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.

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

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

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!

James Webb has repeated Dave Graham’s From dirt grows the flowers 8C in Cresciano. "One of the best. Big props to DG for this one!" Felt good to finish such a classic though! So many amazing projects here. Overwhelmed :) (c) Keenan Takahashi

Solveig Korherr has done Omaha Beach 8b+ in Red River Gorge on her first try. Some could have called it an onsight as she just found out in the top it shares some seven moves with an 8a+ she just had done. The difficulty of the shared part is around 7a+. It should be mentioned that some guys have recorded both routes as onsight in the 8a data base. (c) Jon Shen "I conservatively took flash for this route but the terminology does not fully represent my experience on this route. Either way, I am really happy and surprised with my performance! Onsighting my hardest redpoint grade has opened my eyes to thinking about climbing without limitations, and what is possible in my future." What is your climbing background and what is next? I have been climbing mainly indoors with my dad since I was six years old. I started competitions when I was nine. I took a break from competitions in 2017 to climb more outdoors. I returned to competitions in fall 2018 where I placed second at German Lead nationals in Darmstadt. I did my first 8b+ Kale Borroka in April 2018. I am rather surprised that I am still so fit after this three month trip in the USA and Mexico. I will return to training in Germany for the spring before future trips this summer where I hope to push my personal best.

Xavi Gonzalez Martorell has done his first 9a by repeating Iker Pou's Clepteropa Original in Mallorca. "I tried the last boulder (7C) in 8 or 9 sessions more or less but the first part of the route I knew from other easy connections." Xavi did his first 8a being 19 years old in 2014 and since he has more or less advanced one grade per year. He says his progress relates to motivation and climbing and training all free time.

Dai Koyamada reports on Insta that he has finally done one of his dream project in Hiei, calling it probably 8C. The 42 year old did his first 8C in 2003, Byaku-dou in Hourai. In total he has now done around 25 8C's out of which around 20 FA's. Daniel Woods is runner up in the 8C FA list with around 14.