Patti Wohner sending Heavy Charlie V11 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Patti Wohner has done her first 8A for four years, Heavy Charlie in Tuolumne Meadows. As can be seen in the great video, it took the 45-year-old over two minutes including endless knee-bars to finish the 10+ meters roof. "I think I am in the best shape of my life right now and still believe I have not reached my potential. I've changed quite a few things about my lifestyle in the past year that has allowed me to increase my training volume. Some examples; I only work part of the year, I quit drinking alcohol and coffee, I eat more nutrient dense food, and spend crazy amounts of time on rehab exercises. I started out the year with a frozen shoulder which led to me becoming more aware of imbalances from climbing 20+ years. Now my training includes a lot of opposition work like deadlifts, pushups, overhead presses. My body is feeling better as I continue with balancing it out. I focus on projects outdoors and am very excited to see what's possible here in Bishop this season! I'm taking a bit of a recovery period then on to more projects. I'd like to be comfortable at the 8A grade so hopefully Bishop's best of the grade! Then we'll see from there. Staying injury-free is always so hard!"

One dilemma with boulder comps is that they take too long time and because of this the 4+ min rule was replaced with 4 min flat. Furthermore, in the Olympics, there will be only three problems separating the boulderers. Another dilemma is the lack of action which made Doha Beach Games try a rule saying that you had to get the zone in 2 min to have the full 4 min. This did not turn out so well as nobody of the male did get a zone in the final problem. One solution for reducing the time and at the same time increase the action could be to have a 2 + 3 min rule similar to in Doha and let everyone, who could not do it, have one final go. The scoring of such an attempt could be based on actual # of tries or let say attempt #10. Remember that Jakob Schubert got the silver in the World Championship by getting one Top in the qually and zero Tops in the final. If he could have rested like 10 minutes before trying each of the four boulders he did not do, we probably would have seen more action. Among the female in the WCH, nobody could reach the zone on the third and last problem. It should be mentioned that with just three boulders and few tops and zones in the Olympic format, fairness is at risk. Being the best on one boulder but not scoring a zone is simply not fair. The spectators could think that lower-ranked climbers are better than higher ranked.

Frances Bensley, who previously has done two 8B's, has done her first 8A+, Jack's broken heart in Magic Wood, after some seven days projecting. (c) Jon Partridge "This was my third trip to Magic wood and this time I decided to set myself a goal to project Jack's Broken Heart. It is an amazing bloc and relatively close to my limit and I was hoping that I could get it done in the time that I had. The moves didn't take too long to work out, but as I started to give it some redpoint goes, I found that there were a few moves that I was struggling to make consistently. In the end, it became more of a mental challenge but I was super psyched to get it done on our last day of climbing."

Bouldering was one of the invited disciplines during the Doha Beach Games. In total 38 male and female participated out of which three from Japan getting two golds and one silver. Interestingly, a new format was tested where you had to reach the zone in two minutes in order to get the full four minutes for the Top. Among the male, this caused a little anti-climax as none of the six finalist got the zone on the final boulder. During the first three boulders, all but one reached the zone and among the female 21 out of the 24 zones were awarded. 1. Kai Harada JPN - Miho Nonaka JPN 2. Keita Watabe JPN - Petra Klingler SUI 3. Philipp Martin GER - Urska Repusic SLO

Alex Garriga has done two 9a's in Cuenca, the FA of El intento deseado and Leire. In the 8a ranking game, the 20-year-old is #5. (c) Alfonso Martínez "El intento deseado is a combination between El intento and La deseada, 70 moves of endurance. Leire was a mental Battle. I fell too many times in the top if the route.

Lorenzo Bogliacino skips 8c+ and does his first 9a, La Terza Eta in Camaiore., after 12 days of projecting. "I started climbing again in May after a five months break since I found a new job. Most of the summer I climbed in my home crag (Pian Bernardo) and started to feel in shape again. After quickly repeating some hard lines in a new crag bolted by Matteo Gambaro called CPR, I decided to try something harder to test myself. Surprisingly I did all the moves of la Terza Età on my first day on it. Then I started a ten days siege that ended with me clipping the most dreamed chain of my life. It is not the first time I stop climbing for 4/6 months but when I started again in may I was really motivated and climbed as much as I possibly could. I am working shifts so I am able to climb outdoor or train on the campus board also during the week. Even if it is a bit tiring I think it paid off! It requires some patience since often I am not able to climb with my friends during the weekend. My feeling was that the 8c I did a couple of months ago could deserve a + but not being sure I did not propose an upgrade... in any case, it was a good step towards my first 9a. Also, I think that the route suits my strengths very well. It is fingery and resistant and requires a good dose of fighting.

Davide Picco has done Under Vibes 9a (+) in Arco and the day after he did L'Ultima Reini 8c+. (c) Luca Rigo "Long story short: My girlfriend is trying a project in that crag so I needed to find something for myself to optimize time. Having clipped the chain of every logical line I started connecting the routes that I loved the most. The route puts together the first crux of Underground with Reini's vibes (all of it). It is a tiring mix of power and endurance with more than a hundred moves."