Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher have done the 950m The Nose 8b+ in Yosemite. The 31 pitches straight up in the middle of El Capitan was first free climbed in 1993 by Lynn Hill, video as an 8a. Later it has been upgraded to 8b+. " It is totally crazy...for me she is a real inspiration... I couldn't climb it how she did it..." This was Zangerl's fifth and Larcher's fourth big wall on El Capitan. More info at her Insta. Babsi has pretty much done most of the hardest long multi-pitches in the world and she is well beyond the Top-10 in this category also including the male. Adding also sport climbing up to 9a, trad up to 8c and bouldering up to 8B, the Austrian is the best female overall rock climber in the the world. Noteworthy is that the 8B she did more than ten years ago being one of the very best in that discipline. Later, in 2009, she got an herniated vertebral disc which made her stop bouldering. "It took us 6 days... we had heavy haulbags to haul. That made us so tired the first two days where we climbed and hauled a lot of pitches. So we climbed up to the Doll tower the first day. Second day we climbed to Great roof. Thrid day we both did the great roof. That is a really hard pitch. Very techy and pumpy on super bad footholds. Day four, we climbed up to changing corners...there we rested for a day! Changing corners are the Crux of the Nose!! It is very hard for the grade, I think. We both laybacked all the crux. It was hard to remember the body positions and footholds. Because there are not really footholds...it is just smearing on nothing most of the time. Super powerful! That was the biggest challenge!!

The starting order in Speed is by random. The Top-8 go to the final where the fastest will race against #8. This means that the last guys out in the qualification could possibly choose to go slow if they already are among the Top-8 and think they have a good opponent. In other words, there might be some strategical slow races at the end of the Speed qualification based on the prior results. Let us say, as an example, For some reason one of the two male Speed specialists got ranked #1 and #3 before the very last race in the qualification. This means that being ranked #7 is much better than being ranked #6 as the latter will race against a guy with at least a PB of 5.67. So if the #7 guy will compete against any higher-ranked male or any of the slowest, it is strategical to go slow and remain #7.

Ola Przybysz, who has been in China for over ten years, has done her second 8c+, Redpoint Dinner in Yangshou. It was bolted in 2009 by Chris Sharma and then Wangqing Hua did it as the first 9a in China but later it was downgraded. "After over two weeks of trying I felt that finishing it is very possible. One week later I was passing the crux move most of the time and falling on the endurance moves on the top, every time a bit higher. One day, driving to the crag, I knew I will send it that day. I got very excited. Roped up, rocked through the lower moves all the way to the crux. As I pulled all the way to little pinch tufa and got ready for dynamic move my fingers slipped and I took a fall. During the fall, one hand got caught in quickdraw what caused some serious damage to my pinky finger. The injury needed some surgery intervention what for me meant, that I will not be climbing my project for quite a while. I came back this year and the climb took me another 4 weeks of trying before finally, three days ago I clipped the anchor. Its a really amazing line and definitely the hardest route I have ever climbed."

Christof Rauch, who is working full time, has done his tenth 8C, Sierra Madre in Zillertal. In the 8a ranking game the Austrian is #6. (c) Michael Piccolruaz "One of the best and hardest lines in the valley! Would be even better without this nasty, sharp microcrimp on the upper part. Props to my friend Flo for establishing such a five star line! Dreamed about climbing this problem already when Flo tried to make the first ascent, then it took me many sessions to climb the first part „Larch“ (8A+) because it is on the limit for my armspan, then I tried „Sierra Madre stand“ (8A+) which took me a few sessions to find a good beta for my size as well. After that I got already quite close in May but then I hurt the pulley on my ringfinger. Back to bouldering it took me quite a while to get back into the right shape. Then the snow came too early this season but I didn‘t give up! Shoveled off the snow after work on Monday, then went all in on Friday and fell 5 times on the last hard move. Wasn‘t sure if I should even try it today because of quite bad skin. Had some bad luck and fell another 3 times on the last move. Then I went for a last effort and somehow fought my way to the top. Epic fight. So happy to finish this line after it became a real mental battle!"

Annie Chouinard, who started rock climbing at age 31, has done her first 8c+, Pure Imagination in Red River Gorge. Last month the 155cm tall published The shorter you are the stronger you have to be. More info to come. (c) Tiffany Nardico

Isabelle Faus, who previoulsy has done three 8B+', has done her 22nd 8B, Chimichunga in Scoop. Screenshoot picture from her Insta video captured by Chad Greedy. Isabelle is #1 in the 8a ranking game and with one more 8B, she will set a new personal high score. With one more 8B+, she will beat Alex Puccio's All Time High score by any female.

On Saturday, 23.11.2019 a unique charity event will take place at E4 Bouldergym. All proceeds will be donated to the organization "CAC - Climbers Against Cancer". Thanks to a donor box, donations can easily be made by mouse click or mobile phone From 6 pm the doors will be open for you and the BBQ will be heated up. For anybody who can not attend in person, the Livestream starts at 18:45. Look forward to an exciting competition, autograph sessions, delicious food and local beer - be part of this good cause! Visitors can expect an exciting battle of many well-known top climbers. Participants include Melissa le Nevé (France), Jana Garnbret (Slovenia), Alexander Megos and Gabriele Moroni (Italy). A team of international route-setters will provide spectacular problems: Laurent Laporte, Reini Fichtinger, Dirk Uhlig, Manuel Wiegel, Carlos Catari and Tobi Reichert. The athletes can test the problems in the afternoon before the competition and develop the ideal beta. Also well-known and popular climbing icons like Stefan Glowacz, Gerhard Hörhager, Bernd Arnold and Boone Speed support the Masters of Stone on site. As soon as the winners are determined, the three DJs Robert Lux, Rob Ramirez and Monsters of Jungle will provide the best music at the aftershow party. More info - Facebook

Jonathan Siegrist, who previoulsy has done 44 routes 9a to 9b, has made the first repeat of Jason Campbell's Ground Zero in Mt Charleston from 2002. Interestingly he suggests an upgrade from 8c to 9a (c) Shaina Savoy "Jason took 8c... which is completely insane because it adds a v10/11 (7C+/8A) boulder problem directly into the crux of Hasta La Vista (14c) (8c+) without any rest. It almost seems like he intended to sandbag the route." In 2015, Jonathan did the opposite, saying Era Vella, a confirmed 9a at the time, was more like 8c to him as it only took him three tries. On his Insta he says Ground Zero took him "a good number of days".