Niki Rusev, who just did his first 8c, has done his fourth 8b+, Storm in Bojenica. (c) Ivan Totev Interestingly, all his 8b+ he did just the last three months and amazingly he lives 150 km from the nearest climbing gym. Anyhow, he trains four days a week, mainly with Alex Totkova. One day they go to the rock together with the coach Faza and other friends. "I like to climb because that's the only thing that makes me happy. I have not favorite subject at school. Yes, I play some games, but they make me bored. I am having fun, only when I'm climbing. Now I train hard and prepare for the upcoming competitions and I hope to achieve what I want. When we can't go to Sofia. I run in the forest and do little cross-fit or we go to a fitness gym. They have a small boulder with a campus but that is not enough."

Alberto Gines Lopez (17) finished his Youth A season 2019 by getting four bronzes in the World and Euro Championships. The next month, competing with the seniors in Lead, he got a silver in the Euro CH and was 3 - 5 - 2 in the World Cup. This made him #2 overall at the same time he qualified for the Olympic qualifying event where he got his ticket to Tokyo. The fairy tale finished with Adam Ondra asking him to come and train with him as a preparation for the Olympics. It should be mentioned that Alberto was #7 in his Lead World Cup debut in 2018 in Arco. As he three weeks later, was #5 in the Youth Lead WCH among the 16-year-olds, a side story can be that the juniors are picking up and that more fairy tales are coming up in 2020. Remember that Ao Yurikusa and Hajime Takeda did beat him in the Combined Youth World Championships and that Hidemasa Nishida and Colin Duffy did the same in Lead as well as five guys in Boulder.

Monique Forestier sent Tiger Cat 8c in Blue Mountains in 2014 being 42-years-old. The film was shown as part of the Women's Adventure Film Tour last year.

Nemesis from Simon Carter on Vimeo.

Iker Pou did put up Artaburo in 2018 but he did not give it a grade. Now he says it is either 9b or 9b+ meaning it is potentially the sixth hardest route in the world. He bolted it in 2012 and tried it every year and frequently the last three years. ©Jordi Canyi "It's been over a year since I sent Artaburu. At that moment I felt that it was a very difficult route, the most difficult thing I had ever done and on the route that more time and never invested. I didn't feel like giving it a specific degree, for me it's not important, I wanted people to try it for its uniqueness and beauty and not for its degree. But this seems impossible today, people only notice the number and not the lines. The line is above 9a+, so encourage people to try it, "Artaburu" is brutal!!!"

Drew Ruana, who just did his first 8C+, has done The Next 8C in Red Rocks. "Today I went by myself. I worked it with my friend Nathan Williams every other session. He got really close. It is like an hour if you walk fast, and maybe an hour 15-30min with crash pads." Very nice video from the send. In the Combined World Championship, Drew was #13 meaning he will most likely get to Tokyo through the Tripartite ticket if a Canadian qualifies from the PanAmerican Championship. "That was the only good comp I had last year and still I messed up in every round a bit. Either way, I am happy because if I do not get the Tripartite I can just keep climbing outside. After a while of getting unlucky every comp I got tired of it and wanted to just go outside... and here I am. " What about structured training and how is it organized? By myself. I know what works for my body and mind at this point. The last time was in December for three weeks and I probably will again in early April. Lot's of strength training in the weight room after sessions. Lots of limit bouldering and power endurance exercises. I campus boulders but I don't campus hang boards. (c) Alexander Sway

Iker Pou, who did his first 9a in 2000 with Action Directe, has done the FA of La Nave de los Locos 9a in Mallorca, which was bolted by José Luis Palao. "It has 25 meters very collapsed of pure resistance with holes, tufas, and crimps, where it stands out for being the hardest, several extreme movements one finger pocket. A route therefore very varied from which Iker gets his first ascent." © N.Colom "The route I did in 6 days more or less if I remember correctly. Usually, I did very few indoor training, I training directly trying the routes and climbing outside on the rocks. Always I'm looking around for new projects and bolting new routes. When I'm at home and not in expeditions, I love to search for new projects and try it hard. I love rock climbing!!! When is bad weather I like indoor bouldering if the boulder area is nice." In 2018, Iker did the FA of Artaburu 9b (+). Including also several 8B+ boulders, multi-pitches up to 8c and big walls in all seven continents, the 42-year-old has one of the most impressive tick lists in the world.

Drew Ruana, #13 in the Combined World Championship, has done his first 8C+, Sleepwalker in Red Rocks, which was put up by Jimmy Webb one year ago, video. (c) Cameron Hörst "I just dialed all the moves perfectly before considering redpoint attempts. I did it on my 4th rp try today but I made sure over the last seven days before that I could do all the sections perfectly each session. I was going for "low points" and yesterday did it from the 2nd move to the top which gave me confidence." The boulder is like 50-55 degrees overhanging and with three pads stacked Drew was able to work all the hard moves. Drew has previously said that his focus is not the Olympics and he was not selected to participate in the Continental Championship. However, if a Canadian gets the spot, Drew is likely to get the Tripartite ticket, based on his WCH result.

Stefano Ghisolfi comes with bad news on his Facebook. "Attention! Very bad news... The crag Laghel, the hardest crag in Italy and possibly one of the hardest in the world (with the King Line Project, a possible 9c, and few other extreme routes), is on a private ground. We already knew it but nobody ever complained and everything was going fine, the owner used to know about the crag and used to let us climb. But last month, the owner came to the crag and "kindly" told us to stop climbing and go away from her ground, so we went immediately away." They will try to find a solution and ask for suggestions about what to do? Such problems are getting more frequent around the globe and will most likely increase in the future.

117 James Webb USA (2 last year) 61 Daniel Woods USA (0) 44 Adam Ondra CZE (0) 31 Paul Robinson USA (4) & Matt Fultz USA (7) 30 Gabri Moroni ITA (2) 27 Jan Hojer GER (0) & Daniel Fong USA 27 (2) 25 Jernej Kruder SLO (1) 24 Thilo Schröter NOR (9) & Mark Heal USA (0) Above are the ranking of the active 8a members, measuring 8A and harder flashes in total. James Webb has flashed almost double as many 8A and harder as the runner up Daniel Woods, who has almost flashed double as many as Adam Ondra. Interestingly, is that the last 12 months, most of the best have actually almost stopped flashing 8A and harder, see ascents in brackets.