Chloe Pay, who this summer sent her first 8A+, has done her sixth 8A during 2020, May it be SDS, aka "Leave it be", in Snugglers notch. In the Teenager ranking game she is #2 in the world.

"This choss-pile was both my longest and most pathetic project. I started college three months ago and quickly realized I had little time to dedicate to climbing. I went from ticking off climb after climb over the summer to going nearly three months without any big sends. I had never been through this type of hiatus before and, as a result, my psych for the sport waivered.

When I went to college, I knew my time would be preoccupied with school work, but I did not account for the other changes that would limit my ability to climb. My summer climbing squad went their own ways and I was left to train with my new college friends and on my own. Sometimes, just getting to the gym was a challenge. If I wasn’t able to catch a ride, I had to find 90 minutes in my schedule for public transportation to and from the gym. In order to overcome the low psych, I tried to keep my goals in mind, like possible trips, projects, and my nemesis “Leave it Be.”

Over the past three months, during my weekend trips to Smuggs, I threw myself at this chossy mess. I would consistently get through the crux, only to punt off the top of the boulder. I was so consistently punty, my friends made a video compilation of my attempts and added some soothing background music: “Wells Fargo.” Every year, the Smuggs road closes around Halloween due to the winter weather and doesn’t open again until Spring. When I heard that the road had closed for the season, I was mildly heartbroken. My friends had no interest in hiking up the road, and I was left to conquer “Leave it Be” by myself.

Last weekend, I caught a ride with some friends and hiked up to the boulder. Recognizing that winter was well on its way, I knew I wouldn’t have many more opportunities to send. Although my hands and toes were completely numb, I was determined to stop fooling around and just send the climb. I stuck the right-hand throw to a jug, the move I always fell on, and I knew that my battle with this boulder was over. I am happy to say that I never have to hang from that boulder again, and can now focus my attention on bigger and better rocks."

Last out of the female was the big favourite, Viktoria Meshkova, who already had won two golds in Moscow. At the same time Nicolas Collin, who had won the Combined qualification, entered the scene and did probably know he had to top. While he was resting we did see some glimts of Meshkova climbing high enough. In the end, all the hard rounds took out the toll of Collin and Alex Khazanov was the lucky man on #8 spot running around and being interviewed in the streaming. In the picture Aleksei Rubtsov (c) Nikita Tsarev

Suddenly the live-streaming shows that Meshkova was just awarded 12 and being dead last she was out of the Top-8 and the cameraman showed Meshokva and her coach looking not pleased at all. For some reason, the commentator missed this drama and in few minutes later Meshkova was up at rank #4 in both the Lead and in overall.

The overall winner was Eliska Adamovska who was the only one topping out the excellent route, meaning she is now together with Chloe Caulier and Viktoria Meshkova the favourites to get the Olympic ticket.

Among the male, we did see three tops and most unlucky was Hannes Puman who lost his Olympic dream by being the slower climber. Yuval Shelma, #9 in the Lead even two days ago, was the big sensation winning the Combined Lead discipline ahead of Sacha Lehmann who together with Segei Luzhetski are the favourites to make it to Tokyo.

Noteworthy is that the Speed winner, Marcin Dzienski, was #7 overall meaning he has almost guaranteed himself #4 or #5 in the final. This shows how strange the multiplication format is and that not the best overall climbers are the highest-ranked. In Lead, he got to hold #8 but as he then could not clip the third quick draw he down climbed a move and checked with the belayer before he let go and landed on the mattress! Complete results

Martin Keller, one of the first who started with fans in order to optimize friction for outdoor bouldering, gives some advice also in regards skin treatment.

If you suffer from sweaty and soft skin you can try some of the following tips:
- Use liquid-chalk as a base before you apply your regular chalk.
- Try Antihydrahl when you have really sweaty fingers and/or use a product from Rhinoskin as these are not as strong as Antihydrahl.
- Make sure to not apply these products in between the finger-joints otherwise you will get splits!
- When you are using Antihydrahl (or similar products) use sandpaper to sand off old and hard skin. Especially make sure to take care off the sides off the fingertips to avoid splits!
- Before you start to climb cool your fingers down on a piece of cold rock. Make sure to just cool down your fingertips. You don't want your joints to cool down too much!
- Stay outside your gym for a few minutes, use some doorframes (metal) to cool your finger-tips down (not recommended in corona-times though!).
- You can use a fan to cool your fingers down before and while bouldering as well!

For thick and hard elephant skin and when you climb in cold and very dry conditions you can try the following:
- Experiment by slightly moistening your fingers before you start to climb (use a water spray or RhinoSkin-Spit) and then apply your regular chalk and wait for one to two minutes before you start to climb
. - When you climb on very polished rock (like “Bruno-Boulder” in Magic Wood) you can also try to slightly moisture the holds with your brush or use a water-spray (DO NOT DO THIS on sandstone and/or fragile rock as it may breaks!).
- Sand down excessive skin so your skin does not get too thick. But while sanding you also generate harder skin so you have a trade-off here!
. - Solve this trade-off by still sanding excessive skin off and then applying a cream containing "urea" (5%-25%) which will enable you to conserve more moisture deeply in your skin. This will make your skin more elastic and softer!

Here some other reflections by Martin:
- The older the less (young) elastic the skin!
- Soft skin (but not too soft) is better indoors and on comps
- Soft skin is better on a rock type with less friction especially on polished holds.
- Elephant skin is generally better on positive and incut hold and on granite and more aggressive rock.
- Clean your hands from chalk after climbing and then use a hand cream of your choice to give your skin some moisture back to kick-start the recovery process.

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Dai Koyamada, who previously has done some 20 FAs 8C and harder, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Ochimizu in Gero. The 44-year-old did not suggest a grade but says it is among his five top FAs. The 165 cm tall, who was #4 in a WC in 1998, found it five years ago but it seemed to difficult. Nevertheless, he found the missing hold and started projecting it this year.

"I’ve reached an age at which declining performance is a daily concern, but I still made it back to this boulder in time. I named this problem “Ochimizu” (Fountain of Youth), in the reflection of my futile wish to remain young, and count it among the top five of my first ascents."

Laura Rogora is the perfect example showing that climbing is unique when it comes to gender equality. Based on her ten routes 8c+/9a and harder 2020, as well as two 8c+' 2nd, go and 8b+ onsight, she is actually a contender of being #2 in the world, together with Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi, behind Jorge Diaz-Rullo. We asked Laura for some comments of doing Ghisolfi's The Bow 9a+. (c) Pietro Bagnara

"It took me 6 days and 17 tries in total. On my second day on the route, I was able to climb it with one resting but the boulder is very strange and risky so I needed some time to make it from the ground. On the day before the send I got super close but then my hand slipped just before the end of the harder section. I was bleeding a lot from my fingers so I decided to stop and try again the day after and on Sunday on my first go I climbed to the top on my first try. I was sure to fall on the last boulder on the slab because of the blood on my finger but somehow I could get through the last crux and clip the chain."

Seb Bouin and Lucien Martinez first repeats of Fred Rouhlings Akira from 1995 are all over the media discussing if the first 9b in the world might be just 9a? Naturally, Fred is very surprised about the downgrade as his other two 9a's from the time have just been repeated and confirmed by Bouin. At that time, Rouhling was together with Alex Huber superior in the world and Seb just thinks it is amazing that such routes could have been set up 25 years ago. At that time, crash pads and roof climbs where you could train, both indoor and outdoor, did almost not exist at the time and Fred was by himself pushing the standards. "Fred was ahead of his time and part of the reason for my Vintage trip was to salute him. The difficulty of those routes is amazing! At the same time, I can just say all three routes felt 9a. " Fred is truly happy for the repeats and hopes more will come.

"Seb said that he had a good time in Charente! That’s more important. Climbing is for fun, so have fun and enjoy our climbing life. Repeats are great but don’t forget "to boldly go where no man has gone before!"

Dani Andrada tried the route around 2002 and after three days of effort, he came close and says he at the time speculated if it was 9a or 9a+. At the same time, he today thinks it with kneepads probably would be even easier which goes in line with what Martinez and Bouin think. In any case, it was important for them to do it in the way as Fred did it without kneepads. In any case, besides they and Andrada possibly found better beta, one can speculate if also a broken hold, better shoes with toe-hocking possibilities have had an impact on the grade.

Akira is rather similar to Andrada's Ali Baba hybrid boulder route and he thinks that the reasons for some of his routes being downgraded are that new beta has been found, the use of kneepads and that ladders and fans have facilitated the process of taking them down. Andrada and Rouhling have through their FAs made it to the history books but as it stands they will not be listed to have done 9b.

Viktoriia Meshkova, 20, who won in Bouldering, topped out the semifinal route with ease. Last year, the Russian did 18 IFSC World Cups and her best result was #16. As she also with 9.68 in Speed were among the best, she is now the big favourite to get the Olympic tickets. Eliska Adamovska did also top the nice route as also Daeia Mezentseva did but she was timed out. Noteworthy is that Chloe Caulier #2 and Alma Bestvater #5 did pull out from the semi probably due to saving the skin for the Combined. Complete results.

Among the male, Sergei Luzhetskii #2 and Aleksei Rubtsov #8 in Bouldering did not participate. Seven male got within one hold close to the top. The final starts at 4 pm Euro time.

Hannes Puman and Sascha Lehmann were the only males topping out both qualification routes. Interesting is that the best result among the one making it to the Boulder final yesterday was Nicolas Collins #16. Jernej Kruder was #28 suggesting that the male Olympic qualification is an open affair.

Among the female, both Viktoria Meshkova and Chloe Caulier who were quite superior in the Boulder final, were among the four girls topping out both routes, together with Eliska Adamovska and Daria Mezentseva. Noteworthy is that Petra Klingler, who won the boulder qualification but then retired due to a shoulder injury, did not participate in Lead. This means that the favourite to win the Combined is out from that competition. Complete results

Julia Chanourdie, who just released the video from her recent 9b, reports on Insta that she has done La ligne claire 8c+ in St Légere on her fourth go. (c) Jan Novak

In total, the Olympian has done six routes 8c+/9a and harder, meaning she is #5 in that list.