Marine Thevenet was an active IFSC competition climber for ten years starting from 2004, being 15-years old. Since 2007, she did 15 Lead World Cups and Championships and her worst result was #29. In 2014, she did her only full Boulder World Cup and she was #7 overall. In total, the lawyer working full time, has done 47 boulders in the 8th grade out of which 20 of them in the last 12 months, including her first 8B, Nuthin' but Sunshine in RMNP. (c) Clément Lechaptois "So I started when I was 10 mostly in the gym and I competed a lot. Honestly, I don’t know why climbing became my sport and my passion. Before that, as a child, I tried other sports. But since my first days of climbing until now, there was no place for other sports and hobbies. Maybe because of my climbing friends; the fact that we spent our summer holidays climbing together and that is possible only with outdoor sports. Last five years I was more focused on rock climbing. After the world championship in Bercy, I felt that I have no longer my place in the competition and that was less funny as it could have been before. So I decided to keep climbing outside. About training... I always liked to train! My years as a competitor learned me how to establish a training plan. I tried each year to focus on a weakness and to keep doing the things that I love (hold crimps in panels!) My motivation is to make progress; at least to try the lines that make me dream. It is easy for me to be motivated since most of the time I spot Clément on dreaming lines so I always discover amazing boulders! I have a very busy work; so during the week, I can only train in gyms. I climb outside during the weekends only. I try to take advantage of the lockdown to rest. In the first two weeks, I didn’t do anything. A little bit of yoga; but I just rested. Now, I do some smartboard training and I tried new stuff: Yoga and Stretching! The things that I always wanted to try but I was always too busy. The important thing for me is to respect the security measures and to stay at home. I am not worried at all about the fact to stop training/climbing during months; I will climb later.

Lucho Birkner, Mateo Barrenengoa and Matias Fuentes, three Chilean climbers joined by the Surinamese guide Julio De Rooy has opened the first sport climbing crag of Surinam in Ebba Top mountain. They opened several sport climbing routes, one traditional multi-pitch line and some boulders in the time they were there, but they said the potential is huge for all these disciplines and all levels. The objective of introducing rock climbing in this amazing country was also to give a tool to the villages at the Saramacca river to help these African people to fight against the forestals and miners whit out the necessity of cutting any trees. They also build an artificial boulder wall in the Boslantie Village to promote the motivation for the kids who live next to these rocks as they also teach them and gave them the sport climbing equipment necessary to climb on their own. At the same time, they help to build the first climbing gym in the city of Paramaribo. Whit this we can say now that Surinam is on the rock climbing map and that all the adventurers who want to have a jungle experience climbing and setting new routes are welcome.

Together with a group of influential leaders and experts within the indoor climbing industry, Vertical-Life has decided to draw up a strategy outline that is intended to be the basis for gyms to safely transition from the current lockdown. Although there are different, country-specific degrees of lockdown, it can be estimated that sports facilities throughout Europe, and especially indoor sports facilities, should be prepared for being subjected to even longer periods of closure. The goal must be drawing up a strategic plan and workable solutions that will make it easier for the national authorities to evaluate the reopening of climbing gyms. Read the first outline for a strategic plan of action here. We’re open to any feedback, questions and input!

James Webb has posted two second ascents from last month in Ticino. Poison the Well 8C+ in Brione put up by Giuliano Cameroni and Roadkill 8C in Valle Bavona put up by Shawn Raboutou. In total, James has now done five 8C+' and 20 8C' out of which 2 + 8 just the last 12 months. Daniel Woods is #1 in this ranking with close to 30 boulders 8C and harder. "Covid has definitely kept me from climbing. I've been doing some hangboard workouts and now I'm in the process of building a Kilterboard on the back porch." On Insta, (c) Kevin Takahashi Smith, James has some further comments on the Covid-19 situation. "After putting in a good amount of effort last season it felt so damn good to come back and finish it up. Huge fist bump to my amico @giuliano_cameroni for establishing this test piece. Giul has always been one of the best climbers I’ve ever met, and his drive and motivation towards pushing the limit of our sport is something I respect so much. Cheers homie, you’re a legend."