James Webb has, beside two 8C+', done his 18th 8C, Der mit dem fels tanzt in Chironico. "Maybe low end? But a bit harder than Insanity. Nice one Martin!" The ones having done most 8C and harder are Daniel Woods with 25+ and Dai Kokamada with 20+. When it comes to flashes, Webb is superior with 115 8A and harder.

Isabelle Faus, who previously has done three 8B+', has done her 19th 8B, Primitivo Stand in Valle Bavona in just two sessions. Isa is the 8A ranking leader. "Amazing line, was hard for me, super psyched. " (c) Hannes Kutza "I’m not sure what’s next, back to Colorado in a week. For now I’m just enjoying my time off, trying hard when I get super psyched on something. But I’m excited for the alpine season at home and then Africa!"

Katie Lamb, who recently was #3 in the USA Lead Nationals, has done three 7C+' and two 8A's in Joe's Valley, Prince Of Thieves and Pagan Poetry. (c) Kai Webler "I pushed my personal bar higher by learning the "climb free" mentality from my friends in Joe's Valley last week. To climb free means to let go of expectations, release your inhibitions, attack with calm and with fury, and hold to dreams. To train I use the Moonboard and campus board (speed exercise and pull exercise) 5 times a week, and always am practicing to "climb free". I also use the Mr. Stairmaster machine to strengthen my legs and mind. Climbing free even on the endless stairs!"

Alex Waterhouse has done his first 9a, The Fly in Rumney. Insta video. The 8 meter route was put up by Dave Graham and has been both top-roped as well as soloed as an 8B/+. "Hung these holds so many times, dream to have finished it off. V13 boulder. Was ready to give it low 14 but moved my left hand 0.5cm left and the first move went from

Jon Cardwell, who previously has done 13 routes 9a and harder, reports on Insta that he has done Joe Kinder's Life of Villains 9a in Hurricave. It took him like a dozen tries and he says if it is for sure on the upper end of 9a. (c) Cameron Maier "I’m incredibly thankful for people like Joe who work tirelessly to deliver these gifts to us. To me, this route was so much more than another hard climb, when I look back, it was many hours and days of great times with some of my closest friends, sharing our happiness out in the desert. Forever grateful my friend. Now I’m back home for a few weeks of specific training and then it’s back to the southwest, only to a bigger cave with a much more challenging route ;)"" Talking about Jumbo Love 9b it seems :)

Madeleine Cope, an experienced trad and big wall climber who just did Mind Control 8c in Oliana, reports on Insta that she quickly has done Prinzip Hoffnung 8b/+ at Bürser Platte. "8b seems reasonable".(c) Jacopo Larcher "The route is a dream line, one that you see pictures of your climbing hero's on but never think you will actually do it yourself. Great insecure moves with a safe but long fall. Coming from Oliana it was a nice change of angle! It has been hot so I first tried to lead the route by head torch, but today got up to try at first light which was better... I was just being lazy. I had 3 sessions just on top rope and then had 4 lead tries over an evening/night and a morning so took some good falls. I have done lots of trad climbing in the U.K., but mainly onsighting rather than head pointing. I have climbed some big wall routes."

Carlos Ruano has done his first 8C, Lemento sit in La Pedriza, after 15 days of projecting. Video on his Insta. Talking about a late bloomer, he did his first 9a being 37 years old and then one more in the start of the winter. "When the season started my goal was to climb the golden 9a. After 14 days of work on the route I managed to do it. Then I got another goal of the season, Lemento sit 8C adding eight moves to the original 8B."

Manu Cornu, #3 in in the WCH in 2016 and French CH last year, has done his first 8C and the sixth ascent of Quoi de Neuf in Toit d'Orsay. The 30 amazing mover is based on a 7C+ intro followed by a no-hands-rest, finishing with a 8A+ link up. At one point you do a 180 degree campus move! Manu says he needed some ten sessions. "The challenge was, "I have to do it before 3 months" and I did it." Next up is Meiringen and then Moscow where he also will compete in Speed.

Peter Kuric has had an amazing trip to Margalef, onsigting twelve routes 8a to 8b in just six days. He also did another six routes flash or redpoint including Los ultimos vampiros hippies 8c in just three tries. Kind of impressive as 8c was his previous personal best. "The sixth climbing day. I wanted to try something harder so I chose Los últimos vampiros hippies 8c. In the second attempt I fell in the third move. When I jumped into the crimp I felt my finger pain. But even so, I gave a third successful attempt. We were supposed to be 8 days in Margalef, but I knew the trip was over for me."

Based on the extreme media interest of Alex Honnold's Free Solo after the film winning an Oscar, some federations have suggested that Speed climbing can be done over a gigantic air bag. One more argument is that the auto-belay pull some 5 kg helping the lighter ones more, creating unfairness. The idea is that the athletes can choose to go solo and if so, they will be allowed to start on "steady" meanwhile the not so brave ones will have to wait until "go". If this works out well, also higher walls will be tested and then in the finals, only solo climbing will be allowed but small parachutes will be possible. "We have already tested out the idea with the market and as a matter of a fact, we have been offered 1 million Euro from one company for a gigantic parachute logo," explains one official. "We hope and estimate that the coverage of such an Olympic final will set a new record in visitors."