Evan Hau, who previously has done three 9a's, has done Life of Villains in Hurricave giving it a personal 9a grade. (c) Christopher Weidner "Incredible king line by Joe (Kinder). I was so inspired by trying it briefly and watching others on it over Christmas that I centered a second trip primarily around this route. Stoked on the experience and how it all came together! I tried Life of Villains two days last trip just to try the moves and then it took ten days this trip which makes it my fastest 9a ever. I started training specifically this winter for the first time and it seems to be paying off! Normally in the winter I just climb for fun in the gym. Next I have one week left in Utah to try a few more things and then back home to Canada where I'm working on a 9a project I bolted and also I want to try Sacrifice 9a+, a route I bolted that Adam Ondra FAed last summer."

Moritz Welt, who is #3 in the senior Combined ranking, has done his fifth 8B+ through the FA of Royal Flush in Frankenjura. "The full line on the boulder starting like Mutant and going all the way up to the end of Backgammon! Wanted to do this for a long time and after getting close last weekend I came back this afternoon and crushed it first go! 16 hard moves in a row - a technical first part into a powerful ending - climbs just perfect but pumps like hell!"

Patrick Aufdenblatten reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Francois Nicole's Amazonie in Saint-Triphon suggesting a personal downgrade to 8b+. He has also suggested down grades for another four easier routes he did in Saint-Triphon as well as doing the 9a+ open project thinking it is 8c or 8c+. "I‘m strong in crimps and jumps and pockets. In May I tried two 8c's in Frankenjura where I wasn‘t able to do the moves. For 8b+ I had 7 days... I was in Frankenjura again and all over 8b is really hard. Ten times harder then in St Triphon." Fred Moix, one of the leading climbing photographers from the last 20 years, says he is not at all surprised and says this is a classical Emperor new clothes grading. "Considering all that I can only support Patrik being honest about the grading! I suggested almost 15 years ago that the first jump was more like 7A+ boulder in the Peak District and not 7C. At the time it felt a bit like a sacrilege, haha. The 2nd jump was done rather quickly by a climber and this resulted the following week in a red ribbon to reserve the at the time project of “Amazonie”. Pretty unusual in our area, never seen that on a route here around. I think Patrik is quite brave to dare to talk about the Emperor’s new clothes..."

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Iron Man in St Léger, after six sessions, which was bolted by Albert Gnerro. This was the 8th 9a FA by the 17 year old. "The route is almost 40 meters long and it's absolutely beautiful. It starts with a big overhang of more than 10 meters with three hard and bloc sections and then after a physical rest on tufas, it ends with the second part of "En voie dure Simone" a superb 8c. I think it will be « a classic »in this grade soon. " Alberto has bolted some 500 routes and we will follow up with some comments from him as there is an autobiography coming out. "I bolted this route last year but no chance to try because it was always wet. I easily do the roof but at the top there was wet holds. I did the 8c some years ago. I regret not to have the first ascent but good for Loic. He is a strong climber."

Christof Rauch, who just the last year has done 149 boulders 8A to 8C, has done Franz Vidmer's Kryptos in Balsthal giving it a personal grade of 8B+ as he did it quickly. "Sick limestone testpiece! Wanted to try this problem since I saw the video from Franz Widmer back in the days. Psyched to send it in one session." In the 8a ranking game, the full time engine-building technician and electrician in a waterplant is #5. If he had done given so many personal grades he would have been runner up.

Which are the most impressive ascents of all time? Who was most ahead of their time? Max one ascent per climber. Here is a draft up for discussion :) 1. The Nose 8b+ MP FA 1994 - Lynn Hill 2. Silence 9c FA 2017 - Adam Ondra 3. Freerider 7c+ Solo 2018 - Alex Honnold 4. Meltdown 8c+ trad FA 2008 - Beth Rodden 5. Action Directe 9a FA 1991 - Wolfgang Gullich 6. Bimbaluna 9a (+) 2005 - Josune Bereziartu 7. The Dawn Wall 9a MP FA 2015 - Caldwell/Jorgesson 8. Magic Mushroom 8b+ MP 2017 - Barbara Zangerl 9. Burden of Dreams 9A FA 2016 - Nalle Hukkataival 10. Es Pontas 9b? DWS 2006 - Chris Sharma 11. La Planta de Shiva 9b 2017 - Angie Eiter 12. Horizon 8C 2016 - Ashima Shirashi (14) 13. Tribe 9a? trad 2019 - Jacopo Larcher 14. Valhalla 9a+ MP FA 2019 - Edu Marin 15. No Kpote Only 9A? FA barefoot 2019 - Charles Albert

Alex Puccio has had an amazing day in Brione having done two 8A’s; Disney production and Ponk as well as Amber 8B. ”Love me some Brione rock! 2nd day on it and went in a few tries today. Also sent 2 other nice boulders, good day with good people!!! :)” (c) Westmountainmedia In total the 157 cm tall has now done 181 boulders 8A to 8B+ meaning she has by far the most impressive female ticklist. Alex is also, in spite of several injuries, one of the best ever competition climber who got silver in the World Championship in 2015. In 2018 she did her last World Cup which she won.

Nadine Wallner, Freerider World Champion in 2013 & 2014, had a bad accident in 2015 which made her start climbing being 25 years old. In 2017 her hardest was 7b+ and then she meet and become good friend with Babsi Zangerl. Within 18 months she had done her first 8b/+ and now the second female ascent, after Babsi, of Prinzip Hoffnung 8b/+ trad. Here is her amazing story good for any record book. (c) Alpsolut pictures and Jacopo Larcher - a 7c in Squamish. "I started rock climbing in summer 2015. I had a open fracture tib/fib, while filming some ski lines in Alaska. For a while I couldn't ski anymore and started to climb. First it was more a rehab thing for my calfes but immediately I got addicted to this sport! Also the dream of getting a mountain guide got closer. In winter, last year, I met Babsi Zangerl in the gym. She lives pretty close to me in Bludenz. Babsi became a really good friend and we trained almost every day together. I also took her out skiing and shared my passion skiing with her. In spring I climbed my first 7c+ (Lucy), than my first 8a (Grenzgänger) and after this I could climb Euphorie 8b/+ at Voralpsee. I was super surprised and psyched! The rest of the summer I spent some time in the mountains working on some multi-pitches. Now I could send Beat Kammerlander‘s masterpiece Prinzip Hoffnung. It feels just unreal. But I like the style and approach of trad climbing. You could compare so many components with skiing."

IFSC report: "The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board yesterday accepted the proposal of the Paris Organising Committee of the Olympic & Paralympic Games (Paris 2024) to include Breaking, Skateboarding, Surfing and Sport Climbing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024." The next decision will be taken taken in Lausanne 24/6. Following the outcome of Sport Climbing in Tokyo 2020 etc, the final decision, including format, will be taken at the IOC Executive Board meeting in December 2020

Sachi Amma reports on Insta that he has done Stoking the fire 9b in Santa Linya. He did spend some 10 + 10 days with a three months training break in Japan. It was put up by Chris Sharma and has previously been repeated by Adam Ondra and Jakob Schubert. (c) Jon Cardwell Sachi stopped competing after he won the World Cup in 2014. The next year he did five 9a+’ and his first 9b, Fight or Flight. Then in 2016 he changed horizon - 8a interview. ""I can not find any value to be a better person by comparing myself with other climbers. That is why I stopped competing and climbing hard routes...." Six months ago, he was back on track with a 9a+ FA in Japan and in December he started to project Stoking the fire? How do you see your climbing lifestyle will change over the coming years? I feel that life has some secret. Climbing has some secret. You know what I mean. All the changes and transformations are happening without my control. I do not know what I can do with it. Maybe I keep doing one thing for 10 years. But you must see something is changing and something is more rooted. Why are there so many super good competition climbers from Japan? I don’t know. Maybe the reason is that we don’t have such a amazing limestone walls!