NEWS

It was a correct decision to postpone the Olympics to 2021 and instead focus on global health. It will probably take long until everyone is out of their quarantine and we can start talking about comps again. From the athletes perspective, it just might be that some of them first will enjoy outdoors until they can start to prepare for the World Cups. Most probably, more World Cups will be postponed. The Olympic athletes just might take a long break from Speed and just pick it up some months before the Olympics 2021. When it comes to the Continental Championships, they just might be postponed until 2021 meaning that Oriane Bertone will have a chance as she will turn 16 next year.

Jupiter 8C FA by Mauricio Huerta
Mauricio Huerta, #10 in the WCH in Paris in 2012, has done his first 8C by the FA of Jupiter in Mineral del chico. "This boulder was cleaned and first tried by Diego Montull. Iโ€™ve worked on this project for 4 years, probably around 40 sessions, but I lost count. Most of them were night sessions so I could take advantage of the better conditions even if Mineral del Chico is not especially warm. The boulder is very crimpy and consists of 8 equally hard moves, which make it a power endurance problem in my opinion. I was able to do all moves on my second session, but it took me all this time to put together all of them."

SINGING ROCK upgraded sport climbing harness ROCKET
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4-Low 8C FA by Daniel Woods
Daniel Woods reports on Insta that he has done the FA of 4-Low 8C FA in Valle Bavona which originally was found and cleaned by Giuliano Cameroni and Jimmy Webb. It is a seven move 8B+ link into a six moves 8A+ and it took him three full sessions. Now he is back home and he has posted a strong message in regards to staying healthy and giving positive vibes to all doctors and nurses out there. (c) Kevin Takashi Smith "This was the last boulder I sent on my trip to Ticino. The last 10 days were some of the best climbing days of my life. Each day, the threat of Covid-19 grew and grew though. After sending this bloc at 1 a.m. I went to sleep just dreaming of all the hard blocs to come. Next day I woke up to news flashes that covid-19 had risen to 2500 cases, 20 min. from the small valley we lived in (1 hour from Milan). A travel ban was put on by the US (not for US citizens though), swiss police enforced social distancing in stores, swiss police were booting out all cars with foreign license plates (I had italian plates and would have to go back to Milan). These were all signs that told me to get the fuck out, so I did."

USA Today reports that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game will be postponed. Dick Pound said it is likely the Games would be postponed to 2021. Previously, IFSC has postponed all World Cups until the Boulder World Cup in Munich 25/5. However, it just might be that more World Cups will be postponed. It should also be mentioned that in many countries it is not allowed to visit a climbing gym or even go out rock climbing.

Illogical 8B by Isabelle Faus
Isabelle Faus has done her 25th 8B, Illogical in Scoop. (c) Chad Greedy "Climbs amazing!! Loved the moves on this one... Griffin put this up and I got the 2nd ascent. He thought it was harder than muscle car (v14) but it suited me pretty well so I'm not sure... time will tell for the grade on this one... Seems like a hard 8B to me." She has also done Mandlorian 8A+ and an 8A FA in a new area called Pine Cliff. In total, Isa has done 16 FAs 8A to 8B, meaning she is the female having done the most hard FAs in the world by a big margin. "Contender for the best in Colorado. Found and cleaned these awesome lines in the fall... 35 minutes from the road in the woods.... was here alone a lot and always had my knife in my hand haha."

Asagimadara 8C by Rei Kawamata (16)
Rei kawamata, who last year was #5 in the Moscow World Cup, has done his first 8C, Asagimadara in Mizugaki. Amazingly, the 16-year-old took it down in just 90 minutes.

Byakudo 8C by Nomura Shinichiro
Nomura Shinichiro has done his sixth 8C, Byakudo in Hourai. It took him nine days to do the Dai Koyamada problem consisting of 22 moves in a 150 degree roof. " As you know one finger holding has a huge risk of injury, at the same time it gives me a fear. So I usually hung on finger board by one finger to control the fear, and I climbed the routes I made for one finger training in Gym. Next I'll try Hallucination 8C and Off the Wagon Sit 8C+."