Adam Ondra has done the FA of another two 9a's; Mia in Vranjača and Genius Loci in Paklenica . The latter adds a cruxy start to Il Maratoneta, the famous 8b+ put up by Manolo in 1987, which Ondra had onsighted a couple days earlier. Mia: "Amazing 50m line in an amazing cave close to Paklenica. Hard to say about the grade, after 25m of 8a/a+ you get into resistant section with weird crux which I think suits my style, even though after having worked the moves it is max 8c+. Possibly 8c+/9a. 3rd go."

The 27-year-old has now done 167 routes 9a to 9c. The runner up is Alex Megos with around 75. When it comes to 8b+ or harder onsight, Adam has 175 and here he is even more superior. In the 8a data base, Patxi Usobiaga is #2 with 40 onsights 8b+ or harder.

Jan Hojer and Molly Thompson-Smith have had some great days in Frankenjura having done Der Heilige Gral 9a and Father and Son 8c, respectively.

Jan: ”It’s rare to find this route dry which added some pressure to finish it off this trip. In the end it took me 4 days. We are going back to Cologne now for a little bit before we drive to Ceuse.”

Molly: “The last few months on rock were great for me to get more familiar with my rock climbing level, and start to push myself to climb things quicker and try harder lines. After watching Jan on ‘Der Heiliger Gral, 9a’ I decided to check it out and could do all the moves so I hope it stays dry enough for a few more sessions this summer! My other new project is ‘Infinity, 8c+’ at Eldorado. I love how short and powerful this crag is and I’m not sure many women have climbed the harder routes here so it’s a nice challenge!“

Carlo Traversi, who previously has done eight 8C's, has done his first 8C+, Creature from the black lagoon in RMNP. Previous years, he has done a couple of sessions on it before starting to try it this year, all by himself. Luckily he got it on video which will be released soon. "Weird day. Shitty conditions and wasn’t feeling great, then just randomly climbed it. Gave myself a month to do this thing and it only took 3 days. Gonna have to find some other things to try."

So what is your best explanation for this amazing quick send?
No real explanation. I’ve been mostly trying hard projects in CA this spring/summer and just failing on them. I’ve always believed that climbing on things that are outside of your range is the best way to improve. No hang boards, no weights, no structure, just real climbing with good motivation. It’s definitely my most surprising ascent. I don’t consider roof climbing to be my style, that was one of the reasons I wanted to try to climb this boulder. To improve. I actually almost never climb on horizontal roofs.

Laura Rogora, who has qualified to Tokyo 2021, reports on Insta that she has done Ali hulk sit start extension total 9b in Rodellar. It is a 15 move sit start link up to a 9a+ extension set up by Jonathan Flor. (c) Marco Iacono

The 153 cm and 19-year-old has previously done 13 routes 8c+/9a to 9a+, which means she has the most impressive female ticklist in the world. She did her first 9a at age 14. Being 15-years-old, she won her first Euro Youth Cup and two years later she was #6 in a World Cup. Overall, the Italian must be considered as a contender for the best female climber out there.

The Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) report that they have been part of a study in regards chalk and Covid-19. "The presence of infectious virus on a plastic surface dusted with chalk was monitored over the course of one hour. The results indicated that the amount of infectious virus was reduced by around 99% immediately upon contact with the chalky surfaces."

It should be noted that no formal scientific report has been published yet and that there will be a full report published in early August. (For some reason the page can not be found any longer.

ABC has published a new article with the new headline - RESEARCH SHOWS CHALK COULD BE A CLIMBERS BEST FRIEND..” The first headline was - Chalk Deactivates The Virus on Holds.

Kim Marschner has done his first 9a, The Elder Statesman in Frankenjura and it just took him four tries over two days. "I had no plans or expectations going into the Frankenjura. I just wanted to try something hard. So I looked at that route an thought oh ja that looks pretty cool."

Interestingly is that Kim has been an active competition climber for several years but only once reached the semi out of 18 WC's. Last year he did not do any routes outdoors and his previous best was an 8c. (c) Nici Schall

It seems you are a more talented outdoor climber compared to comps?
Haha, yes but I think if I stop competing I won’t train that hard anymore and get weak. I‘m not in the best shape at the moment because I was a bit lazy the last months without any comps so I have no expectations.

Brooke Raboutou, who has qualified to Tokyo 2021, has done two 8B’s during one day up in Upper Chaos in RMNP at 3200 m altitude; Doppelgänger Poltergeist and The Wheel of Chaos. “So psyched!!! Sent it first try from the bottom! Spent about an hour working out the moves at the end of a long day and then came back and sent!” (c) Alex Puccio

In the monthly ranking game, the 19-year-old is #5 and as a matter of a fact this is he highest ranking ever for a female among the male since 8a started 2000! And, without personal down grading, she would have been #4.

Georgia Tesio, who did her first 8b+ at age 14, when she also did her first 8A+ boulder, has done her first 8c, Mieux vaut une petite bien sure in La Saume. At the same crag Claudia Ghisolfi did her second 8c, Idée fixed.

Giorgia: ”The passed weekend I escaped the heat and went for a short trip to Briançon in France. It was simply amazing! Great crew, perfect conditions in the beautiful crag La Saume located at 2000+ meter altitude.

After my knee injury and the quarantine I’d say my endurance was not the best. When I do some sports climbing I usually pick up a short route, or at least the most bouldery at the crag. I did the same this time. I tried it on Saturday for the first time and after five tries, I managed to find the method, which suited best for me and at the end of the day I fell on the last move! I was more exited than disappointed. I knew it was possible! The next day I warmed up and then gave it a shoot and without even realizing it I found myself clipping the chain of my first 8c! It was a great satisfaction. Without any competitions except for the Briançon World Cup, I changed my focus and found the right motivation again in rock climbing. I had so much fun that I’m already looking forward for a new project, maybe something longer this time, who knows; but for now it has to wait since Briançon competition is coming closer and closer!”

Dylan Chuat has done his first 8C, Foundations Edge in Fionnay. During the last month he has also done three 8B+' and he is #1 in the monthly ranking game. (c) Rémi Degenne

”This year I was selected to the swiss national team, I'm boulder and lead vice champion. I started specific training last year with Christophe Depotter a Belgium coach who brought me a lot of advices. I started to climb outdoors due to the lockdown in March. I've a bouldering spot near my flat, I started there then since all the competitions were cancelled. In March I did my first 8A+ boulder! After that I tried some other boulders and discovered that I was able to flash almost all 8A and do 8B at that session. Later I wanted to try something harder, a big project that would take some time and a lot of work. I started to watch some videos. One boulder became obvious, Foundation's Edge, a big 8C known all around the world. 10 sessions were needed to send it.”

We have improved the Add Ascent form to make adding routes to your logbook faster and easier. You can now search for either routes, crags, or areas, making the form flexible to the information you can remember. If you forgot the route name, it is possible to search for the crag first, and then type in the grade below.

If you're trying to add an ascent of a route that is not yet in the database, or a new crag, please use the Create New form to add this to the database. We'll continue to work on cleaning up the database over the next months.