"A muerte" is the key in climbing according to do Dani Andrada and is the total opposite to "comfort zone" climbing. Almost all regular climbers would immediately progress two grades if they could switch on to "fight to the death" mode. For the modern climbers, having grown up with nice and safe moves indoors, it just might be very hard to adapt to the often painful and scary outdoor scene.

Instead of focusing on physical and structured training, it might be much quicker to instead team up with pushy and better climbers that will show you what is possible halfway to "a muerte". On the other side, it might be worse to have a partner putting up the bar several grades of what you would be capable of, i.e. trying a new personal best in high jump that will just create a refusal.

Paul Jenft and Mejdi Schalck, both from France, secured their second gold today in the Euro Youth Championship in Perm. Overall, France dominated, especially in Boulder. The biggest surprise in the competition was that Olympian Albert Gines Lopez was #4 in Lead and #8 in Bouldering. However, the Spaniard won the qualifications in both Lead and Bouldering as well as the Lead Semi.

Boulder 02: Paul Jeft FRA - Naile Meignan FRA
Boulder 04: Mejdi Schalk FRA - Zélia Avezou FRA
Lead 06: Timo Uznik AUT - Barbora Bernardova CZE
Complete results

Noteworthy is that nine out of the twelve golds in Lead and Boulder were won by 8a members. Paul Jenft (17), Mejdi Schalck (16) and Niki Rusev (15) did all do 9a's in 2020. Timo Užnik (15) did his first 8B boulder just two weeks ago. Marketa Janosova (17) did her first 8c in 2019, Naile Meignan (17) did her first 8c in 2016 and Lucija Tarkuš (17) did her first 8c+ last year.

Björn "Dr 8a" Alber talks about the problem with tight shoes and explains Haglund deformity which his son, who is a World Cup boulderer, has faced for some years.

"In the plus 30 years, I have climbed and coached climbers, climbing shoes have had a tremendous development. Common for all is that they get snugger and proportionally smaller compared to the foot's actual volume and size. The drawback is damaged feet! In the early days, it was limited to deformity of the toes eg Hallux Valgus- sharp inward angling of the big toe- sometimes leading to corrective surgery.

Haglund's deformity, which was first described in 1927, is a new (for climbers) and more sinister deformity. It involves the abnormal growth and following soft tissue changes around the Calcaneal insertion of the Achilles tendon (see picture) the top end of the Calcaneal bone grows a bone spur which in turn – by the pressure of the shoe- irritate the soft tissue above (the Achilles tendon thickens, an inflammatory response will develop in the tendon as well as in the ”bursa” between the tendon and the bone). The result is an extremely painful condition that will make it almost impossible for the athlete to wear his “competition” shoes, and perform heel-hooks etc.

The rigidity and size of the shoe is the main problem but some external factors will contribute:
It is more common in females than in males – softer tissue due to estrogen
High arc of the foot predisposes
Tight Achilles tendon predisposes
Protruding (extending back from the heel) Calcaneus bone- with sharp angles predisposes

While this condition was first predominantly seen in middle-aged females (high heels) it will be more troublesome when developing in young athletes because between 11-19 years of age the great growth spurt will make for a greater deformity. For the climber – especially a young one- the best plan is to limit the use of extreme, aggressive shoes! (This is just as important for Soccer and Hockey players that get to stiff shoes at an early age).

The cure of this condition is;
Stop using aggressive tight shoes- a period of no climbing might be necessary
Get help from a physiotherapist with stretching of the Achilles tendon
Use anti-inflammatory drugs, gel and/or pills
Get local steroid injection (should be done by specialists)
When starting to climb harder again use larger shoe and have an orthopaedic technician make an inlay to take the stress of these structure- see picture.
If this fails surgery should be performed!

In this picture, you see the heel of a top Swedish athlete where the above strategies have failed. The surgery (Surgical excision by lateral approach) should take away a sufficient part of the superfluous bone, which in turn will involve up to 6 months before returning to hard climbing! Since the deformity is most often bilateral a 12-month period of no climbing can be expected. Needless to say, the best strategy is to avoid getting this condition at all question the use of extreme shoes in young athletes! Be observant and take preventive measures in time!"

Analise Van Hoang did her first 8A+ in March, Bayview Crimp in Mt Tam after three sessions. Her second, A Maze of Death in Bardini Boulders, occurred last week. "Yay! Such a beautiful line and scenery! Took about 45min. Feels soft because it totally fits my style, crimpy. Psyched to get this done 1st sess! Another climb ticked on the list!" Video

Her first 7C+, out of eleven, she did two years ago, at age ten. Here is a presentation from 2018 by Touchstoneclimbing, where she talks about competing. She also have a Youtube channel with most of her hardest ascents.

Dani Andrada reports on Insta that he has done yet another 25 FA's in Alquezar from 7b to 8c+/9a, Apego del Monje. In total, he spent 53 days in Alquezar. (c) Carlos "Citro" Lograño

The 46-year-old has previously done 75 routes 8c+/9a and harder which makes him #3 on that list after Adam Ondra and Alex Megos. In total, he has now done more than 4 500 routes 8a and harder and bolted more than 900 routes. However, when it comes to bolting and doing hard FAs, "La máquina" is totally superior in the world. In practice, the number one reason why the areas 1-3 hours west of Barcelona has become the hardcore epicentrum in the world is thanks to Andrada.

Thea Wulff, who did her first two 7C+' at age 13, has done her first 8A+, Euro Trash in Little Cottonwood. (c) Quinn Mason

Could you please say something about your climbing background and how you took it down?
I’ve been climbing for 9 years, but I mainly focus on indoor competition climbing (I’ll be competing at the Salt Lake City World Cups in a couple of weeks). I’ve been trying to get outside more often, but it’s hard to find the time with training. I just moved to Salt Lake City and Little Cottonwood Canyon is only 15 minutes away, so I wanted to check out Euro Roof. On my first session last weekend, I did the 7C+ start, and tried the 8A+ moves but was too tired to give a real effort. Natalia Grossman was working the 8B, so we decided to head back out yesterday, and both of us sent in under an hour! Until this climb, I hadn’t seriously tried any other 8A+ boulders, but now I’m more psyched than ever to get on some more hard outdoor blocs!

Jonathan Siegrist has repeated James Litz' Ace of Spades 9a+ in Poptire. Actually, Litz did not grade so the proposal came from Daniel Woods who did the first repeat and Jonathan agrees. (c) Matt Pincus

"I first came to this crag in 2017 and I had a really good trip, I climbed everything in the cave more or less but I just did not have the bouldering power to really imagine being able to try this route. My climbing has changed a lot in the last several years as I have gotten much more powerful (at least for my low standard!). So it was nice to come back and do this route in a couple of days.

As for James Litz, he is an incredible dark horse and has been a fixture for hard bouldering first ascents in the US for many years. These are his hardest routes, and in many ways his opus, or at least it would seem. I am not sure how much he climbs any more but he is one of those names that command respect from those who know who he is."

8a interview with James from 2018, talking about his possible 9b FA.

Jana Vincourková has had an amazing April after getting out from lockdown, doing three 8A+' and a flash of Red Hot Tortilas 8A. In the 8a ranking game, the 23-year-old Czech is #7. Here are her two latest videos showing her impressive ascents; video #8 and video #9.

"Finally after being locked in the town for three months, we finally could travel in April. In total, I spent eight days on the rocks already, yaay. We began around Brno where I managed to send 8A+ and 8A. Then we travelled for our first bouldering trip to Sněžník. We spent six days there. On the first climbing day, I was able to send 8A+ boulder “Nesplněný sen” which was a really good start of the trip for me. The next day I started another 8A+ boulder but wasn't able to send it that day, but I flashed an 8A that Lucie Hrozová had flashed a couple of weeks before. Two rest days later the conditions were so good and I managed to climb that boulder which I said was 8A+ named Ko-Fan.

So those five 8ish boulders I did during two weeks. All I can say is that the hard work during winter is paying off so far. Mainly hang-boarding on small crimps with weight and I also did some pull-ups on small crimps with weight and some maximal weight pull-ups on jugs. There I did a big improvement which helps me now a lot. We also twice a week did a Moonboard session.

Next I am going to try some harder boulders and see how it goes and hopefully I will send some 8B boulder again this year or even harder. The season has just started so we will see. :)"

Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Le Pilier du Désert assis 8C in Fontainebleau after just four sessions, beside two sessions doing the 8A+ stand some years ago. The 34-year-old and 187 cm tall did six 8B+' last year and also his second 8C, The Story of two world's. (c) Bart Van Raaij

Interestingly, Manu Cornu who did the second ascent thought it was 8C+ but the third ascentionist, Nico Pelorson says he leans more towards 8B+ as it just took him three sessions. It should be noted that Nico has previously downgraded two 9A's.

Natalia Grossman, who was #3 in Meiringen, has done her 13th 8A+ the last year, Euro Trash in Little Cottonwood. In the 8a ranking game, including also four 8B's, the 19-year-old is #7. "Felt amazing to spend some time outside! Surprised myself with a 3rd go send and felt really close on euro roof sit!"(c) Sean Faulkner

How was your feeling in Meiringen understanding that you have taken yet another step?
After taking such a long time away from competitions I didn’t know what to expect. I had been training hard during the previous months before Meiringen and I felt strong, however, I definitely surprised myself with my results! It feels really good to have been able to perform well in all three rounds of the competition and I’m very excited for the rest of the season.

What goes through your mind during the finale and how do you handle the mental pressure?
During the final, I had no expectations and I simply enjoyed the moment. It wasn’t until the last climb when I realized that if I got the zone I would secure my spot on the podium. Knowing this information made me lose my focus a little bit, but I was able to recenter myself and find a top on the final boulder!

Mental pressure can be tough at time but learning to release any expectations I may be carrying has been very helpful. I’ve also found that if I remember to enjoy the moment, the mental pressure seems to float away and I am able to have fun and stay positive which allows me to try hard and perform to the best of my abilities.