Oriane Bertone, living in Reunion outside Madagascar, has been in quarantine near Fontainbleau and have not seen her twin sister, Margot, and mother since two months. Together with her father Stefano and brother Max the plan was to do the French Youth Boulder Championship and continue projecting her first 8C in Fontainebleau when the lock-down started. Stefano reports he thinks they all got Covid-19, from a supermarket, a month ago but without any major impact. "Our friends have a very good private wall that allows us to keep the level, until May 11 when we hope to be allowed to go out again on the projects started before the confinement. Oriane was very well on 2 or 3 hard (or very hard) boulders :-). We also manage to climb in a private little sector, which is not prohibited. Oriane and Max alternate bouldering sessions and resistance training, by doing circuits on the private wall. On the rest days, we try to go outside around the house to do some exercises and stretching. The rest of the time, the children do their homework and we connect on a video call with Margot, who climbs on our wall in Reunion Island. So I can see and encourage her." They do not know when they will be able to fly back home and possibly they will stay the whole summer in Europe and if so, the plan is to have the twin sister Margot joining them. The twist of the situation is if also the Euro (Olympic qualification) Championship in October is postponed to 2021, Oriane might have a chance to qualify to Tokyo, as she turns 16 the next year. Last year, Oriane won all Youth competitions but one she entered, and she also managed to challenge some of the best seniors. At age 12, she did her first 8B+ and she is #3 in the 8a ranking game.

Ledauphine.com reports that four equippers in Verdon di get caught by the police last week violating bolting and stay at home restrictions. First the police found static ropes and later they were caught in action equipping new routes.

IFSC reports that the European Championship in Moscow, with two slots to the Olympics, has been reschedueled to take place 1 - 8 of October. It was first scheduled in March and later in June. It should be noted that the day after the finals in Moscow, the Xiamen Lead World Cup starts. In other words, directly after the finals, the athletes have to jump on a two legs 13 hours over night travel to Xiamen. As there is a five hours different time zone, the first climbers will probably climb around 05.00 Moscow time.

Christof Rauch has done the FA of Total Blackout in Zillertal, meaning he has now done eleven 8C. Quite impressive as he is working full time. (c) Thomas Lindinger "A dream came true! For sure the hardest line in my home valley and a real power-endurance testpiece! Started the journey 5 years ago with the FA of Nussknacker sit (8B+). Back then the start from further left wasn‘t possible due to a lot of stuck driftwood. Last year most of the driftwood was finally gone. I put away the rest and found some perfectly shaped holds. After two sessions I did the FA of Black Water (8A+) but linking this into Nussknacker wasn't realistic at that time because of a lack of fitness after my finger injury. Nevertheless I was willing to put in the necessary work. I did a few sessions last autumn and a few more this spring. From the middle of March till the middle of April there was no climbing at all, in Tyrol we were not allowed to leave our town and we wer only allowed to leave the house for important things. After that the restrictions got a little less and I was able to climb again in my home areas. In that month of no climbing I trained at home on some fingerboards."

Matilda Söderlund, who did her first 9a this fall, reports on her Insta that she has done her first 8B, Armstrong assis in Nockeby outside Stockholm. (c) Måns Gullgren Including also two 8b+ flashes, three 8b onsights as well as being #6 in the Lead World Champion in 2012, Matilda is one of the best multi-discipline female sport climbers in the history. The 27-year-old holds a Master's degree in BA from the highest-ranked university in Sweden.

Stefan Wulf has done the FA of The Way of the Postman 8c in Kungshamn. "Since the virus broke out I've had more time to train hard and to work my long time projects. This was one of them a route close to my house near Kungshamn. Solid Bohuslän rock with a beautiful setting right by the ocean. The route is my style of climbing. Not that steep but technical, crimpy and powerful with precision footwork. It took me about 20 tries over 2 years. And in the end, persistence wins!" (c) Petter Ulmert The 49-year-old is enjoying all disciplines including big wall in Yosemite as well as bouldering up to 8A and trad up to 8b. His next project is an 8b+ trad FA which he has been working for 2-3 years now.

IFSC reports that the three World Cups in Villars, Chamonix and Briancon scheduled to take place in July have been postponed. "According to the plan released on April 6, a decision about the IFSC Youth World Championships in Voronezh (RUS) – the only IFSC competition provisionally scheduled in August –is due to be taken within June 1st."