Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi, who did an 9a in 2018, has done the FA of Blue Line 8c in Geyik bayiri. "A line bolted by Mumin Karabas instead of Drop city (8c). Did it 3rd go, maybe 8c+. The crux is a boulder problem going through 9 mono crimps on a small overhang with approx. 7b+/c starting after the first pitch 6c+." The 15-year-old will stay in Turkey for one month with his parents. The last years they have been doing road trips like this 2 - 3 months a year. He has also started doing IFSC comps and last year he was #11 in bouldering and #17 in Lead in the Youth World Championship. "I've been homeschooling since the first grade, I only visited school for some small parts, starting with 5th grade, which could count as 2 years overall. My parents are working in IT, so they are working at home. I wanted to compete in the European cups, but since corona virus is rising up, we are thinking about rock climbing this year."

Mel Janse van Rensburg has done his first 8c+ after 14 days of projecting, Mazawattee in Montagu. Two years ago he did the second ascent of an 8c+ which he and others later have called 8c. "Mazawattee has been an incredible journey and to finally be able to do it is such an amazing feeling. Through this process I learnt a lot about, not only climbing, but also myself and the mental aspect of climbing, which will hopefully help me with my future projects. . Mazawattee is one of the best and definitely the hardest route I've done. 25m of steep, sustained sandstone climbing, what more could one ask for?"

New York Times has published a very long article about Adam Ondra. “My strategy is, no matter what, to win in lead,” Ondra said. “Which gives me almost certainly fourth, and most certainly third. I am quite aware that I am very likely the last in speed. And I have to know that, and not be disappointed in that.”

Martina Demmel, who started climbing in 2017 and within 15 months had onsighted her first 7c, has during the last three weeks done seven routes 8a+ to 8b+ second go or onsight. Her grade pyramid has a solid base on onsights up to 8b (and flashes in bouldering) so it is just a matter of time until she will push harder also in redpoint. In the 8a ranking game, the former skiracer is #2 in the onsight ranking game. An interview is coming up. On the pic by Ed Ru the 18-year-old is onsighting Meconi in Margalef. "The best tufa line I've ever done! Stemming, cuddling, battling, pinching and dancing around these two tufas;) kinda strange but a must-do!"

Most focus on physical training trying to get stronger and to get better endurance. Technical training is done on the run doing different boulder problems. At the same time, it is the mental training where you probably could have the biggest and easiest gains. Can you perform the best with your muscles and your technical repertoire when you need it the most in a competition or at the rock? How do you deal with anxiety and failure? Doing onsights are very stressful. One mistake and you missed that lifetime opportunity. Hanging under a crux not knowing which sequence to chose creates anxiety and possibly you will not give 100 %. Adam Ondra is the best onsight climber in the world at the same time he has done terribly bad often as he is climbing fast with no safety margin. Last month he showed a clip when he did fall on a 7a onsight as his foot slipped. Once you start accepting that failure is part of the game in climbing and that there is always one more onsight to try, your anxiety will drop and you will start instead enjoying being out on uncertain terrain. This means you will perform much better in the long run. It is about a mental thinking stage where you love doing challenges more than you love that grade or result in a competition. Onsight challenges can be created indoors also by combining different colors or adding some extra holds on routes that otherwise are without reach. Alternatively, you can climb old easier routes with one foot or skip some holds making up for being challenged by new sequences. Once you start loving solving new problems on the go, you have become mentally stronger and you will have more fun and climb harder :)

Lena Marie Müller has done Prinzip Hoffnung 8b/+ trad at Bürs. Previously, the 28-year-old, who is doing doctoral thesis is in climate change at Innsbruck University, had 8a+ on bolts and 8a on trad as her personal best. (c) Johannes Ingrisch "I went there the first time 6 weeks ago and checked out all the moves and gear on toprope. After sending it on toprope, I did some long falls into the gear to get more comfortable. In the end, I did it on my third lead go, falling the first time before the crux section and the second time at the very end of it. On the third go I was lucky enough to get through the insecure moves. I tried it together with Johannes Ingrisch who send it a few days before me. We almost always went to Bürs by train to climb it with a carbon footprint as low as possible." More info on her Insta

Solveig Korherr, who last November did her first two 8c+' in Red River Gorge, has done Combifetis 8c in Margalef. In the 8a ranking game she is #1. (c) Jon Shen "I was not sure if the pocket style here would fit me but I quickly found out that it did play to my strengths as there are many intermediate holds and foot options here. I had a rather successful first week. I managed to dispatch Via del Quim (8b+) in a single day and Aitzol (8b+) in two days, as well as make several other 8a+ and 8a onsights. I then set my goal on finding an 8c/+ project. This happened to be Combifetis, which consists of about 20 moves of very sustained climbing on small holds without a rest. It feels like the most difficult 8c that I have done. As for the rest of 2020, we still have about three weeks in Spain. I am generally looking to consolidate the 8c and 8c+ grade in different styles and rock types as I have only done a handful of them."

At the same time we see more and more 9a's being recorded in the 8a database, onsights 8b+ and harder are getting rarer. During the last eight years, 411 insights 8b+ to 9a have been registered which can be compared to just 12 such onsights the last year. One reason for this is that Adam Ondra, with a total of 173 onsights 8b+ to 9a, and other competition climbers have been climbing less outdoors the last year as they are focusing on the Olympics. As regards the female, we can see a similar trend and as a matter of a fact, only Martina Demmel has recorded an 8b onsight in the 8a database, Pati pa mi, the last year.

Matt Fultz, who did his first 8C ten months ago, has done his eigth, Dreamtime in Cresciano. The 28-year-old is #3 in the ranking game and based of his trend diagram he could be #1 in six months but then he needs to also step up to 8C+.

Piotr Schab, who just did his ninth 9a+, has onsighted two 8b+', Los Humildes pa Casa. and The King Lizard in Oliana. Including nine 8c onsights, the Pole should be considered as one of the very best onsight climbers in the world. (c) Toni Mas Muchaca During the last week, Piotr has also done two 8c+' and he is #3 in the 8a ranking game.