Julie Smith has done her first 8A+, Lethal Design 8A+ in Red Rocks. "Meant so much to me to have climbed this that I have decided to log it!" The long endurance problem was put up by Pete Lowe five years ago and only in 2014, it has been ticked ten times in the 8a data base including three flashes.

The history shows that almost 50 % of all the hardest boulders in most hard core areas but Fontainebleau are actually down graded. Why is it that often the FAs think hard boulders, outside Font, are harder compared to the repeaters, i.e. an 8A+ FA often becomes 8A? Which are the larger boulder areas with the lowest percentage down gradings? The Fontainebleau boulders which are very seldom down graded are often quite vertical with slooper or mantle cruxes which is like the opposite with the boulders that are down graded in like 50 %. Is the best explanation for the low proportion of down grades that the Font style is more difficult to train in the gym?

Katharina Saurwein has done Drischiebl 8A+ which is said to be one of the most beautiful hard boulder in Zillertal. "We brushed the topout, so instead of jumping down from midway, it finally goes all the way up and above the water." Nice video. Last year Katharina was #6 in the Boulder WC after having been Top-10 in all the eight WC's. The Austrian has been a successful competition climber since 2002 and in 2006 she won the Youth World Championship and in 2008, she won a Lead WC. In 2014, she will do all Boulder WC's.

Brett Lowell reports on Instagram that Ashima Shiraishi has had some remarkable days in Santa Linya. First she did a second go ascent of Digital System 8c and later Favela 8c+ and Rollito Sharma extension 8c. Ashima has previously done three 8c+, three 8B's and flashed an 8A meaning that she has the best female Tick List in the world after Josune Bereziartu. Not bad for being only 12 years old. The next year she is old enough for participating in the Youth World Championship.

Sachi Amma who has won the Lead World Cup the last two years reports on facebook that he has onsighted T 1 Full Equip 8c (b+) in Oliana. "I was thinking to have onsight a few days, and I was so motivated for trying. This feeling gave me power to fight on the wall. I could trust the feet and body. I do not know that I can climb with such a pump. I know many climber who onsight 8cs. I respect them, and I am happy to be in this level as well. Now I will have two days rest to wait the good conditions, and starts again Fight or Flight 9b!!!

Vladyslav Shevchenko who did 8c in Misja Pec last week is back home in Crimea where he has done his second 8c+, Skif Mrack in Nikita which was set up by Evgeny Krivosheytsev.

Athens climbing.com presents a new topo including more than 1 100 routes located on 33 crags within 1 hr driving from the center town. The best crags are said to be, Mavrosouvala, Spilia Daveli, Chaos, Vrachokipos, 902 and Spilia Roussou. More pics and info at Gaetan Raymond's blog. "There is a big concentration of cliffs with a lot of choice with the orientation to allow climbing all year around in the shadow or in the sun. But, the most interesting thing is that almost all these cliffs have a very good rock, mostly the same as Kalymnos!

The Dolomites are a well known among alpine climbers, however, South Tyrol is still an insiders’ tip when it comes to sport climbing. On Dolomite limestone in Val Gardena, or on granite or marble, one will find routes of any kind of rock in South Tyrol. Currently there are 100+ crags with over 4000 sport climbing routes and the topo can be found in the Vertical-Life App, Vertical-life. From the 23rd to 27th of July, the festival Climbing MOVE will take place in Val Gardena. Video

Diego Lopez Montull is one of the leading latino-american climber for more than a decade. In the last 13 years, he's been adding dozens of hard king line to his "garden", Peñoles, in the mexican state of Chihuahua. This season has seen the visit of Boulder CO residents Daniel Woods, Jimmy Webb, Dave Graham, Paul Robinson and Shawn Raboutou. A web serie documenting the rampage is in preparaation for Epic TV(realised by Chuck Fryberger Films, in collaboration with PRAK media, Sandstones Media and the Island). For a teaser, check out Diego's blog !