Roland Wagner has done Baumwesen 9a in Salzburger Land. "Brilliant route. Took a bit longer than anticipated. 12 days this year plus 14 days in 2018/19. Using the momentum of “Sehnsucht”, I felt it could go down rather quickly. Baumwesen (“the tree being”) is a bit of a peculiar route since it’s right behind a massive tree. It’s nonetheless awesome and for sure one of my harder ones.

The route was FA’ed by Jakob Kronberger in 2017 and hasn’t seen an ascent since. I feel very privileged that with climbing we get to choose our "battles". Life’s been really good up there with no end in sight! Onward!” (c) Chris Krah

Interestingly, the 41-year-old had only done one 9a prior to 2021, and in January he did his Sehnsucht 9a/+. Then he also provided five reasons why he thinks he could send his hardest route by the age of 40+:

1. Motivation/Obsession 2. Hard structured multi-task training 3. Injury-free 4. Lucky with conditions 5. Inspiration.

As we found that a lot of climbers have not been climbing during lock down we asked physiotherapist, researcher and 8a member, Gudmund Grønhaug, Insta if there are anything to consider when returning to climbing after a break. Currently he is doing a research including a questionnaire on training and injuries during the quarantine and/or corona restrictions.

"First of all it is important to remember that all structures in the body, muscles and ligaments are weaker after a break. Most people know and understand that they will have weaker muscles, but also tendons and ligaments will be weaker after a long break. When returning to climbing the muscles will gain strength faster than the tendons and ligaments. In practical terms, this means that those who quickly return to climb on their previous level are taking a huge risk of getting injured!"

How to avoid injuries when returning to climbing?
Spend a bit more time to train smart, do not rush it and focus more on footwork and technique, regaining the psyche and climb more on easier routes than you would do in a normal year.

Climbing easy routes will not return the strength?
That’s true. To make a successful comeback it is important to train strength by bouldering or working some cruxes on the routes you want to do. But trying to send hard should not be the focus of the first two months of climbing. It is a long time to wait if you feel strong, but going out hard and getting injured will influence the rest of the season! Training wisely and returning to the previous level slowly will make you stronger and better prepared for the rest of this season, and the next. Going too fast at the start will end the season before it even began!

Sounds difficult to climb with the breaks on if you are feeling strong?
Yes! Try to think of this as returning from an injury! Not being able to climb is pretty much the same as having an injury. It takes time to recover and get back into shape again. Two months of careful climbing may sound a lot, but that is what it takes to get back to previous strength for the tendons and ligaments. The muscles will be stronger after 2-4 weeks. The hard part of this return phase is to feel strong but not try your hardest on the projects. Which means that week 2-8 after returning to climbing is where a lot of climbers will injure themselves if they are not taking care!

Noé Moutault, who has won one Euro Youth Championship in Lead and gotten the bronze in Boulder, jumps three grades and does Hugh 9a in Eaux claires."This route was totally my style, holes and dynamic pockets ;). I made it in my third session." Video on his Insta

How have you been training the last year?
My dad manages a climbing gym so it's like my second home. I trained six days a week and I was with a friend who had nothing for training at his home. I did two sessions per day, one of climbing and the second of the hang board.

Karoline Sinnhuber has done her sixth 8B, Nihilist low in . "Somehow I got fit over winter without being able to visit any gyms... weird things happening atm :D super psyched anyway! Let's go for the sit!"

Why are you using different shoes?
I used two different shoes because you have to make a foot swap on the big and slippery hold in my hands. Somehow the Drago sticks a bit better for the swap than the Instinct 😅.

How many sessions did it take and what about the sit start?
I did the ‚normal‘ Nihilist 8A a few years ago. Came back for the low start in autumn and had 2 sessions before it became too cold. This spring I spent another 3 or 4 sessions on it for the send. The Sit 8B+ adds another 2 moves, which are suuuuper hard.

One of the official goals for IFSC is to promote climbing "as a healthy and educational activity for youth." Occasionally, the organization measures the BMI of athletes and notifies the Federations if a male is below 18.5 or a female is below 17.5. Possibly, the IFSC could go even further by prohibiting athletes under a certain BMI from competing? This BMI should be low enough to put climbers' health at risk. Examples of extremely low BMIs: a 160 cm tall female weighing 43 kg = 16.8 BMI, and a 170 cm male weighing 51 kg = 17.6 BMI.

Some countries already have BMI regulations for being allowed in the national team. Reino Horak from the Norweigian Federation explains that they use different BMI levels based on age groups. They have cooperated with the Austrian Federation and their research for getting the right levels for the different age groups. All athletes also have to sign a contract including a medical examination.

"The Norway Federation continuously try to monitor our athletes and also give education and information from Sunn Idrett about this matter. They also have to make an educational web-based Antidoping test each year. These topics are related and federations should give education and implement healthy living for athletes as they develop and grow older. Doing this in combination with some IFSC regulations will prevent a lot of the problems at adult age."

It should be noted that IFSC already has a system for determining which athletes are disallowed to compete for medical injury reasons. As an example, if a climber gets a sprained ankle, a doctor can state that the athlete must be able to jump on the injured foot before continuing to compete. Furthermore, for getting a competition license, the Federations must agree that the athletes are fit to compete.

Sebastien Bouin reports on Insta that he has done the FAs of Oppression 8c+ and Les gardes fous 9a+, both in St Guilhem. The latter took some ten days and 25 tries. "I am preparing myself for a project in Spain, and I have the opportunity to mix outdoor and indoor climbing at home. So these routes were perfect. Waiting for good conditions in Catalunya, it was a good excuse to jump on these projects."

He is talking about Stoking the fire 9b in Santa Linya. "I would like to try the direct which could be a 9c project. But the first step is the 9b 😁."

The 27-year-old did his first 9a in 2011 and now he has done 65 of them, meaning that he is #5 on that list. His hardest are three 9B/+ out of which two FAs and Adam Ondra's Move. (c) Sam Bié

Based on 700 unique votes - How common is underweight in Climbing? we can see that only 10 % have said they have never seen it. Actually, 8 % of the voters say that have suffered.

Mattéo Soulé has done his third 8c+, Le blond, la brute et le manouche in , after six sessions. "Awesome. Thirty movements without ever being able to put on chalk. The perfect route of resistence. Really fingery."

Already in 2017, he did his first 8b and later he has also flashed ten 8a+ and onsighted one. Last June, he did his first 8c+, Dieu merci and that one is still unrepeated.

Max Bertone has done two FAs in Bras de la Plaine which have been bolted by Thierry Caillaud, Addiction 8b+ and Mirage Gravitationnel 8c. "Maybe 8c+, but I don't know if adults can reduce the number of moves in the crux section. Two sessions of work to send this perfect endurance test! Thanks to Thierry Caillaud for bolting this incredible route!"

It should be mentioned that prior to Max's FA, it was thought that Mirage was 8c+. Also noteworthy is that he yesterday, on his second go, did the second ascent of A la recherche des prises perdues 8b/+, giving it a personal 8a+ grade.

The 13-year-old is a sibling to Oriane (15), the best girl in the world for a couple of years in competitions as well as on rock.