Over 20 000 climbers have answered the Vertical-Life, "Restart Climbing Survey". Overall, 95 percent of the climbers would like to climb at the gym again, for 60 percent specific measures are a prerequisite for this. Only 5 percent would not feel safe. The majority of climbers would agree with the proposed measures. There is a high willingness to adhere to hand hygiene measures (98%), to have body temperature measured at the entrance (91%), to refrain from using changing rooms (88%) and showers (75%), and to agree to fewer routes and boulders (81%). A large proportion would also be willing to wear a mask (65%). However, only half of all climbers would want to climb in a restricted, assigned area.

Martina Demmel has directly after the lockdown done her first four 8c's including a second go ascent of Rood Warrior in Frankenjura. (c) Moritz Welt "My boyfriend lives in Erlangen in the Frankenjura where I stayed as well as the last few weeks and we only went to the not that crowded crags and only the closest to his home. So now it's already allowed again to move around in Germany but not in groups, so if you rather go to the not that famous areas and take care of yourself it's not forbidden to go rockclimbing. Just a few minutes away from my home, I also spent some time climbing together with family members over the last weeks. The next weeks, I'm gonna spent some more time in Franken and at my local crags because lots of projects are waiting there and hopefully the borders to at least Austria gonna open soon for the hot summer days." More comments on her ascents, also including four 8b+', on her Insta. Just before the crises, the 18-year-old was in Spain where she did 12 second go ascents of 8a+ to 8b+ routes.

Noé Looser has done her first 8c, Siesta in Vättis, "after three weeks of fun on the route. The 35 m and very steep routes includes many dynamic and long moves challenging the 148 cm tall and 13-year-old. She lives in eastern Switzerland and started rock climbing at age nine. Two years later she did Skyline 8b in Bürs, Austria. This was followed by alpine multi-pitch routes up to 7c+ in the Kreuzbergen and Rätikon. Last month she did Euphorie 8b+in Voralpsee in just a few attempts. How have you been able to stay fit during the lockdown and what is next? (asking her father) In the lockdown, she did strength training, stretching, jogging, yoga, and trained on the self-built campus board. Next, she wants to climb, climb, and climb again.

Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen and Tim Reuser have done Cannibal Corpse 8B+ in Arena. For Tim it was his fourth 8B+, out of which the third in 2020. Michiel has previously done 16 8B+'s and 8C's.

Tim: Used the jump beta. Same difficulty as the heel hook beta in my opinion. It depends on the friction of the crimp and your personal preference.
Michiel: During the lockdown, we had to be creative. Besides the pull-ups and hangboarding, and occasional setting and testing. We climbed a lot at Blok op Zuid, an artificial bouldering blok in Rotterdam. with problems up to 8B. In the Netherlands, we were allowed to go out. But the gyms had to be closed.

Melissa Le Neve reports on Insta that she has done Christian Bindhammer's Bionic Commando 8c+ in Bavaria and it took some 7 sessions. (c) Fabi Buhl "I was lucky to be in Bavaria (Germany) and there was no lockdown like in France, Spain or Italy. Only some social restrictions and hygiene measures. There is plenty of crags so the important thing is to keep social distancing and if somebody is already trying the route you want to try you bail and you find a plan b. Melissa is one of the best multi-discipline climber having also done 8B+ boulder, 8b+ MP. The 30-year-old finished her competition career in 2016 being #3 in the Boulder World Cup. Lately she has started up a work as a trainer and currently, she trains some high profile climbers like Matilda Söderlund. "Well I’m keen to train motivated persons to reach their goals outside or in competition. I believe that training is like a chess game where you need to bet on a pass and see the result. With Matilda it works super well so far!"

Pierre Délas, running Fanatic Climbing, reports in french that based on a rockfall accident in France 2010, the isurance compnay of the French federation has been ordered to pay 1.5 million to a climber. Because of this, the federation now disclaims its responsibility in climbing accidents. "Now the opinion of the federation is to forward the responsibility to local authorities like cities, departments or regions. The problem here is that the French federation has since the 80's written conventions with owners and local authorities saying they were assuming the risks. Note with this decision of the french federation the development and preservation of french crags seem unclear and worrying for the future. The rockclimbing community is anxious. In my article, I have given some possible perspectives. 1: The will of french federation forward responsibility to local authorities. 2: Change the law for having responsibility for the climber. 3: Having a deal between all federations for finding a solution. 4: Create a new organism for delivering climbing permits and insurance. 5: Witnessing situations in other countries and taking some influences. 6: As rock climber be less consumer and more actor. Be more responsible and act for rock preservation and development Pierre and the whole french climbing community see a risk that some private landowners now will close their crags as they do not want to take the responsibility for accidents due to rock falls or rusty bolts. It should be mentioned that in many parts of the world, like in Sweden, it is assumed that you climb on your own risk. The landowner has no responsibility for activities on their land just like when somebody is skiing or hiking on their land. However, when there are organized activities, it is the commercial company or the club that has the responsibility.

Fanatic Climbing has published a full length interview with the Mawev brothers who both have qualified to the Olympics. (c) Julia Cassou To sum up: No trainer, no plan, no gym training... just climb, climb, climb... and doing pull-ups. Bassa #2 in Speed WCH 2018 I’m not an athlete who trains many times a day. I’m not a professional climber and I don’t have the time, I need to work too. Moreover, I like training just once in a day, most of the time from noon to 5 pm. I start my training with a one-hour warm-up then a one 1 pm, I start climbing hard. And then, I climb, I climb, I climb, I climb, I climb, I climb until I have no more skin on my fingers, no more nails, or have muscle cramps. And I hydrate, eat and sleep well which prevents this kind of problem. So if I begin to have muscle cramps during my training, that is because I have pushed beyond my limits. That’s when I know my training session is over. In a week, my schedule is simple. I do as I said before, and I repeat it Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I push very hard at each training session to let it be the most efficient as possible. So train 20 hours a week where I just climb and in addition to that, I will doing 2 hours of daily yoga soon. It will start next week but I’m not in a hurry to start Yoga! (Laugh)." Michael - #1 Euro Boulder CH 2019 My coach? It’s Bassa! He coordinates and plans my training. But about exercises, we work together on it. For the organization, he’s the boss! For us, sessions are created by cycles, we function with repetition. We are telling that training is exactly like trying a difficult boulder problem. We are telling that exactly the same thing and you progress when you repeat and repeat until to feel well. So that the same process about training exercises, we practice it and repeat it until it’s ok and after we find another exercise.

Babsi Zangerl reports on Insta that she has done Unleashed 8c+ and Instructor 8c+/9a in Bregenzerwald. The latter is 45 m long and it was bolted by Jürgen Höfle. Jacopo Larcher did get the FA and also the picture. "I was curious to hop on this 45m monster line! It was all about trying as hard as I can!!! This is a line I am very proud of, I am not really good in steep climbing but investing some hard work/obsession really paid off. Thanks for the inspiration Jacopino!!! We trained at home for one month! We got a training setup from evolution climbing... and combined hang boarding campusing and some core training... but luckily we were allowed to climb on rock soon. So we were quite lucky compared to many other countries. Anyway, I think we all have to use our common sense (like social distancing, avoiding crowded crags) as climbers, as none of us want to go back into lockdown." Barbara Zangerl is a contender for being the best female rock climber out there. Until 2009, the Austrian was one of the best female boulderer until she stopped due to an herniated vertebral disc. In routes, she has now done four routes 8c+/9a or 9a and in multi-pitches and big-walls she is totally superior out of the female.