Matt Fultz has done the third ascent of Peter Würth's Unendliche Geschichte 1+2+3 in Magic Wood, video. First you climb the boulder roof and then you clip in finishing with four bolts in order to climb and stand at the top of the gigantic bloc. "Soft 8C? Or 9a? Either way, might be Earth’s best rock climb." In the Combined ranking game, Matt is #5 and actually with just one 8c+ route he will be #2. (c) Nevin Rajen

Daniel Fong, who did three 8B+' last year, has done his first 8C, Paint it Black in RMNP in just four sessions. Video on his Insta Daniel Woods put up the 65 degrees overhanging. "Really cool to get on a hard climb that is also high quality. 4 sessions, first two were basically figuring out the second move aka my crux. Had a ton of support from the homies and tried hard, psyched to get it done before the heat comes. Out of my depth in this grade range so I’m going with consensus."

Toni Lamprecht, who previously has set up 14 boulders 8B+ and harder, has done the FA of Muttertagsdach 8B+ in Kochel, actually twice and there is still an extension. "I'm working on the "Stoamatz-Projects" since last winter. The lower start in the roof is sometimes wet, that's why I climbed the "Muttertag"-version first. Then I moved some stones on the ground and now it is possible to start 2 hard moves lower. And there would be the extension. Next to this roof-project I have some 5 other hard projects around Kochel and of course the same number of route projects. And there's more in the pre-alps of Bavaria, so it never gets boring..."

Matt Fultz has had a great start of his Ticino trip. Five days ago he did 28 boulders up to 8A in order to celebrate his 28th birthday. Yesterday, he did his first 8B flash, Steppenwolf in Magic Wood. (c) Freddy High In total, he has done 11 boulders 8A and harder including two 8B+' in the first ten days. In the 8a ranking game, he is now #6 after having had ten years of almost straight progress.

In 1995, fred rouhling put up Akira at Le Périgord as the world's first 9b in 1995, when 9a+ did not exist, after several months of projecting. It starts with an horizontal 12 meter boulder roof and then you tie in and finish an eight meter 8a, video. Previously he had done some 9a and 8B+ out of which some are still not repeated. Back then and until Climbing.com presented an article in 2004 most thought he was a liar, although 8a had backed him up. Still, he has not gotten the full credit for taking the biggest grade step in the history of climbing. Insta with pictures from his work as an artist. Chatting with him you understand that possibly it would have been best to suggest 9a+ or even better 8C in 1995 and indicate that it could be harder waiting for an upgrade. "For sure now it’s obvious but at that moment there was nothing comparable. There was not even any crash pads and no roof boulders in Fontainebleau or elsewhere. Fred Nicole open the first 8B+ Radja in 1995 the same year of Akira. If I have said 8C+ it would have been the same problem." Fred has done a total of six FA 9a or harder including Salamandre 9a+ and the three unrepeated; De l’autre côté du ciel 9a, Mandallaz drive 9a, pictured, and Empreintes 9a+. "I was quite obsessed with the limit between the possible and the impossible. It’s only in the first ascent that we can have this sensation. It is not funny to have detractors but on the other hand to have done things that other consider impossible it’s a consecration especially if these climbers are supposed to be among the best." Many of the best including Alex Huber (who was right about that 9b+ for Bernabe Fernandez) and Dani Andrada, said they did not believe Fred. Today he thinks he is more poet than a sport climber. "I enjoy spending time in contemplate nature, reading books and picking stones. I kept a lot of strength and I can still do 8A without training or tiredness, just happiness! I prefer do small boulder with only one or two hard moves. There are not so many in this style which are more than 8b. La Proue, one move 8B, is incredible. It was a nice opportunity to open Akira and I'm grateful for that."

Adam Ondra did the first three boulder first go and it seemed he had secured the win. Then Jakob Schubert did the fourth boulder putting some pressure on Ondra to at least get the zone but he did not get very close actually. This was the third WC Boulder victory for Schubert who also has won 18 Lead WC's. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Jakob Schubert AUT 34 - Janja Garnbret SLO 44 2. Adam Ondra CZE 33 - Fanny Gibert FRA 44 3. Jan Hojer GER 24 - Mia Krampl SLO 33 4. Aleksey Rubtsov RUS 23 - Julia Chanourdie FRA 22 5. Anze Peharc SLO 14 - Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR 13 6. Jongwon Chon KOR 13 - Katja Kadic SLO 12 Complete results Among the female, Janja Garnbret won her seventh straight Boulder World Cup by just needing five attempts for the four final boulders. Runner-up was Fanny Gibert needing eight tries to top them all. It most be mentioned that the five best male Japanese who all where in the Top-7, two weeks ago, did not participate as they are training and competing at home as a preparation for the WCH. Among the female, six of the Top-8 in Wujiang, out of which the four best from Japan, did also not participate.

Sean McColl from Canada, who has won the Combined WCH three times, has had a bad start in the World Cup in 2019 as well the whole male USA team. Nathaniel Coleman is #22 in the Bouldering WC and Sean is #32. The rest of the male from Canada and USA have in total not once been in Top-25 although competing with normally 3 + 4 guys, during the five events. Among the female it is better with Alannah Yip from Canada #12 and for USA, Alex Johnson #13 overall, followed by Kyra Kondie #22. On the other hand, big names like Ashima Shiraishi, Brooke Raboutou and Margo Hayes have not done performed according expectations. In two weeks, the last Boulder World Cup in Vail takes place. If there will be any Americans in the Olympic Top-20 qualification event in Toulouse in November it is time to step up. As it stands, Nathaniel Coleman and Allanah Yip have the best chance as they have done some relatively good results in Speed. However until now, no American have been Top-6 and this is crucial as the Combined ranking is based on just multiplication of the two best results. In order to qualify to Toulouse, you are better off with one or two really good results in each discipline, instead of being multiple times around position #15.

Janja Garnbret must have set some kind of superiority record in the semi in Munich by doing all four boulders in eight tries at the same time runner up Ievgeniia Kazbekova did just get one top and no extra zones. Imagine how the route setters felt as it took 300+ attempts until the first top! Half of the field did at most do one zone out of which four no zones at all. Among the male, Adam Ondra won being the only one to top all four boulders. Strangely enough, the Japanese who were among the best in the qually were all among the last in the semi. Complete results