Martin Stráník, the boulder specialist who was #11 in the Lead WC in 2019, has done his ninth 8C, by the the FA of Iceberg in Moravský kras. "5 days of work, 16 hard moves without rest, amazing conditions and great jump into year 2020."

Alex Totkova and Niki Rusev, both from Bulgaria, have done Los ultimos vampiros hippies in Margalef. Totakova was the only one beating Oriane Bertone in a competition and she is currently working a 9a. Rusev finished 2019 by doing his second 8b+, Aitzol and he was too young to do any IFSC comps last year.

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Jonathan Guadalcazar has done the FA of Ataxia Hiperextension 9b in Crevillent which adds 15 meters to a 9a+ he did in October. The original Ataxia 9a, he did 20 months ago so it has been a long process linking the full 45 meter route.

1. Oriane Bertone -05 2. Chaehyeon Seo -03 3. Laura Rogora -01 4. Alberto Gines Lopez -02 5. Moritz Welt -01 6. Rei Kawamata -03 7. Ai Mori -03 8. Nika Potapova -03, 9. Loic Zehani -01, 10. Alex Totkova -05, Futaba Ito -02, Ema Seliskar -04, Zach Galla -00, Jan Vopat -03, Yuefei Pan -00, Lucka Rakovec -01, Natsuki Tanii -03, Yuetong Zhang -03, Mia Krampl -00, Hirano Natsumi -02, Ashima Shiraishi -01, Vita Lukan -00, Graham Owens -05, Sandra Lettner -01, Shuta Tanaka -00, Brooke Raboutou -01, Hidemasa Nishida -02, Nika Potapova - 03, Keita Doha -00, Sohta Amagasa -00, Ao Yurikusa -02, Junta Sekiguchi - 04, Lucija Tarkus - 03, Martina Demmel -01, Marketa Janosova -04, Angie Scarth-Johnson -04, Camilla Moroni -01, Clothilde Morin -00, Alice Tavola -00, Tesa Film -02, Kintana Iltis -03, Margot Bertone -05, Philipp Gassner -00, Peter Kuric -01, Leon Fraunholz -00, Ben Burkhalter -01, Clay Gordon -01, Kazuma Ise -02, Davide Carena -03, Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi -05, Cameron Hörst -00, Simon Weisser -00, Radek Votocek -01, Filip Schenk -00, Lukas Mayerhofer - 00,

The picture with aluminum covering wet holds is from a video. It seems this technique is quite known in limestone areas as it makes it possible to climb on partly wet routes. The aluminum mustn't be placed on any sandstone which can break when wet. When it comes to limestone, be careful and only cover solid rock. It is also important to take it out after you have climbed as it does not look nice and furthermore, the aluminum makes the rock dry slower. Littering is of course also a problem that must be avoided. In general, try to stay away from the technique but sure, being on a road trip it is a great way to have the possibility to finish your project.

Gabriela Vrablikova, who did her first 8c+ and 9a this year, has also done her first 8c, Corrida in Osp/Misja Pec. "I have fallen all the time from one move in the middle of the route (just above Rodeo). Once I did it, I climbed it to the top. Uncomfortable moves for me.. Many days.. maybe 14? So long!"

Stefano Ghisolfi, #2 in the World Cup 2018, has done his sixth 9b, Stoking the Fire in Santa Linya. "Wet holds and poor conditions, no excuses! Super happy, and motivated for the Direct version." (c) Sara Grippo Chris Sharma put it up in 2013 and later Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert and Sachi Amma have repeated it. Including Ghisolfi's ascent it is the second most repeated 9b after Fight or Flight with six ascents, FA also Chris Sharma. "I tried the route as soon as I came here.The first four days the weather was amazing and I tried the sections very well and I felt immediately comfortable. After the fourth day I realized that I could do it very fast and wanted to give some tries in the next days. It rained a lot, but I thought in the cave it should be possible to climb anyway but I was wrong, water poured and when it stopped raining outside it started to rain inside and it was very very wet. Most of the holds later dried but some of them were still pouring, so I dried them first and then protected them with aluminum paper."