Anna Stöhr, possibly the best ever female competition boulderer, could not participate in the WCH last year due to a back injury. Last month she reported on Insta that she for the first time did not think of her back and did her hardest route Riflessi 8c. Yesterday, the bouldering queen did one more long endurance, Cinque Uve in Arco. (c) Michele Bort Anna has won both the World and the European Championship twice. Four years she has won the Boulder World Cup overall and in total the Austrian has won 22 WCs. In 2010, she became the second women to do an 8B, Riverbed.

Jonathan Siegrist has done the second repeat of Joe Kinder's Life Of Villains in Hurricave giving it a personal 9a grade. "It was a long and ferocious winter but through fiery stubbornness and many wet climbing days something cool finally." In total, the 33 year old has done 40 routes 9a to 9b and he is #3 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Chris Weidner

Gonzalo Larrocha has done his second 9a+, La Rambla in Siurana. More info to come. (c) Javi Pec

The 14th IFSC Plenary Assembly took place this week in Tokyo and Olympics, Gender equality and Para climbing were on the agenda. "The proposal to add a female athlete representative to the IFSC Executive Board was approved during the IFSC Plenary Assembly on Saturday. The representative will be elected at the upcoming IFSC World Championships in Hachioji in August, alongside other members of the Athletes’ Commission. A new career path is also being put into place to include more women on the routesetting and officiating teams for IFSC events." It was decided that the World Championship in 2021 will take place in Moscow. Further more, Vertical-Life did a presentation in regards the new results system they are developing. "The workshop concluded with a presentation from Matthias Polig, CEO of Vertical-Life. Contracted to develop a new membership database and competition result software, the company provides a range of digital tools to improve climbing development. Matthias’ presentation gave attendees a view of the digital future of our sport."

It is less then a month before the World Cup season will start. Here are some names that might be the new starts in 2019. Vadim Timonov, Yannick Flohe, Sam Avezou, Natsumi Hirano, Luka Potocar, Naile Meignan, Laura Lammer. Any more names you think can evolve to become a star 2019 on the senior circuit.

Enrico Lovato jumps 8c+ and does his first 9a, Sid Lives in Arco. (c) Lorenzo Rossato "Two weeks ago I was advised by a friend of mine to try a short bouldery 9a in Nago crag, near Arco. The route consist of a 8b Boulder into an another 7b Boulder without any rest. In the first session I figured it out all the moves and after the 2nd session I began to fall high. In the 6th session I won the mental battle against this intense route. The strange thing is that I’ve never done an 8c+ route, I usually dislike long and endurance routes, and considering I love bouldering, I found this route very similar to my climbing style, so I didn’t care about the grade. I think maximal force trainings, using moonboard and hangboard, helped me a lot to achieve the goal."

Save Grampians Climbing: "It is with shock and confusion that Australia’s climbing community has received news from Parks Victoria about substantial access bans to over 3,000 climbs (38% of total climbs) in the Grampians National Park. Sign a Petition - Stop Climbing From Being Banned in the Grampians.

Protect our winters is a new platform where climbers can talk about climate change. 8a also want to encourage climbers to climb and develop more locally. Rock climbing is one of the best sports when it comes to having less impact on the climate. We play in the nature and limited equipment are needed. The carbon footprint we create is almost solely related to how we transport our self to the crags. The best way a climber can reduce their impact on the climate change is actually to climb and develop more locally, especially on the crags that can be reached by train or by bike. Eco friendly crags should be promoted locally but also for climbers planning their next trip in order to create minimal carbon footprint. Göteborg in Sweden has some 1 000 climbs that can be reached within 10 min train from the city center and then 10 min walk, alternatively 30 min with a bike. Please share recommendations for other Eco friendly areas and crags.

Chris Weidner has done his second 8c, Killer Z in Hurricave which is a horizontal extension to an 8b. He started climbing in 1988 and did his first 8c being 40 years old. They key is hard training. (c) Lindsey Tjian "It's an endurance route that, for me, required as much mental stamina as physical. There are a number of decent rests, but at each one I found it challenging to maintain tension with only the muscles required to stay on and to relax everything else. I used to run marathons and when I lowered from the redpoint, which took about 25 minutes, I felt like I had just crossed the finish line. My whole life I've valued outdoor climbing much much more than indoor climbing and training. I only climbed in the gym when it was impossible to climb outside. I've changed my way of thinking, and am now putting a lot of time and energy into training. Turns out it works :) This winter I committed to strength training for a few months. I did a repeaters cycle on the fingerboard then max hangs once or twice a week. More importantly for the Hurricave, which is often horizontal climbing, I trained core and upper body strength. For the first time since I was in high school I lifted weights. I gained a few pounds of muscle (I hope it's muscle!) but my strength to weight ratio feels higher than ever."