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.

Fanatic Climbing reports that hugo parmentier has done the first repeat of Adam Ondra's Eagle-4 9b in St-Léger du Ventoux. The 20-year-old, who has eight podiums in IFSC youth comps, has tried it regurarly the last six months. "THE battle came to an end. 5trips 23days on 5month. Incredible sequence on mini tufas. 2 hard boulder problems in a row making it spicy with the pump. Long and risky finish with only two hard jump moves. Not the line you're looking at first but finally the traverse line is mega. Thanks Elie" Fanatic Climbing has the full length interview where he among other things says; "I would say it’s 2 boulder sections with 2 goods holds between for clipping the draw and for taking a breathe. It’s more or less an 8B boulder into an 8A+. The route is very resistant. Around 18 moves for the hands and an extreme footwork too." (c) Aurèle Brémond

I do not like slash grades as a difficulty rarely can be so accurate for the whole community. Furthermore, detailed grades just make them more important. Luckily, few climbs have slash grades but for some reason, there are relatively many graded 8c+/9a. Almost all of them were originally 9a's but which later have been subject to being downgraded due to many have set personal best on them. For some reason, other downgrades mean normally a full grade down. Escalade9 has ranked the most popular 8c+/9a and harder and interestingly, ten out of the Top-18 is currently listed as 8c+/9a. Noteworthy is also that almost all hardcore slash grades are found in Spain. Anoher interesting fact is that once the routes have been given a slash grade, they normally become less popular.

Join Vertical-Life and contribute to exciting, innovative projects If you’re a dedicated visual designer and have always dreamed of combining your passion for climbing with your profession, living in a place surrounded by mountains and crags – grab this opportunity and send your application to [email protected]. More info. Responsibilities Design inspiring graphics for both digital and print. As our visual designer, you’ll create compelling visual experiences, develop campaigns, and design layouts that reinforce our brand’s style. You will be working closely together with our Marketing, Sales and Product teams. Required skills - Strong and flexible skills in visual and graphic design - Experience with brand design - In-depth knowledge of typography, layout, color, and image selection - Thorough understanding of our brand’s purpose, business mission, and customer needs - Ability to refine ideas to create a highly designed visual experience, following our design guidelines - Well organized, with the ability to work on multiple projects and deliver refined design in a short time - Able to work in a fast evolving environment - Proficient use of Adobe CC applications (Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) - Preferably experienced in animation and motion design - Preferably experienced in UX and interaction design Join our team in Bressanone, Dolomites, Northern Italy, and apply now: [email protected].

Adam Ondra has taken some days off from his hard Olympic training regime and onsigthed seven routes 8b and 8b+' in Croatia. He also did redpoint, All in, I'm out in Kompanj giving it a personal 8c+ upgrade, commenting, "I believe if this route is 8c, all Kompanj must be downgraded, amazing route." Adam is known for being the hardcore climber in the world giving most personal grades, although most are downgrades. In total, he has now onsighted 324 routes 8b to 9a, using his personal grades, meaning he is actually much more superior onsighting compared to redpoint. Ramon Julian Puigblanque is the potential #2 in this onsight category with 85 onsights 8b and harder.

Hamish Mcarthur, #2 and #5 in the Youth World Boulder and Lead Championships last year, has done two 8c+/9a's in Siurana in just two sessions each; Jungle Speed and A Muerte. Amazingly, the previous best for the 17-year-old was 8a. "I never really get the chance to climb on rocks due to school, training and where I live, so I went into the trip with a big tick list but few expectations. I hadn't lead outdoors in over a year and my previous hardest grade was 8a due to lack of trying anything harder. So after an easy first day, to get on an infamous 8c+/9a "jungle speed" and send it within 2 sessions came as a bit of a surprise. Maybe it was just a fluke? After celebrating for new years I took a much needed rest day (a lot of climbing and dancing) before heading out to try "a muerte" as recommended to me by Will Bosi. Similarly to jungle speed, this too falls between 8c+ and 9a so a quick ascent of this (also with 2 sessions) solidified that it wasn't fluke and training on plastic really can get you strong for rock! I have some big goals for 2020, alongside A levels I plan to compete in junior and senior international competitions. I hope to make another podium at the Youth European and World Championships (preferably gold this time...) as well as make my first final at a senior world Cup. After the comp season I plan on getting back on some international rock to find a project and hopefully send some more classic, hard lines!"

Matt Fultz has done his sixth and hardest 8C, The Game in Boulder Canyon."V15/16 seems fair, especially for my height. So stoked!" (c) James Lucas It was put up ten years ago by Daniel Woods calling it 8C+. However, later he returned and thought it was 8C due to some holds seemed to have gotten bigger, due to brushing, creating a new sequence. Last week, the 183 cm tall flashed his second 8B, Iron Resolution 8B. Interesting is that Matt (28) has had his best year by far the last 12 months and he is #3 in the ranking game. The 28-year-old has had an almost continuous progress the last ten years and if this will continue, he just might be #1 before we turn 2021.