Michael Piccolruaz has made his dream qualifying to the Olympics in Tokyo 2021. "Well, it means a lot to me!!! I've obviously been dreaming about this for a long time now! Even though it has a slightly bitter aftertaste because I know that this comes unexpectedly now and maybe it's not the fairest solution, especially for my teammates who were still training hard and were willing to fight for the last spot at the European champs, I'm really happy I got this spot! Every athlete knows the amount of work there was and is put behind this, and too few get lucky enough to be rewarded eventually. So I' am just super glad to be one of those few!"

Jakob Schubert reports on Insta that he has made the second repeat, after Adam Ondra, of Alex Huber's Weisse Rose in Schleier Wasserfalle from 1994. "Austria is making good progress fighting the virus and consequently we are allowed to climb outside again. Still keeping it to a minimum but it feels so good to crimp hard on rock after all the pull ups and backyard training." Huber called it XI (8c+/9a) at the time but Adam said it was a solid 9a and maybe even 9a+. (c) Alpsolut pictures

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Doing scary high balls, solo climbing or trad ascents with poor gear are part of some climbers' lifestyle. Luckily very seldom such climbing accidents occur. As rock climbing is starting up in some parts of the world at the same time as there is high pressure in the hospitals, it is recommended to minimize risks during climbing. In any case, publishing videos showing dangerous climbing might create a backlash for the whole climbing community in the current situation, as it might look irresponsible for the mainstream media. Experienced climbers could also keep an eye on outdoor beginners that try will try out rock climbing for the first time. Rock climbing should be a relatively safe sport when it comes to social distancing etc. However, we also need to show authorities and the public that it is safe in regards to injuries, etc.

Stefan Scherz, who won the Lead and Combined Euro Champ and was runner-up in Boulder last year, has done his first 9a, Kraftplatzl in Berglsteiner See. "6 sessions. 4th try of the day after falling 3 times at the last move like an idiot. rained all day so it was pretty humid. first in this grade. SOO PSYCHED!" (c) Florian Murnig The day after, the 18-year-old did The Source 8c+ in Zillertal. "WOW. 1 day, 4 tries. did the jump beta. Kingline! it felt like i was climbing in a dream. sendtrain is on. Yesterday Kraftplatzl, today this gem. living the dream. The last few weeks, I tried to stay fit by doing some power and mobility exercises, which seemed to have worked out pretty well. Now, as the situation in Austria gets more relaxed, i decided to have a few rock days."

Adam Ondra has done the FA of Bohemian Rhapsody in Roviste which is is #41 9a+. "The longest and hardest linkup in this beautiful granite area. Climbing wise absolutely amazing." (c) Martin Pelikan In total, the 27-year-old has now recorded 174 routes 9a and harder. Without all his personal down gradings, he has done close to 200 routes originally graded 9a.

IFSC reports that Anouck Jaubert from France and Michael Piccolruz from Italy have qualified to Tokyo 2021 as they were #11 and #14 in Hachioji WCH last year and as there were no tripartite allocations. According to the rule, the quotas had to be assigned before March 30 without taking into consideration that the Moscow Combined Euro Championship has been postponed to October. This means that France and Italy have filled their female and male quota. In other words, Fanny Gibert and Stefano Ghisolfi can not make it even if they win in Moscow. (c) Eddie Fowke The Tripartite idea is to allow athletes from minor Olympic countries to qualify. The only criteria were to participate in the Combined WCH but this info was not spread around and no athlete from a minor Olympic nation made the criteria. Zàhéér Ahmád from Pakistan got an invitation from IFSC who paid part of his ticket but they did not mention the tripartite possibility so he participated in just two disciplines and lost the Olympic dream. In theory, if Fanny Gibert had won in Moscow in March, Anouck had not gotten the tripartite allocation and instead Di Niu from China had made it to Tokyo, unless Yue Tong Zhang had filled their quota in the Asian CH. In theory, Jernej Kruder from Slovenia and Ievgeniia Kazbekova from Ukraine could also have gotten the Olympic ticket if all results went their way.

Stephan Schibli, who started climbing in 1989 has made the FA of Frittenbude 9a in Ibergeregg. The picture is from another route. "Since I couldn't go to Bleau because of the border closings, I was able to send the route. Holidays are often project killers, since a week of vacation means 3 weeks of absence in the project. I was able to climb the lower part of Fritierte Neutronen (8c+) in 2011. At that time I had no solutions for the upper part. Last year I figured if I wanted to climb the route I should start slowly. I found the solution for the lower key train again in late autumn. Thanks to the early spring and the dry weather, I was able to get into the route regularly this year, which made the climb possible."

Based on a poll with almost 1 000 unique votes, Who is the male climbing legend? Wolfgang Güllich, who made the FA of Action Directe 9a and who also was the first to do 8b, 8b+ and 8c, got most votes. 30 % Wolfgang Güllich 22 % Chris Sharma 20 % Adam Ondra 12 % Fred Nicole 05 % Yuji Hirayama 03 % Alex Honnold 09 % Other (Alex Huber, Alex Megos and David Graham most mentioned)

Gymclimber has presented an interesting interview with Adam Ondra not just reflecting on climbing. In any case, here are some of his thoughts on climbing and improvement. (c) Alvaro Susena captures Ondra's flexibility. "Flexibility in climbing is totally underestimated by most of the people. And it’s actually one of my key ingredients in climbing." "People think of climbing in too physical a way. For sure, it’s very important. Just by climbing, you will improve physically. But I think most people just don’t climb on the level they might be able to climb physically because they just don’t climb well enough." "I like climbing with perfection and I think on the way to get there being open-minded helps a lot. Because even if you have the best coach in the world, if you are not able to reflect on your own climbing based on your own feelings, it is really hard to be the best."