Loic Zehani, who did his first 9a at age 14, has done his 17th, the FA of Parle avec elle in Spot sud-est. It took the 18-year-old six sessions to do the 35 meter super steep route.

"It is a route bolted 20 years ago by Jean-Yves Leguy with an overhang of more than 30 meters. The first part is quite physical but not very hard, however the following section is the crux of the route with a super hard change of hands. Then it is a beautiful very physical section on tufas which leads to a final bloc section on smaller holds but still on an overhang. It is a superb route."

Adam Ondra has visited Schleier Wassefalle in Austria and done the FA of Warm Dusche onsight. "8c/c+ to me. A linkup - You climb Eiszeit 8c+/9a below the final crux and then move to the right into Black Pearl. For the grade - you climb most of Fight Club (8c, but maybe a little soft one), rest, hard section, rest, and final topout in Black Pearl. Adds probably a lot into Fight Club, but probably much easier than Eiszeit. INCREDIBLE fight on my onsight."

In Schleier he also did Orca 9a. "It is an Alex Huber FA back from 2001 that was not repeated. I tried it back in 2009 and could the crux moves even as a single move, but then I made the FA of "harder" (longer) exit to the right which was another project by Alex calling it Fugu 9a. Orca still remained mystery for me. In 2017 I finally unlocked a new sequence to the left but could not do it that day. Today I did it in 3 tries. Really hard to grade, but despite it is much shorter than Fugu, I think it is at least equally hard.”

It should be mentioned that Adam previously has done the first and only repeat of Alex Huber FA Open Air in Schleier Wasserfalle from 1996, upgrading it to 9a+. Ondra also made the first repeat of Huber's Weiße Rose 9a from 1994 in 2008. Few months ago, Jakob Schubert made the second repeat.

The day before he did Walk the Line 9a in Zillertal. ” Amazing diagonal line first asended by Jakob Schubert this spring. Really hard start that took me a long time to figure out, into some kneebaring and easier climbing, into pumpy finish. One try to check the moves, one more try to work the moves at the bottom and then epic fight on my third try.”

The 27-year-old Czech has also logged a flash of Zwerg Bums di 8B in Zemmschlucht. "Felt pretty easy, hard to say about the grade. Later, I was REALLY close to flashing Nihilist sit 8B+."

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has onsighted his first 8c, Pengim panjam in Sant Miquel del Fai and he comments and share a picture on Insta. "Today, after a long time and countless unsuccesfull tries, I climbed my first 8c onsight!!! 😱 but above all I have made a dream come true and I have learned a valuable lesson."

Later during the same day he made the FA of La piedra agermanat 9a. "A link-up of a 8B/+ travers into El mon agermanat 8c. Easier start and then a big fight in the end." The-20-year-old is #1 in the 8a ranking game.

As can be seen in many videos, portable ventilators are getting popular in the hardcore bouldering community. They cost around 50 Euros and can often blow wind for several hours. The best use them especially during warm conditions to dry up the skin and increase the friction.

The next step could be to bring a portable AC, connected via USB into your power bank, to lower the temperature on both the rock, in the air and in your fingers to create better friction during hot summer days. Anybody who already has tested them?

Tanguy Merard and Yannis Gauthier, both age 16, have done La prophétie des grenouilles in Fournel. It is a link-up of an 8c and an 8b with a hard boulder traverse in between. Both actually think it is very soft for 9a but as Ondra and Bouin have done it, they do not want to downgrade it.

Yannis, who previously has done one 8c+, needed six sessions to take it down."I think my next plan is La moustache qui fâche a 9a+ in Entraygues and another 9a." Tanguy, who previously has done one 9a, did it in just one session but he had done the 8c before and he is #1 in the Junior ranking game. Next project to finish for Tanguy is Biographie, where he already has made it to the second last hold.

Domen Škofic, Lead World Cup winner in 2016, has done the FA of Umetnost 9a in Ter. "I believe it’s the best hard line in Slovenia to date. Very cool and spicy finish, you got to keep it together until the very end. Thanks to Rajko Zajc who bolted and also named this beast." (c) Nase Gosnik

What are your summer and competition plans?
Basically I have no plans because everything is unstable at the moment. Spending time in my gym working and training is the most important thing for now. I definitely miss comps and I wanted to compete the lead world cup season this year but if the comps are made without the right atmosphere and just because they have to be done I’m not sure if I’m psyched to compete. At the moment I will find another project in Slovenian rocks and try to finish it.

IFSC informs that following the decision, and in accordance with the Chinese Mountaineering Association, there will be no World Cups in China in 2020. When it comes to the Asia Olympic qualification, no decision has been made.

Further more IFSC report that they have received financial support "from the International Olympic Committee, in order to overcome the many challenges that derived from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Laura Rogora, who has qualified to Tokyo 2021, reports on Insta that she has done The Bomb 9a in Collepardo. (c) Andrea Donato The 19-year-old has now done 13 routes graded 8c+/9a or harder, which is most of all female in the world.

Eva Hammelmüller, #2 in the Austria Series last week, has done her fifth 8c during the last six weeks, Passport to Honesty in Ötztal. (c) Tobias Lanzanasto

"When I first tried this route, I thought it would take me quite a long time to send it, as the jump felt hard, and climbing in the jumping position felt even harder, not to mention the boulder problem at the top. In my second session, however, I stuck the dyno, and in the third session, I did the whole route! What’s funny is that I never really intended to try this route, but as everything else was wet, I didn’t have much choice - and it turned out to be a pretty good decision!

Yet although rock climbing is very important to me, I kind of missed the excitement of competitions. I didn’t lay my focus on the bouldering competition of the Austrian Summer Series, but the problems suited me well, and I am really happy with my climbing and the result. Most importantly, I enjoyed competing and had so much fun trying hard on cool blocs. Seems like rock climbing is pretty good preparation for comps! ;-)"

It should be mentioned that Eva did beat several high profile boulderer like Petra Klinger in the Austria series and as a matter of a fact, she won both the qually and the semi.

Jan Hojer,who did his first 9a ten years ago (Action Directe), has done House of Shock in Frankenjura. "I checked it out at the end of a session a couple of weeks ago. It felt alright but I thought it might take me a little while. Today (two sessions later) I found myself clipping the chains."

How much comp training have you done lately and what about summer plans and comps?
The last two months I spent 80% of my sessions on rock. When I’m indoors I focus on hard board climbing. I might go to Céüse like everyone else. Other thann that I just see where the weather is good. Maybe I will compete in Briancon or not at all this year.