Alex Garriga has done La Bongada (9a) (giving it a personal 8c+ grade) and Wild Publico (9a) in Margalef. In total, the 23-year-old has now done 31 routes 8c+ and harder in 2021 and he is #1 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Esteban Lahoz

How was the process taking them down?
I travelled to Margalef for six days and climbed five days and could do the two routes and some easier ones. I tried Bongada two times during the first day and did it on the second day, on my first try. Then I tried Wild Público for two days, rested one day and did it the day after.

How has your last climbing month been?
I have spent the last month studying and training at home. I am preparing for the competitive firefighter exams.

How much and How have you been training lately?
I always train on my board and do physical training (pull-ups, weights and rings) besides climbing outside. Normally I train six days a week but depends, some weeks five and some weeks all seven.

How often do you go to a big public gym?
In the last month I have been to the climbing wall in my city once. For 1.5 years I have had a steep big climbing board in our confinement.

Could it be that this new board at home is the reason for your great progress lately?
Yes, yes!

What about going for a 9b?
I have to learn to be more patient with the routes or get stronger. 🤣🤣 I find it difficult to focus on a single route.

Google Trends is a simple tool where you can compare Google searches. This diagram compares the searches since 2004 for the names Chris Sharma, Adam Ondra, Janja Garnbret and Alex Megos. Surprisingly, the old numbers for Chris Sharma were higher than for the Olympians and also looking at the last three months, only the search for the name Adam Ondra is more popular.

It should be mentioned that if Alex Honnold's number would have been included in the diagram, all the other percentages, including the Olympics, would have been below 17 %. If we would have made a comparison based on the last 90 days and would have compared everyone to Honnold's 100 %, Ondra had been runner up with some 33 %, followed by Sharma 25 %, Garnbret 15 % and Megos 5 %. Note that these numbers as well as the presented diagrams estimations on the athletes' popularity on Google. The diagrams actually differ a bit based on working on a mobile or a computer.

A working group in IFSC has suggested that the one getting the highest point sum in Bouldering and Lead will be rewarded the Combined gold in Paris 2024. The maximum score will be 200 points, based on getting 25 for a Top in Bouldering and 100 points for topping the Lead route. This sounds good in theory but there are big risks for unfairness, due to the lack of consistency in the route setting, as well as no drama on the Lead route.

One good (bad) example of this is the Olympic male final where the seven finalists only made a total of seven tops. If combined points would have been given out in Tokyo, the bouldering results would have had very little impact overall and the medal ranking would have been the same as the ranking in Lead; Schubert, Ondra and Duffy.

If we look at the four Boulder World Cups in 2021, we see the opposite problem. The difference average point-scoring in between #1 and #6 is too big, i.e. around 80 respectively 20 points. History shows that routes and boulders often are too hard or too easy. This could mean that we would have unfair Combined results in Paris. Another problem could be that there could be little drama and excitement in the Lead final as the medals more or less could already have been set after the Boulder event. Below is the female results in Meiringen in 2021 converted to an estimation of points.

1. Janja Garnbret 99.7 points
2. Oriane Bertone 59.78 points
3. Natalia Grossman 59.67 points
4. Akiyo Noguchi 14.79 points

In theory, Noguchi could still get a medal and Janja could lose the gold. However, by looking at the statistics, we can that in practice, the only excitement in the Lead event would have been to see who would get the silver. Remember that the very much criticised, and totally opposite ranking method in Tokyo, at least created extreme drama to the very last climber out.

Adam Ondra Beyond Focus 2/4 and his Olympic preparation. In the great video, Ondra says that Speed training is better than expected. Then after the Olympics he said this was not really the truth but something he had to tell himself to keep the psyche high.

Alex Johnson, who won two World Cups in 2008 and 2010, has done Vantablack (8B) in Red Rock (NV). "2 sessions, amazing rock. Tenuous moves down low on a rail to a sick big move to a crimp off a heel, desperado grovel topout. Really nice addition to the zone. Rail trav was def crux for me haha. HYPE!"Bree Robles

How was that super quick process?
I feel like it’s already been a super great season, and I haven’t even done much yet… I’ve been getting out a bunch with Allison Vest and we climb and project amazingly well together. She tries super fucking hard and it’s so inspiring and has encouraged me to dig deeper and activate that try-hard grit.

That’s what I had to do with Vanta. My first session on it was solo and I worked it for hours refining beta but it was still too hot during the day. By the time the sun went down and temps got better, I was wrecked. In my next session on it, I had the top dialed, but the bottom moves still felt so hard. The bottom is super tenuous and finicky. I gave several failed redpoint attempts from the bottom. Then one time I was able to make it through the bottom, stuck the big move outright, and clawed my way through the topout. It was a moment of blackout focus and maximum effort.

Is it not about time to go for your first 8B+?
I’d love to try some 8B+’s! Allison and I have got our eyes on a few, and seeing Brooke just take down Trieste is super inspiring, too.

In 2019, Alex did a comeback on the competition circuit trying to make it to the Olympics and started off by being #7 in Meiringen. Interesting is that 2021 is her best year outdoors having done two out of three 8B's.

We all have a home crag where we re-climb the same routes to warm up, cool down or for a quick fitness-check. Many of you have approached us with the request to also be able to log these „repeats”, ideally without cluttering your logbook. We have deployed a first version of this feature.

This is how you log a repeat:
- When you choose „Redpoint”, „Go” or „Toprope” as style, the repeat option appears just below.
- Check the checkbox down and left („Repeat”).
- Go to „Ascents” and hit the checkbox „Show repeat ascents” to show all ascents, regardless of whether it is a repeat or not .

This is good to know:
Repeats do not enter your score in the ranking game. Currently, that means that they are not part of your statistics. When the stats section gets its facelift, repeats will also get their place there.

Eric Zschiesche has done Red Letter Day (7C+) in Little Cottonwood. Spread over a 2 month period, comprised of 9 different sessions, Zschiesche doggedly kept after it and in practice he actually sent it twice.

The 61-year-old has been actively bouldering since 1977, and his love and passion for the activity is as strong today as at any point in the past. Though the periods of rest between challenging bouldering sessions has increased with time, his overall strength as a boulderer has (thus far) remained largely constant through the decades. Back in 2017, he did his hardest grade-wise, Tiny 8A. This is not considering numerous highballs before and after the invention of bouldering pads. As far as training Zschiesche principally boulderers outdoors, though he doesn't consider it training. : ) He also has a home bouldering cave and a great bouldering gym The Front in Ogden, Utah that he occasions for some plastic homework.