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."

Matteo Menardi has done his fifth 9a, Thunder Ribes in Arco. (c) Garreth Parry "Prime conditions yesterday at the Pueblo crag. I managed to send Thunder Ribes, a 90 moves 9a which is made up of a 60 moves 8b+, followed by a very good rest point. Then there is the 12-moves crux, which leads to a decent rest. The final step is clipping the chain."

James Webb, well known for his hard grading, put up The Multiverse in 2014 as an 8B+. "Absolutely one of the best lines i've done. So glad to make the FA. Maybe the low now?" Here is a just released video of the amazing line which now has been given 8C.

Jonathan Siegrist, who previously has done 40 routes 9a to 9b, has done the FA of All You Can Eat 9a+ in Mt Potasi. In the 8a ranking game, "J-Star" is #3. Next up is a six weeks trip to Spain. (c) Matt Kuehl "It climbs all but a couple moves of andy Raether’s ‘Eggporkalypse’ and then without any rest does the entire crux of Francois Legrand’s ‘Bachelor Party’. Both routes are 9a. I really like the style of the route because you can really keep fighting - no rest but also so resistant."

Yuji Hirayama, one of the best climbers in the world since the late 80'ies, report on Insta that he after almost two years projecting has made the FA of Time Machine 8c+ in Gozeniwa. "I train very very little, not regularly. Because very busy for my work and working for the Federation but I just try to squeeze into my schedule to go outdoor climbing once a week or once every two weeks. Time is so precious for me now." The name relates from getting inspiration from his routes from 1988 at the crag. " Time Machine will bring you to my generation forever." Yuji redpointed Les Specialists 8b+ in 1988 and in 2000 he won the Lead World Cup. Four times he has broken the Speed record at The Nose El Capitan. In 2008 he did two 8B+ boulders and in 2012 he put up a 9a MP in Mt Kinabuli. In other words, the young 50 year old Japanese has been in top of the game in all disciplines for over 30 years.