Iker Pou (43) was just recently listed as #3 overall climbers in the world here on 8a. In 2000, he did Action Directe and this summer he did an 8B+ FA as well as two 9a FAs. In between, he has done another 30 routes 8c+/9a up to 9b (+) as well as numerous big walls FAs all over the globe up to 8c. His latest is is the 600 meter Rayu located in Peña Santa with pitches up to 8c. The FA was done together with his brother Eneko and Kico Cerdá after five weeks of hard work.

"The Basque brothers are convinced that, given the exceptional quality of the route, it will become a classic that will be pursued by the best climbers in the world. There have been marathon days of up to 18 consecutive hours ..., we have ended up destroyed..., but we are happy, we have given everything, and when you make an effort 100%, you have a very good taste in your mouth".

In the end, they redpointed the whole route, mainly protected by trad gear, in a 12 h 1/2 non-stop attempt from the ground to the summit. Click on the headline to see a picture gallery. Video teaser.

Most of us have tightened a loose nut with our fingers. This did improve safety in the short run but in the long run, the safety problem is just carried on. Having put up some 2 500 bolts, I know that many of them get loose even if I tightened them hard from the beginning. You should not over-tighten them! Lately, I have started to check also the fixed ones and surprisingly most of them I can tighten them harder, avoiding them to get loose and dangerous.

I use a combination wrench that I carry on my gear loops and it feels great to improve the safety for me and others. The normal size for 10 mm bolts are 17 but for the 12 mm bolts you need size 19. You can find wrenches combining size 17 and 19 and the price is around Euro 5.

Other safety issues that should be repeated are;
1. Partner Check - Check the knot and that the screw carabiner is locked
2. Loose Rock - Wear a helmet or do not stay under the climber
3. A knot on the rope - Sometimes the rope is too short
4. Soft belay - Try to be a dynamic belayer as there is no ground fall risk
5. Check fixed carabiners - They can break or even cut your rope once worn out

Almost all the hardcore redpoints by the male are achieved after weeks or months of projecting. Wolfgang Gülich even had to invent the campus board in order to do the FA of Action Direct 9a and setting up replicas or usual for the hardest ascents. When it comes to the max level redpointing by the female, they are instead normally done after just 5 - 10 days of projecting. It just might be that there would be twice as many female doing 9a's and Laura Rogora or Janja Garnbret sending 9b+, if they dedicated the same amount of time and effort as the male?

While we continue to stand together and keep our communities safe, many of us have had the chance to start climbing again. It's time to reward ourselves with some quality time on the rock this autumn, and along with that, we're offering you the chance to win some top-shelf prizes. Zlag your climbs and uncover hidden prizes along the way. Prizes may be hidden behind any climb; routes and boulders at the crag and in the gym are all in play. All climbs logged during the months of September and October are counted. The more you Zlag, the higher your chance of winning! Get Zlagging, win prizes, and stay safe! #verticallife #climbing #treasurehunt #zlag

Chuck Odette has done his first 8c (b+), T-Rex in Pipe Dream after roughly 80-100 tries over two years. The 64-year-old started climbing at age 23 back in 1978. Turning 35, he decided to try to start pushing his limits, reaching his first 7c+ at 37 and first 8b+ at 44. (c) Eric Steiner

"It was cold and wet yesterday (9/9/20) here in Maple. There was a skiff of snow on the trail up to the Pipedream. It was a huge change from two days prior when the temps were 75f (24 celcius) and 14% humidity. My dry skin doesn't adhere well below 20% humidity. We (Maggie & me) almost didn't make the trip up for our Wednesday climbing ritual. The warm-ups were numb-outs. Maggie offered to stay and belay but it was too cold for her to climb... :(

Temps made it up to a balmy 49f (9 celcius) with humidity at 33%... I figured I'd give it one go and wait for hopeful better conditions on Friday. T-Rex is 40 meters long... too long for cold temps. I almost fell at the 3rd bolt... not a good start for a route that's 26 bolts long! Somehow I reeled in the bad left hand pinch that was attempting to thwart my efforts for the day. Instead of monitoring heart rate and pump, I focused on how numb my feet and hands were before moving on from rests.

Taking one move at a time I passed the crux and eventually the anchors of Millennium (8b+). I felt strong on the moves connecting Millennium to the T-Rex extension and just kept knocking down section after section one move at a time. Before I knew it, I was making one last big move to a jug at the lip of the cave, a place I'd fallen on previous attempts while on redpoint. The last four bolts were totally on lock down and anticlimactic. Done... whew... I announced my retirement from climbing to everyone at the crag immediately after lowering off the anchors and touching the ground... then... I qualified it... I'm retiring from climbing until Friday. Time for a new project... something fun... stay tuned :)

PS: I know some strong climbers have started giving T-Rex a downgrade to 8b+ recently from the original long standing consensus grade of 8c. I feel that it's deserving of the 8c personally. It's a full step harder than any 8b+ I've done in the past, but I'm also a full step older than most of my previous 8b+ routes... oh well... ratings... kind of like religion... totally subjective and worth about 2-cents on a good day... lol."

Solveig Korherr, who did her third 8c+ as well as first 8b onsight last month, has done Der schwarze Schwan 8c in Ötztal. "It is a very crimpy line with bad feet which finishes in a really big jump. The route suited me quite well up until the jump crux since I’m quite good on smaller holds and getting my feet high. The jump seemed impossible to me when I went up there for the first time. However, with some practice, I was able to find the correct body position for the dyno. I surprised myself by doing it on my third try of the day, on my second day on it, despite being quite fatigued."

The 22-year-old, who is #1 in the 8a ranking game, has also onsighted Seewurm 8a+ onsight, "That was a good fight! The kneebars saved me." as well as redpointed Minas Tirith 8b+, calling it one of her favourites in Ötztal. More great pics by Jon Shen on Solveig's Insta or by clicking on the headline.

"I’m very psyched about my latest onsights with „Seewurm“ (8a+) and „Nostalgie“ (8a) at Piburger See in Ötztal as well. I find that it helps with onsight that I have a quite static climbing style and good endurance. Having a variety of techniques (kneebar, crack climbing) and experience on different rock types definitely helps."

Daniel Woods has made the FA of Dicktopia 8C which adds an 8A left exit to Little Richard 8B+ featured in the Mellow video. "Overall, Little Richard took me 4 days to do. I put up Dicktopia the same night after doing LR. After sending these two lines, I added a left entrance into LR. This addition is a 7 move 7B+ straight into the crux of LR. Didn’t change grade, just made it a bit harder."

The 31-year-old, who is #2 in the 8a annual ranking game, has in total done 25 8C's and 6 8C+', which is most in the world. In 2010, he won the Boulder World Cup in Vail and he has also won the USA Nationals nine times in a row.

Eliminations are quite common at the same time it reduces the quality of a climb. One elimination definition could be that you need to be within reach of the bolts another rule is that you are not allowed to use holds on neighbouring routes or boulders. One dilemma is that such definitions are not fair based on different sizes of the climbers, especially when you climb onsight.

Personally, I am more liberal and I think that you, first of all, are being challenged by the rock and not how the bolter has placed the bolts. It might be that you can not say you did repeat the listed climb and grade in the topo but actually made a FA of an easier climb if you did go too long to the side. Sure in many cases, the eliminations are obvious but in most cases, they are in the grey zone.

I think, in general, taller guys should be allowed to place their feet further out as long as they are following the sequences of the climb. In many cases, using handholds to the side as intermediates should also be considered as ok. However, if you move further out to the side and do not follow the "graded" sequences, one might say you have not repeated the original route and grade.

To sum up, climbs with eliminations should not be considered as a high-quality routes especially, when instructions are needed to understand which holds are ok to use. The best style of climbing is onsight and you should never ask, "Can I use that hold?". You are challenged by the rock! Taller climbers are allowed to go further out following the same sequences as the original graded ones.

Marco Müller has done two 9a's; Le Cadre Nouvelle Version (in July) and La prophétie des grenouilles in Fournel. "I went to Céüse this summer for three weeks with my main goal of climbing "Le cadre". I tried it twice last year, but couldn't stick the jump. It felt much better this year and I could climb it in 10 tries total over 5 days. This gave me also some time to check out the moves on Biographie ;) maybe a project for next year... After Céüse, I went back for some exams and then wanted to climb a bit in Switzerland. But due to rain and wetness, I went south again, but this time to Briancon, and could climb "La prophétie des grenouilles" rather quickly."