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 don’t think it’s the hardest climb I’ve done, and I’m encouraged to know that it is far from my potential. Psyched!"

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 didn’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 didn’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...didn’t hesitate, climbed fast and sent!! I clipped the anchors and just started crying immediately..."

Nico Ferlitsch, has done his second 9a in just 10 weeks, Intermezzo XY gelöst in Plombergstein. "I tried "Intermezzo XY gelöst" for only 4 days. This 9a (my third one) is pretty short and has a boulder problem at the beginning. I really like routes like this and I almost feel sad that it's already "over". But the crag Plombergstein near Salzburg has a lot more hard routes to offer. I'm not yet sure what exactly the next project will be but for sure it's going to be 9a or upwards."

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

Don’t miss the chance to visit Greece’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 “the Mountain in the Aegean Sea” and is a most welcome climbing discovery of our time. Visit the site here, and register for the festival here.

Frances Bensley has done her second 8B, Keen Roof in Peak District, in just three sessions. (c) Jonathan Bean Interesting is that Frances did her first 8A only 18 months ago so wee are talking a late bloomer as she started climbing almost 20 years ago at age 7. "I realized that all of the hardest things I had climbed had only taken a few sessions or a session to do. I had a goal of climbing 8b+ and 8A last year and managed that. At that point maybe I started to realize that in my own style I might be able to climb harder, but just need to find the right problems. Additionally I have made a lot more effort this year to try and identify and work on my climbing weaknesses. I am sure this has helped my climbing overall. I have never had any structure to my training before January - I climbed a couple times a week and I tried hard, either climbing general blocs or a fun board session, but there was never a plan, very little finger boarding (I would occasionally pull onto a finger board maybe a few times a month but with no consistency) and I didn't matter if I only climbed once a week or three times a week. I recently approached Dave Mason and I now have a weekly training plan to follow - its hard work for me because structure is something I struggle with, but it's also good and I'm feeling quite strong."

Gabriela Vrablikova has done her first 8c (+), Battle Cat in Frankenjura in just six tries. Interesting the 28 year old Czech has only tried one 8c before so we are again talking about a late bloomer. "I work as a physiotherapist so we had to plan it with my new coach, Petr Klofáč very carefully. We are working more complex in more areas - not just physical training, but mental training, regeneration and food. Training my mind helped a lot as well and of course Battle Cat is beautiful route so I really enjoyed climbing it! Now I am gonna enjoy some hot chocolate. My next project is to find some sponsors for my dream project - one hard multipitch in Ratikon and I have never been to Spain so I want to go there this year and climb something harder."

Daniel Woods reports on Insta that he has done Carlo Traversi’s The Kingdom 8C (B+) in Brione. Daniel has previously done 28 boulders 8C and harder which means he is #1 in that ranking. In the 8a ranking game, the 29 year old is #2 after Jimmy Webb. (c) Stefan Kuerzi

Mic Rathke has published some concern in regards competition fairness in bouldering in Routesetter anonymous. 8a has talked about this issue for twelve years as it seems more favorable to be #6 in the semi, meaning that you start first with better friction in the final. "Competitions should be fair, but we (the climbing community) face an issue with fairness. Our issue at hand mostly deals with slopers, they get full of chalk, bodily fluids, skin, and most of all the original friction wears away like sandpaper. The difficulty (grade or rating) of a climb gets harder in the matter of one session. This is an issue for the later people that climb on the same holds in the same competition. Our current resolution is a brush and chalk, however this does not resolve the issue of replacing the original grip of a hold. With the Olympics coming up, how can we resolve this issue before 2020?" It should be noted that in the Olympics, there will be eight to the final, meaning the friction problem will be a bigger issue in Tokyo.

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who did her first 8c+ at age 12, has done her second, Pedra, Paper, Tisora in Margalef. The Australian is home-schooled and will spend six weeks in Spain this spring as she also has done before. "It took me a couple of days but I was on it last year. I had an finger injury and was unable to send it due to that. So I’m super glad I could finish it off this year."