Eliot Stephens has done his third 8C, The Origin Sit in Dinas Rock. "Wales first 8C. Power fade climbing, and aggressive from the first single 8A move. Hardest so far." (c) Jacob Martin

"In 2019 I put up the 8B+ stand start, and wondered whether there could be a sit. This year I had a look, and found a 5 move sequence that climbed into a position 2 moves into the stand. Those 5 moves of roughly 8A+ took me a good few sessions to link, and a handful more to link into the stand." More comments on his Insta.

As we probably will see many crowded crags this year, it might be a good thing to discuss queue ethics. There are absolutely new "rules" and ethics probably vary from crag to crag. In general, I think that if there are drawers or even a rope on a route that is not used, you could always ask if you could have a go. If they are kind to let you have a go, you should not start hand-dogging.

The dilemma is of course if the other party say that you are not allowed even if they do not climb on it or if they block the routes for several hours as many of them are having multiple tries. If we are talking about one of the easiest routes on the crag that many want to use for a warm-up, I do not think it is respectful to book it for several hours. Personally, I always say that anybody could have a go as long as it is done on my top rope. A quick top rope send just takes a couple minutes meanwhile starting to lead often take at least double as long time.

Austin Purdy, who previously has done 67 8B's and 16 8B+', has done his second 8C, Dicktopia in Camp Dick. Video on his Insta. "The picture is from a session in the mid-afternoon when the wildfires were getting quite bad. It is actually not dark out the res tint and darkness is because of the thick smoke in the air.

I first started working this boulder in the fall and made good progress, however, I had to stop going to it due to extreme conditions because of wildfires in the area. I was hoping to return to it this spring, but again that was difficult due to snow, cold conditions, and a sprained ankle I injured falling off a highball in Hueco Tanks. So instead, I have mostly been focusing on training these past few months. It seems like that training has paid off because I was able to send the easier variation to this boulder, Little Richard (8B+/V14), quite quickly when I came back to it and Dicktopia soon after."

Could you please also comment on your extremely wide grade pyramid?
As for the grade pyramid, I really enjoy pushing myself and climbing at my limit, but I feel like many climbers are only interested in climbing boulders with higher numbers near their max grade. For me though, just because I can climb 8C doesn’t mean I don’t have fun climbing 8As just because it isn’t my limit. In fact, I feel like one of the great things about climbing harder is it gives you the ability to send so many more cool boulders because you can do them quickly, and some of my most enjoyable climbing days have been ones where I try and do as many 7C+/8A’s as possible instead of failing on something near my limit.

In 2021, there will be Body Mass Index (BMI) screenings of all Boulder and Lead semi-finalists in all IFSC World Cups. The new stricter BMI limits will be 18 for females and 19 for males. Federations will receive a letter from the IFSC Medical Commission, requesting an explanation and the Commission will also assist with support to federations with athletes below the BMI limits.

During the last years, several top climbers have come forward talking about their eating disorders. 8a has often talked about the problem. In a 2008 article, I asked whether we should have a BMI 17 recommendation for scorecard users. Many were very critical of such a recommendation. Here are some examples of different BMI, which is calculated by dividing the body weight by the square of the height (BMI = m/h²).

170 cm and 55 kg = 19 BMI
170 cm and 52 kg = 18 BMI
170 cm and 49 kg = 17 BMI

The IFSC Medical Commission has a mission to, protect & maintain the health of competing athletes on an international level as well as, to protect & maintain Sport Climbing as a safe sport. Read more about their work.

Lucie Hrozová, who has 14 medals from Ice WCs and later started bouldering last May, has had three goods weeks with new personal records. First, the 32-year-old flashed Red Hot Tortilas 8A in Sneznik. Few days later she did her first 8B, Temná hmota 8B in Sneznik (c) ON_OFF Production

"It was like two days I was trying to figure out a solution for smaller people. I have to match on a very small hold to be able to reach. Then on day three, I come it was half wet so I tried just the dry part and then on the 4th day it was dry and I tried my first like the real push and I send it :)" Video on her Insta

Then last weekend she did Conquistador 8B in Sklapsko which was set up by Jana Vincourková last yrar as the first female 8B in Czech. Video on Lucie's Insta.

"I climbed and competed mostly in ice climbing the last years and did a lot of mix and drytooling. Three years ago I had very serious surgery on my shoulder. I needed pitons, reconstruction of labrum, biceps and plastic of cartilage, and since then ice climbing is for me very painful. As I can't do it (but I still believe I will return one day), I started to do more climbing with fingers instead of ice axes. Last year I managed to send my first 8c route. Anyway, last year again I had a medical issue with compartment syndrome, and with this syndrome it is very hard to climb routes. Last May I started with bouldering. First I started just because I had to, because of the compartment, but lately, I really have found it very nice and I kind of fell in love with it."

Alex Garriga has done his hardest route ever by Líder ibérico 9a+/b in Cuenca. It is a link-up of the hardest part of two 9a+' he has done before creating the 30 meters and very steep route. The 22-year-old had previously put up 10 routes 8c+ to 9a+ during the last year, all in Cuenca. (c) Javi Pec

I have put up some 500 routes and sure I have also placed some bad bolts which were later moved. Lately, I have seen more and more bad bolting around Göteborg which makes me think we need bolting courses. Drilling is easy, and so is hammering and tightening the bolt - but bolting routes involves other tasks that require substantial skills.

1. Safety
The most common mistake I see is easy routes with run-outs between the first bolts. The bolter must respect that the specific route is the first one somebody may lead and belay outdoors. Furthermore, holds can break and if the ground is not even, the bolter should place the bolts so that an injury could be avoided even if a hold breaks.

2. Onsight
"You need a long quickdraw in the fourth bolt" is not a good description to have in a topo. In such a case, one more bolt should be placed or the fourth bolt should be moved. If we are talking an 8a and the ninth bolt is a bit high, that is ok, but for a 5c for which you need to be 170 cm tall to use the best clipping position from a ledge, that bolt is placed too high for an onsight attempt.

3. Lines and Variations etc
Before you start bolting, make sure that you climb it several times together with your friends in order to find the best line. If you later would like to place a route next to it, think about how much quality the original line loses. If it is not your line, make sure you talk with the first bolter. An option is always to just create a new start or finish instead of squeezing in a route that interferes with the neighbouring routes.

4. Anchors
Clipping the anchor should not be the crux. Instead, move the anchor downwards. On the other hand, if the top has some nice moves that can take you up to a no-hands rest position and, even so, there is a possibility to place the anchor higher up, this is always the best option. Also make sure that you place the anchor so that you avoid as much rope swing as possible. In some cases, if the route gets much harder at the top, consider placing a first anchor, like many of the hardest routes have.

Alex Puccio is back on track after a mental breakdown, due to Covid-19, and has done two 8A and two 8A+ in the last two weeks.

8A+, Temper Tantrum in Elevenmile Canyon: "Sent second try after doing anger management. Last move was even wilder for me since I was a little bit more tired. Hard cool swing on one hand and one foot hold on the arete and it’s the last move. Hold on for the ride or you will pay for it! :0."

8A+, Burnt in Kraft Boulders: "Soooo hoootttt out! Climbing at 9:30pm with lights and it’s still 80 degrees!"

This 157 cm tall 31-year-old has the most impressive female bouldering tick list with 225 8A and harder including eight 8B+. She has also been #1 in the 8a ranking game for almost ten years straight, even if she has had some bad injuries. Alex started out as a competition climber, and in 2006 she won the USA Nationals for the first time, out of eleven! In 2009 she won her first World Cup, and in 2018 she won again. She has also gotten silver in the World Championship in 2014. In other words, altogether Alex is the best female boulderer in history.

Duygu Haug, who runs the Josito Camp in Geyik Bayiri with her husband Tobias, has done her second 8c Aaron, one year after a bicep surgery.

"It was a magical moment clipped the chain and the last year has passed through my eyes like a movie stripe at that moment. My torn biceps injury, 1-year break of climbing, trying to find another hobby to be happy, start crawling to climb well again and how patient I was, so on... I am proud of myself that I climb this miracle line today and I am thankful to my husband that he was always with me on this journey and bolted this amazing line." (c) David Kaszlikowski

How did Covid affect your climbing camp?
This season was really different from the other seasons. We didn’t expect to have a lot of guests this season because of the covid situation and travelling restrictions but it was the opposite. Most of the people stay in the camp since October from different countries. They are working and studying online living directly under the rocks. Most of the people have residence permission now in Turkey. Good to see for us that people became like a family here in these hard times

Ramon Julian has done the FA of Només per valents 9a in Fussimanya. In total, he has done 20 FAs 9a or 9a+ since 2002. It should also be mentioned that several of his FAs have been upgraded up to two grades. (c) Alba Capdevila

The 39-year-old has won 21 Lead World Cups and two World Championships. By checking his 8a scorecard as well as his Insta, we can see that almost all his climbs the last year have been FAs.