Alizée Dufraisse, who previoulsy has done two 9a's, has done Meadowlark Lemon Stand 8B (A+) in Red Rocks. (c) Dave Graham "I am happy because it is a very beautiful boulder. It means for me that I can continue harder and try the sit start (8B+), which is definitely the inspiring line. It is a fragile boulder, so I did not had the chance to do a lot of sessions on it, but it seems the weather will be on our side for the end of the trip.

Vadim Timonov who just did his sixth 8C, The Kingdom has done Fred Nicole's classical Dreamtime 8C (B+) in Cresciano. (c) Leo Zhukov "I spent three sessions. The first was wet but I did all the moves. The second was good, I was so close but heel hook moves were not stable. The third session was good. 2nd go from the start. In my opinion, it’s a normal 8C. The Kingdom was easier for me. Tomorrow I want to try Off The Wagon. I have time until the 15th of January. I don’t have a house after the 18th of December and don’t have plans. Maybe we will leave to Murgtal or Fontainebleau, or stay here in the car if we can’t find something ;)

"Why I don't believe Said Belhaj's ascent of Action Directe." is the headline of Huch's article. Now on Insta he has changed his mind into, " I only proclaimed my reasonable doubts about Said and Action Directe". If you only have "reasonable doubts" should you really go out in public sharing your opinion with the whole climbing world, finishing the article with "How dare you?" Should you write, "I just couldn't believe that someone is lying directly into my face. BUT..." As there was a quote from our email conversation in July, in the Huch article, I just quote how he finished his first email to me. "I know that this accusation is very serious." It should also be said that I was Said's coach as he was a teenager. We are good friends and he still refers me to as, "Coach". I have belayed him on one of his 8c+ FA, still unrepeated. Dani Andrada tried it but could not do all moves. (I trust Dani 100 % nevertheless.) We thought it would be best that another more independent media should publish his story. Said is a true lifestyle climber traveling almost non-stop meeting up with different people in the world.

Brian Weaver did belay Said Belhaj when he started projecting AD and he is backing him up in the 8a forum as also other climbers have done. "I was with Said in May when he was working AD. At that point he was already linking good sections together easily enough. At that time it was 25°-30° and he had only been trying a few sessions. By the time he sent it, he had been working it for another 6 weeks before his trip to Spain. He had done it from the second move to the chains. How is it so far fetched to think that on a day with 8°, when he stuck the dyno, he climbed to the chains?" This statement can be compared with what Hannes Huch wrote in his article. "Said was million miles away from climbing even just from bolt to bolt." Also Erik Massih has stepped forward with a comment. "I also climbed with Said at Waldkopf a few days in May 2018. One or two of these was together with Brian Weaver. I aslo remember Said doing good overlapping links on of all the moves on AD except the jump, on which he was hitting the hold but not holding, not at all being a million miles from climbing bolt to bolt. Based on that I didn't see it as unlikely that he sent AD in autumn on a day with good conditions. What happened in fall I can't account for unfortunately."

Vadim Timonov, #3 in the Euro Bouldering CH in 2019, has had a stellar day in Brione flashing Amber 8A+ (B) and doing two more 8A to 8B, as well as taking down, The Kingdom 8C (B+). (c) Leo Zhukov "What a day! I am happy that I have climbed in one session. Don’t know about grade. Maybe my style, but felt not so hard for 8C. Did it just in a couple of hours. It should have been a rest day but the conditions were pretty good and I could not wait. It turned out productively."

Henning Wang, who previously has done four 8c+' out of which two this year, is peaking at age 35 doing his first 9a, Chilam Malenum in Villanueva del Rosario. "I'm usually not a huge fan of link-ups, but this line stood out to me as a route in its own right from the very beginning. If it was not an easier little brother of Chilam Balam it would for sure be one of the major lines at any crag. Chilam Balam has 4 cruxes, the hardest being at the top. Chilam Malenum climbs through the first 3, then half the roof traverse of Chilam before going up a separate 25 meters and topping out in the still unclimbed Malenum project 10 meters before Chilam starts going up. The link was first made by Edu Marin and Dani Andrada in 2015 during their quest to climb Chilam Balam In total I've been trying the route on and off now for 3 seasons, starting in December 2017. I got shut down by rain the last two seasons and often just worked moves and sections that were dry here and there with long breaks in between. Mainly trying the first part as I couldn´t do the boulder after the first anchor. After finally sending part 1 this spring we returned in November and finally got a good 5 weeks to climb on it where it was all dry. I was feeling much stronger than in the spring, and could finally do the boulder after the first anchor and make all the links, but it still didn´t come easy. After sending the top from an easier start I started trying from the ground a few weeks ago, in the end climbing the first part another 8 times before finally managing to make the link on day 36 of the trip, on maybe the first day with really good conditions."

Two of Said Belhaj's belayers have backed him up saying he did overlapping links in regards to that in Hannes Huch article it said the opposite. "Said was million miles away from climbing even just from bolt to bolt." His regular climber (Wolfgang Schüssler) was also mentioned in Huch article only stating that he had never seen him do the dyno. For some reason, Huch did not include that, Belhaj "did climb the upper section from the jump.", although it was mentioned to Huch. "First of all its good that you have contacted me, as I have been closely watching this situation about the ascent of AD unfold. Especially since the article of Hannes on his Blog has been published and it has been discussed by people in the public with many different angles on 8a.nu and some Instagram accounts. The reasons why I haven't been jumping into this discussion so fast is that I rather have a proper reflection on my behalf to look into myself and make a conscious decision, before I get attached towards a group dynamic, which can be emotional at times, driven by wrong motives or judged in a very fast and unthoughtful way. I felt repelled to discuss such a sensitive and personal situation in public, because the effect can be very destructive and harmful to either side. I totally understand that there can be doubts about anyone's achievements and it is of course not satisfactory to some that the actual belayer has not been able to get hold of. As climbers trust is at the base of our general relationship with others, cause this could mean the difference between life and death in the case of rope climbing. This is probably one of the motives why it is easy to get pulled into such a delicate discussion. In regards to me as one of the belayers, who has spent a considerable amount of time with Said at the Waldkopf I can say the following: I have observed Said climbing in the route and he did climb the upper section from the jump, worked on a beta which gave him the ability to climb the upper section and was in my opinion not "million miles away from climbing even just from bolt to bolt", as Hannes mentioned it in the article on his Blog - this assumption comes from Hannes observing him on two occasions on which I was there to belay and support the project. I can therefore say that it is a possibility after the initial jump for Said to finish after the entry, but I was not there on the actual date when Said climbed the route and therefore I just can say what I have seen and experienced. In the time when Said was in the Frankenjura he climbed almost every day at different crags with me and some friends, so it doesn't surprise me that on some occasions he wasn't able to perform at his best. Hannes has been in touch via phone with me afterwards and I mentioned to him what I have stated above. I felt that this case should have been discussed between Hannes and Said in private, that's why I just mentioned what I saw to Hannes, as I don't like talking about people behind their back - at that time I was still hoping that this conflict will be resolved in a civilised manner behind doors. In regards towards the way it has been documented by Hannes I want to share some thoughts about the visual presentation in the article. I found it quite disturbing that some visual content has been used to distort part of the story. This impression has to do especially with the last picture of Said and Jerry Moffatt, which can be seen by some readers as a final conclusion. I was there during this interview. Hannes was filming Said and Jerry Moffat and the topic was about the route, its history and there was no actual accusation or expressed doubt from Jerry Moffat towards Said. To have a caption like "How dare you?" under a picture can give the audience a false impression and is being used in tabloid coverage to distort the readers view of the world. In the end I can only say that I hope that this situation wont be used for people to gain a profit. For me it was about supporting a close friend to reach their full potential.

Hannes Huch has now written a new Insta saying that I defend Said Belhaj, which also Grimper did. I contacted both and the latter changed this as he understood my point of view. Huch has not changed although I posted on his Insta, "I do not defend Said. On the contrary, I have said that sure there are some doubts." I do not think that if Huch has just reasonable doubts he should not go out in public accusing him. In fact, in at least Sweden there is a law against that. It should be mentioned that Huch now has added in the first article, ""I know that this accusation is very serious." So once again, what is important for me is not whether Said did it or not. What is important is that you can not go around attacking a person just based on reasonable doubts. If this will become a trend, the whole climbing scene would change in a very bad way. This is my concern.

Hannes Huch did earlier in the week accuse Said Belhaj of lying in regards to his ascent of Action Direct. Huch has also said that other climbers have mentioned that also his ascents of Papichulo 9a+ and TTT are suspicious. Lacrux did get the exclusive interview where Belhaj gives out all details including the name and numbers to two belayers. When it comes to AD, the belayer is unknown and Belhaj says he most have deleted his Insta page.

The last Olympic tickets will be handed out after the Continental Championships the next spring. As the European CH will take place just two weeks before the Boulder WC 2020 starts and actually the Asian CH, three weeks after, it is a hard decision to make. Fanny Gibert and especially the other boulder specialists are probably asking themself, is it really worth it to continue training Speed the whole winter. Furthermore, as a boulder specialist, should you actually start the Boulder beeing weaker then the rest of the crew? What are your odds for you making it and how much more do you have to sacrifice? On the other hand, if it turns out that most do not think it is worth it, your chances of succeed increase. However, what must be taken into consideration is that everyone who have already been invited to Tokyo will most probably participate and be in good Combined shape. We are talking, 9 female and 8 male from Europe respectively, 3 female and four male from Europe. It should also be noted that Japan will probably send their full team as they hope the Asian CH will act like a qualification event for them. Add to that, that the Speed specialist have nothing to loose. They do not have to make one single session of Lead or Boulder, by being Top-2 in the qualification in Speed they have good chances to grab the last spot to Tokyo. My bet is that Fanny and the other doubters will not go full in but anyhow compete in Combined and hope for some luck. In the end, at least one of the tickets in Europe will be given to another Speed specialist. The reason for this is that for the Speed Specialists, who did not qualify, will act like the Speed qualification event is the most important event if they can make it to Tokyo. They will go full tilt meanwhile the once already made it will think the Speed CH itself, is more important. In Asia, Chaehyon Seo and Jongwon Chon both from Korea will get the invitations to Tokyo.