Seb Bouin has done his second 9b and the first repeat of Adam Ondra’s Mamichula in Oliana. Including also nine 9a+, the French is getting closer to the Top-5 best tick list. (c) Jan Novak ”I had the best belayer possible for this route, my super Mami (mom). Last trip, on the last days, I felt on the last move before the rest. I am happy to finish the job! I have to say that I used kneepad for this route. It's my hardest route on the paper. Yet maybe not in the reality . I am psyched to see some climbers in my latest mega lines in France (French Chilam Balam and "la côte d'usure").

Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, one of the best crack climbers out there, have made another hard first ascent in the Utah desert, Black Mamba 8c which may be their hardest roof crack yet. Whittaker describes the first ascents: (c) Talo Martin "The route is like a mining tunnel, you walk to the back and start in a crouched position with a head torch on and can’t believe you now have to climb the same distance you just walked…but completely upside down. Nevertheless, it’s as much about being tactical as it is about having the strength and endurance to be able to climb it. It required a head torch lit start, 3 hand jam glove changes, a rope tie mid pitch and toilet roll cushioning for tricep protection. It usually ends up that we use these bizarre tactics because we’re so focused on the climbing we forget to bring the more conventional tools to the crag, i.e. elbow pads or proper lanterns. There are 4 distinct cruxes. 2 are finger jamming, 1 is thin hands and the final redpoint crux comes as a heart breaking last move; rounding the lip of the finishing off width. The key beta here was to make sure that the nose of the roof sat in the indentation below your sternum. Any lower with your torso and you’d unfortunately come up short every time. The final off width in general is a little fighter. On its own it is a struggle, but with the continuous upside-down climbing beforehand, it’s a real world of dread when you finally get there on the big redpoint. If the route stopped before this, the whole thing would be like a beef sandwich - reasonably meaty. In totality, it’s that final 9 inch section that really makes it a full Sunday roast."

Last week, IFSC had invited important stakeholders from the media, brands, gyms and experts to discuss the Olympic movement together with three representatives from IOC. You would think that this would mean three 60+ male but instead IOC did show up with three female 35-40 years old. Interesting is that in the end 8a was the only media present. We did get explained how the bidding process for Tokyo and Paris have been taking place. In short, it seems IOC told IFSC that you can come with an application and you have best chances for being approved with one set of medal in Tokyo and possibly two sets in Paris. From a general perspective, the indoor boom was discussed and the risk for getting climbing into the Olympics as well as if IFSC should take any stand in regards outdoor, ethics and the environment. The big change in competition format and IFSC competitions were also discussed and if it could be possible to qualify to the World Cups by getting points first in local and later regional competitions. There were not enough time to discuss how to make competition climbing more understandable and how to minimize the risk for strange thing to happen. However, 8a was asked to send in our thoughts.

Jesús Muñoz (Chuchi) has done his first 9a, El Dorado in La Pedriza after some 20 days of projecting. His previous best was an 8c FA in 2015 but when it comes to bouldering he did an 8B+ last year. (c) Talo Martin "El Dorado is a route of few movements and although it can be categorized as a boulder, it also requires having a good rpower endurance to be able to send it.The first six movements, from my point of view, will go around 8B. The next section is very athletic, but somehow simpler, around 7c. Finally we reach the final step that is a long dyno. In isolation, only this final movement is like a 7C. Then there is a section of three meters on a much easier slab that does not add any difficulty. I have had to adapt my training by increasing the days of resistance training and maximum strength since the route demands both qualities." More info on his Insta

Jernej Kruder qualified last so he started first in the final where he executed them almost perfectly, doing them all in just eight attempts. He was third into the last boulder which he did first go saying, he thought it was too easy. Later nobody come even close. The big sensation was 15 year old Rei kawamata who qualified to the final as #2. Last year he won the Youth WCh in Moscow and he also did his first 8B+. 1. Jernej Kruder 44* SLO (c) Eddie Fowke 2. Adam Ondra 34 CZE 3. Yushiyuki Ogata 33 JPN 4. Anze Peharc 23 SLO 5. Rei Kawamata 13 JPN 6. Vadim Timonov 13 RUS Complete results * 8a presents the results as points by just skipping the Z and t from the normal scoring.

The commentators in Moscow said that they did not think the route setters over cocked the female boulders they in a good way challenged the very best. I totally disagree. The purpose of the qualification and the semi final is not to create a nice challenge for the best climber. It is about getting the Top-20 and the Top-6 in a nice show for the spectators. Further more, these rounds should be fair for the athletes. Route setting is super hard and it is amazing how often they are spot on. However, there will always be situation when the boulders were too hard. The best way to make them fun to watch and fair for the athletes is to add one more zone.

It seems the route setters, based on the few number of tops in the semi, made some late changes, resulting in too easy boulders in the final. All the podium topped all four boulders and Janja Garnbret won by doing them all first go. Noteworthy is that Slovenia, with just 2 million inhabitants, was superior by getting two golds and another two in the finals. 1. Janja Garnbret 44* SLO Eddie Fowke 2. Shauna Coxsey 44 GBR 3. Fanny Gibert 44 FRA 4. Lucka Rakovec 34 SLO 5. Jessica Pilz 34 AUT 6. Futaba Ito 33 JPN Complete results * In order to make it more understandable 8a has started to take out the T and z and just present the score with points.

Patti Wohner, who did two 8A's being 41 years old, is back on track after a muscle injury and has done two 7C+, 3D and Slow Dance in Bishop. "I struggled with "stiff muscles" for about a year and a half, trying to figure out what was going on. I ended up with pretty bad scapular winging in January which prevented me from climbing at all. Finally I started seeing a shoulder specialist, Jessi Delong in Bishop and she fixed me right up. I'm so grateful to her and I'm excited about getting outside again now that my muscles work again! I was having issues for about a year and a half where my muscles would not loosen up. I climbed as best I could at a lower level during that time. Its been about a month now that I've been feeling better and steadily getting stronger." Three months ago Patti released her first adventure novel Desert Dirtbag, where we can follow a gym climber who dreams climbing hard Hueco Tanks.

In possibly, the hardest ever boulder semifinal, Futabo Ito qualified to the final by just getting three zones. Shauna Coxey and Janja Garnbret were the only ones topping out two boulders. Complete results Among the male, Adam Ondra started first and topped out all four quite easily. In the end, Rei Kawamata was runner up with 2T4z as was the score for the Top-7 so the number of attempts made the cut. Interesting was that we saw possibly 30 attempts where the climbers touched the top but failed. All in all, 17 made four zones and all 20 made three zones.