Daniel Fuertes, who did his first 9b last autumn, has done his 13th 9a, Borrachos libres in Rodellar. Dani Andrada did the FA of the big roof in 2016.

How have you been training during the pandemic?
I have trained on a small campus board at my house and in La Caverna boulder gym, but it has been difficult in Spain this winter.

Geila Macia, daughter to famous Spanish climbers Berta Martin and Israel Gacia, has done her first 8b+ as well as her fourth 8b, Brujo in Sadernes. Berta, several times Spanish Champion as well World Cup semifinalist, gives us the story.

"It was my first 8b+ too. It is not one hard so much more endurance with some of cruxes. I knew it would be a good route for her size being still 13-year-old. She could do all the moves on the first try. Even at the end of the route, from the last quickdraw, she went straight because she was afraid of a long fall. I must say she found a harder beta just to go straight. On her fourth day of attempts, she fell there in the end being exhausted. The next day, she warmed up and found better feet to not fall again, even though she was feeling so nervous and tired because it was 3rd day on a row in the route. She said it was impossible to finish the last part to the anchor and I just told her to not be stressed or nervous and we could come back after a rest day. - Go and try to make a good endurance try and keep going... and she did it.

After a day of rest. We climbed a little more in some other areas she did an 8b in just four in a day, Brujo. It was her fastest 8b ever."

How does the family train and is Geila strongest in the family now?
We are both training together between 3/4 days every week and also try to go outside rock climbing. She can train all days, I don't. Those days, I am just her trainer. I can try 8b but I’m not as strong as her. She can train in all kind of boulder but I can’t try those kind of parcuour ones. She is the strongest in the family now. Her father doesn’t train just climb in the weekends.

Advertorial: Speed, bouldering and rope climbing: the recent evolutions in sports climbing require products that are increasingly dedicated to each discipline. Let's find out.

Sport climbing is a relatively recent sport. Already in the early 1970s, climbers were moving on the rock of the great American walls and of the Dolomites, using the first shoes that companies such as La Sportiva had begun to offer to the market instead of the classic sturdy and heavy mountaineering boots. The introduction of new soles in the next few years accelerated the evolution of climbing together with the new construction systems that supported and often, anticipated the requests of increasingly demanding climbers who passed from classic rock climbing to new forms of climbing.

Climbing shoes are the most important accessory for climbers and consequently have had to change shape, look and performance levels with the evolution of the discipline. Or rather, of the 3 main disciplines that make up the world of climbing today:

SOLUTION COMP: THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR ROPE CLIMBING (LEAD CLIMBING)
The natural evolution of a model originally created for bouldering, Solution Comp is the climbing shoe designed today for maximum performance in competition, particularly suitable for competitions on indoor surfaces.

THEORY: THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOULDER SPECIES
The indoor performance shoe designed for perfect adaptation to the new shapes of grips and volumes of indoor climbing.

COBRA 4:99: THE SHOE FOR SPEED CLIMBING
Each element of the Vibram XS Grip2 sole and upper is reduced to a minimum for maximum speed and lightweight at the service of sprinters with a heat-sealed toe cover element to facilitate sliding in contact with the grips.

Laura Rogora reports on Insta that she has repeated Stefano Ghisolfi's Terapia d'urto 9a+ in Padaro.
(c) Sara Grippo

The 19-year-old has now done 19 routes 8c+/9a to 9b, meaning she is superior among the female. As a competition climber, the 153 cm tall, won three golds in the Youth World Champion and in 2020, she qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo.

Adam Ondra exlains his strategy of working out Perfectu Mundo 9b+. "I set myself challenges trying the route from a certain point and then going to the top of the route... I would just climb up to the 5th bolt, take a good rest while hanging in the rope and start my “attempt”."

Nicolai Uznik from Austria and Mailys Piazzalunga from France won the first European Cup in 2021, held in Klagenfurt. Both were, climbing-wise, quite superior in the final and Uznik also won the semi. Uznik, who did two 8C's last month, lives only 15 minutes from the gym.

"I must admit I was pretty nervous especially before the semifinals. It was difficult to stay focused and because climbing at home makes you wanna show your best performance even more! I‘m so glad it worked out. The route setting overall was good except maybe the semifinal round was a bit too hard. The finals I enjoyed the most, really cool boulders and also kind of my style!" Besides Uznik, it seemed like a disadvantage to start last in a bouldering round. None of the only three males to top all four in the qually, including Jakob Schubert, made it to the final. Among the females, it was pretty much the same in both semi and the final. The two best in the semi, Franziska Sterrer and Leonie Lochner, who also started last in the final, were the two last in the final.

Why do you think it is like this and how did you handle this?
I think in this situation you need to stay calm and show strong nerves. Many climbers feel like it‘s easier for them to climb in finals if they are not leading but for me, I must say it‘s different. I like coming out last because it gives me more confidence!

It can be mentioned that Uznik, even if he won the semi, did just manage to do one boulder and that you made it to the final by just doing four zones. Overall, only three climbers were able to reach all zones. In other words, when Schubert started last out in the semi, as he won the qualification, the holds had probably been used like 100 times each meaning that the friction might have been worse for him.

Maja Jonjic, who previously has done three 8A+'s, reports on Insta, with a video, that she has done her first 8B, El Guanche in Tenerife. In total, it took her more than 10 sessions to send. During the last fee years, the 27-year-old only climbed outdoors about once a week, but since last July, she has only climbed on rock.

JonathanSiegrist has made the first repeat of Joe Kinder's The Activator in Hurricave. "Hard as hell for me. I could conjure some excuses but in short it just felt hard!! 9a/+ for me no question. Wet chalk FTW!!" (c) Rachel Galipo

On Insta he continues his thoughts. "If my goal is to be challenged and to improve, why not be open to every lesson? If it truly was ‘easy’, it wouldn’t be hard would it! The moment we start assuming that everything will be easy is the moment we shut ourselves off to learning."

In total, the 35-year-old has done 53 routes 9a to 9b meaning he is #6 in the All-Time 9a list.