NEWS

Heritage 8B+ by Alex Puccio
Alex Puccio has done her fifth 8B+, Heritage in Valle Bavona. (c) Robin O'Leary Including also 26 8B's, Alex has the most impressive female tick list and a wide pyramid foundation for going for 8C. In 2014, she got the silver in the world championship and she won her last and only World Cup she did in 2018. "Wow.... psyched! 1st try on my 6th or 7th day. I fell off the last move 3rd day on it 2 times and then for the next days I was struggling to stay on the wall due to the warmth and high humidity! Finally got a windy, but warm day. Didnโ€™t even warm up. Last day best day!!!! :) This boulder is way harder being under a certain height! Have to hop out of the toe hook for the first crux move to the left hand gastone and then the last move to the right hand just under the lip is WAY harder since for my height you canโ€™t use the good left lower foot others use. Have to ball up and punch to the last hold. Was a huge crux for me!!!"

Two 8B FAs in Kochel by Toni Lamprecht (48)
Toni Lamprecht, legendary hard core FA-ionist in all disciplines; 9a routes, 8C boulders, 8c MPs and 8c DWS, has opened another two 8B's in Kochel, Jessica Jones and Tyler Durden. "I worked the whole winter (2-3 sessions in the week, depends if I go skiing or not) on a really hard (8C?) roof project. So "Tyler Durden" is the exit of that project in combination with a 8a+-finish. I tried that 4 days, but I know the exit really well, because it is the finish of "Marla Singer" from 2004. "Jessica Jones" I tried on and off for the last 2 years. It is a crazy short problem with 3 moves. Needed 20 sessions to figure out the right solution and another 3 days to combine it. There would be an 8B sit start to it. Next season? I guess, because the temperatures jumped over 20ยฐ now. I might go surfing or do some multipitch stuff near by."

Based on almost 3 000 unique votes, here are the result for - Best Climbing Shoes 2019? La Sportiva continues their domination and Scarpa gets another improved result. Five Ten drops some percentage again. 43 % La Sportiva (44 % last year) 28 % Scarpa (20) 10 % Five Ten (14) 07 % Others (7) 06 % Tenaya (6) 03 % Ocun (5) 03 % Boreal (5)

Cathy Wagner has done her 8a+ # 153, Harakiri in Camp. "A fantastic route! The higher the harder ending with a nasty boulder." With 47 8a's, 13 8a+' and two 8b's the last 12 months, the 53 year old continuous to perform at her best ever.

Shangrila 8c+ by Moritz Welt (17)
Moritz Welt has done Guido Kรถstermayer's, from 1995, Shangrila 8c+ in Frankenjura. In the 8a Combined ranking the 17 year old is #4. (c) Lars Decker โ€So happy to climb the ultraclassic "Shangri-La" 8c+ today! Tried this beauty once last summer and had no chance, but last week when I figured out the moves again, it felt completely different! Glad that everything worked out perfectly today!โ€ Next is trying to do Alex Megos' straight up version, Nice Freshly Baked 9a from 2014.

Paint it Black 8C by Matt Fultz
Matt Fultz has done his first 8C, Paint it Black in RMNP. The 27 year old has had almost ten years progress and is currently #7 in the 8a ranking. Video on his Insta, where he comments. "I donโ€™t think itโ€™s the hardest climb Iโ€™ve done, and Iโ€™m encouraged to know that it is far from my potential. Psyched!"

El Bon Combat 9b by Felipe Camargo
Felipe Camargo reports on Insta that he has done Chris Sharma's El Bon Combat 9b in Cova de l'ocell. "I dreamed with @davidlama_official last night, woke up super sad...posted about him and was thinking of him all day...the pressure was just totally off, I put things in perspective and felt like it didnโ€™t really matter if I sent anymore...at least not today! I gave a good first try but broke a foot hold and fell. On my second try the wind kinda of stopped, I made through the first crux, got to the kneebar rest and for the first time I didnโ€™t feel any pressure... All I could think while resting was how fucking good @davidlama_official climbed...I remembered some of the World cups that I watched him win, climbing so confident and so relaxed, the wind picked up again and i just went for it...didnโ€™t hesitate, climbed fast and sent!! I clipped the anchors and just started crying immediately..."

Papichulo 9a+ by Seb Bouin and Kamil Ferenc
Seb Bouin and Kamil Ferenc have done Papichulo 9a+ in Oliana. Chris Sharma put up the stunning almost 50 meter line in 2008 and with 20 repeats it is the most repeated 9a+ in the world. Seb has previously done nine 9a+ and two 9b's and Kamil has previoulsy done eight 9a's. Next project for Seb is La Dura Dura 9b+. (c) William Barchelo - Seb Bouin

Festival in Ikaria 15-17/6
Donโ€™t miss the chance to visit Greeceโ€™s new favorite climbing destination that combines extraordinary bouldering and amazing sport climbing. Ikaria, the island holding the secret of longevity, has incredible natural beauty, with extraordinary, gigantic granite formations for bouldering and breathtaking marble walls for sport climbing. Ikaria is called โ€œthe Mountain in the Aegean Seaโ€ and is a most welcome climbing discovery of our time. Visit the site here, and register for the festival here.