very nice route with awesome sequence in the crux, which is impossible to grade. For me probably 9a/a+, but with no flexibility definitely much harder...1 daz month ago, now sent 2nd go in 30mins" Read also the article in the right column, which was published before this amazing knee drop picture appeared on the website: "Stretching the fastest way to improve".

Luka Fonda reports with a great picture that Sachi Amma managed to make the 3rd repeat of Water World 9a in the big cave of Osp. Earlier this year, the WC winner 2013 did five 9a+'s and one 9b.

Adam Ondra has extreme flexibility for drop knees, high steps and opening his legs. This is actually a part of his success story. If you could sit and rest like Adam does on the picture from Granitgrottan, you might be able to do harder routes! The training focus in the media and in the gyms seem to be finger strength and endurance. This means that most climbers have actually optimized their strength in these field, meaning it takes a lot of effort to improve. On the other hand, for the guys who do not stretch, some few hours could improve your flexibility making you climb harder. It just might be that it is 10 times more productive for your performance to spend one hour stretching than do a one hour session on the campus board.

The boulder trend is growing stronger every year and the number of 8A's recorded in the data base 2015 is a new record, but when it comes to 8B+ ascents, we can see stagnation and for 8C's and harder, the number of ascents is actually decreasing. A possible explanation for this that has been discussed here on 8a before is that there is a boulder grade deflation going on, meaning that some 8B+'s actually deserve to be 8C's etc. On the other hand, 2015 has been a record year for 9a and harder ascents. My best guess is that close to 50 guys have done a 9a and more than a dozen - 9a+ or harder. As most of these ascents are repeats of routes put up in 2010 or earlier, we cannot say that the grade progress for routes has something to do with route grade deflation.

The death statistics of climbing the Top-10 highest mountains in the world make you wonder how some can take the risk. In fact, in the last two years more climbers than ever have died on Mount Everest with and over 200 bodies it is like a cemetery above the level ground. 2012 stats below come from The Economist and Wikipedia. 5 656 tops Mount Everest - 223 dead 306 K2 - 81 dead 283 Kangchenjunga - 40 dead 461 Lhotse - 13 dead 361 Makalu - 31 dead 3 138 Cho Oyu - 44 dead 448 Dhaulagiri - 69 dead 661 Manaslu - 65 dead 335 Nanga Parbat - 68 dead 191 Annapurna - 61 dead