Ale Zeni has made the first repeat of Maurizio Zanolla's Eternit in Baule and suggests an upgrade to 9a+. Interesting is that he did it twice after having tried it 23 times. The reason for the upgrade is that somebody has chopped some holds making it now possibly one of the hardest slabs in the world. In 2018, he put up Energia Cosmica as a 9a+ which Ale thinks is his hardest slab ever.

"There are routes that go beyond a simple success. Eternit was a dream for me since 2010 when I tried it for the first time, challenging myself on the route known to be the hardest ever climbed by Maurizio Zanolla. A few years later, however, this beautiful line, at first almost completely natural, has been irreparably ruined by removing some holds that I considered essential until a year ago. A shattered dream that I was able to bring back by accepting those changes. Eternit was not just a difficult route, it was a deep inner search where the impossible became possible and finally achievable, a dream that became reality despite all the obstacles I encountered along the way."

Last year you did Cryptography 9b. Is that not your hardest slab?
I chose 9b for Cryptography because I was influenced by the grade of the other two routes (Bain de sang and Bimba luna) already repeated from other strong climbers so in this case, I did the grade comparison to these routes. It's always difficult to give the correct grade on this style because there aren't many difficult slab routes around the world 😉. The only way is that some strong climbers try all of these routes and say a what think about the grade 🤔. For the attempts Energia cosmic for me was the hardest 🤷‍♂️.

Reino Horak, team manager for Norway and part of the IFSC rules commission, says he is puzzled about the new suggested Combined format and here are his comments and some questions.

"I agree with the IFSC working group that a new Combined scoring system should be more understandable. I am also in favour of two zones and having eights guys rotating on four boulders which have been suggested. I have taken part in two IFSC meetings and analysed the PDF presentations and it seems like many, including myself, are a bit puzzled. With all the question marks that have been put forward, it seems a bit strange that within two weeks there will be a decision if this new Combined format would run its "test" during the European Championship next year. Here are some of my question marks; (Possibly some of them are just based on misunderstandings which then hopefully could be cleared out.)"

1. The history and the Olympics show that route setting is difficult. Sometimes we see many tops or that the climbers just reach half the wall, at the same time too many or even no tops in bouldering. In practice, we could see scoring in Paris where the result will mainly be decided based on just one discipline, i.e. in the Olympic male boulder final, almost all would have scored within 5 points, which could be the same as doing one move in bouldering

2. Currently, the boulder score is presented with four columns, i.e. 2T 3Z 3:9. It seems now it will be presented in six columns, 2T 3Z 3z 3:9:6 and then later this score will be converted to points. As a matter of a fact, first, possibly each boulder will be presented with up to six columns and then converted into points, before they are added together with another six columns and a point score.

3. How should it be commentated and presented in the live-streamings? "He topped out the first boulder (after falling four times) and possibly scored 25 points." Then after the second guy also topping out (after falling three times to the Top and two times to the second zone). "Great Top which currently gives him a score of 24.7 points." Then after the third climber also toppíng out in his fourth go and only falling one time to the second zone. "Nice Top... and based on also number of falls to the second zone...he scores 24.69 points." Later, after the next climber the commentator possibly needs to say. "Another Top...wait...it seems his score is 24.688 on boulder one." You can just imagine how difficult it then would be for both the commentator as well the audience, to sum up and present the scoring for the four boulders.

It might be that I have totally misunderstood something and are out in the blue but anyhow I wanted to share this in order so this could be made more understandable. I also understand that we could give them all 25 points on the first boulder and only do countbacks if they are tied overall also after their Lead score. In any case, I just wanted to show how the scoring would have been if the suggested format would have been used also in the World Cup.

4. How should the selection to the Combined European Championship be done in August? I mean this must be done based on the relative ranking after the Boulder and Lead events? In other words, first, a ranking based selection in order to qualify to the Combined where they use a performance-based format to select the medalists?

Overall, I personally think that the format in Lead and Boulder must be the same in the World Cup and in Combined. If we will make climbing competitions more understandable, clearly, we can not run them in different formats. From the athletes perspective, different formats would mean different strategies based on if it is a World Cup or a Combined event. In reality, during the European Championship, the athletes will first opt on doing as few attempts as possible as well as climbing fast but later in the Combined event, these tactics will have very limited impact, if non.

In other words, we need to have the same format for Boulder and Lead, no matter if it is a World Cup or a Combined event. To use the suggested format also for the Boulder and Lead World Cups in 2023 would mean that possibly one third of the climber would score 0 points in Lead and imagine how this would be for the youth and the national comps. As have been shown above, the bouldering scoring will be much more complicated and uncertain until the last climber is out.

I should also mention that for the upcoming Norweigian Bouldering Cup, we will be testing a new format on a test competition including two zones and points, where the max score is 44 points just like the max score in the Bouldering Worlds Cups, 4T and 4 Z = 44 points. In that system you will get one bonus point for a flash, which is seen directly in the result board. There are of course many more scoring alternatives possible and we should opt for the most understandable. It is great that IFSC has brought up this on the table.

An IFSC working group has made a presentation of a new suggested format for the Combined Olympics in Paris 2024. The background is that the format should be more understandable for the media and the public that watch a climbing competition for the first time. "The Executive Board approved the recommendation of the Boulder and Lead Small Working Group to; dismiss the pure Ranking-Based models, and (instead) proceed with the direction to elaborate the technical details of the Performance-based models."

Here is a short summary with the major suggested changes.
Boulder
4 Boulders in the final, rotating as in a WC semi
2 Boulder with two zones and 2 Boulders with one zone
25 points for a Top, 10 points for the higher Zone and 5 points for the lower zone
Comparing performances: 3T 4Z = 85 points, 1T 2Z 3z = 40 points
If there are ties; 0.1 point subtracted in each fall to the Top, and 0.01 points to the Zones

It should be mentioned that also 3T 4Z = 74.99 points are possible as well as 1 T 2Z 2z = 44.86 points are possible etc. A climber flashing four boulders gets 100 points at the same time as four Tops in nine attempts rewards 99.1 points.

Lead
Topping out = 100 points
5 points deducted last 15 holds
2 points deducted the following last 10 holds
1 point deducted the following last five holds

In practice, if you reach hold 35 on a route with 50 holds, you get 25 points and if you reach hold 34, you get 23 points.

The Olympic results will be calculated by the sum of the points awarded in each of the two disciplines. In other words, if the route is too hard, there will be a little separation in Lead, and the Boulder result will more or less decide the results. If on the other hand, one climber manages to get to the Top meanwhile the rest falls on a crux midways, he/she will most likely win no matter the result in Boulder. Flashing or doing a boulder in five attempts have very little importance. Flashing or getting to the zone(s) in five attempts have only theoretical importance overall.

Elias Iagnemma has done From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico. The Dave Graham classical was put up in 2005 and everyone who has star rated it has given it five stars. "Incredible historical line, I only needed 3 sessions (the first two last winter under terrible conditions) to climb this difficulty." (c) Simone Antuzzi

In 2018, the Italian won the national Cup and tried some WCs. The same year he did his first 8B+ and started to focus more on outdoors. In total, he has now done eight boulders 8C and harder.

What are your winter plans and what about comps?
My winter plan is to go to Ticino and Fontainebleau to climb all the projects I have in mind and to resume competitions at the beginning of February.

Solveig Korherr, who did her first 9a this summer, has done Pure Imagination (8c+) in Red River Gorge (KY). "A dream line in of the best the climbing spots! The one that got away last trip. Seems like I levelled up in two years. Three days this trip. So thrilled!!!"(c) Jon Shen

Could you please say something about your trip to Red River Gorge?
I came to the Red River Gorge with one goal in my mind which was to send „Pure Imagination“. I tried the route two years ago on my previous trip but I didn’t quite have the ability to send it back then. Ever since then I have dreamed to come back for it.

One week ago when I arrived here, I immediately hopped on it. I was really excited to be back in the Red and I could definitely tell that I levelled up. I felt much stronger on the holds especially in the sustained upper part but I was still struggling a bit with the lower crux with the famous crimp that cuts your finger and that is as thin as the sharp edge of a knife.

With some crisp conditions on my third day on it, I finally made it through the lower part on my third try but I was a little bit too tired and excited at the top crux and fell at the second last bolt. Knowing that it was now possible, I gave it a fourth try and it ended up being the final sending go!

Based on 1 000 unique votes, "How crowded is your gym(s) during rush hours?", we can see that it is very busy in 80 % of the gyms. This is interesting as there are plenty of new gyms and it shows that climbing is growing very fast and that there is room for more gyms. Countrywise, Austria sticks out having the most crowded gyms meanwhile there are several gyms in the USA where many of the routes/boulders always are free.

Christof Rauch, who just three days ago did a 9a, has done Intermezzo XY gelöst (9a) in Plombergstein. "Amazing bouldery route. First ascent by the legend Klem Loskot. Maybe not the most impressive line but some of the best moves out there. Psyched to do it in my second session after falling 2 times on the last hard move. Teamascent with my boy Flo. Thanks for pushing me after your ascent and special thanks to my girl for the belay yesterday in terrible cold and humid conditions."

Three days ago you said that due to an elbow injury, "maybe I have to take some rest soon"?
Haha 😅 I couldn‘t resist 😅 Not sure, maybe I should take some rest but most people say it doesn‘t really help to do a complete rest for this kind of injury.