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."

Gabriele Gorobey reports on Facebook that he has had some amazing days in Osp/Misja Pec having done his two very first 9a'; Halupca 1979 and Sanjski par extension. The multi-discipline climber, is known for establishing everything from hard core boulders to big walls.

Ryohei Kameyama, who just recently did the first repeat of Charles Albert's No kpote only 9A (8C+) in Fontainebleau has done the equivalent by doing La Révolutionnaire 8C+. It only took him four sessions. (c) Ryosuke Hibino "This boulder has small crimps and slopers, so I struggled to maintain my endurance. Next project I think is "Trip hop" (8C). I couldn't climb this boulder my last bleau trip." How do you train? I feel my training key is campus board training. I often do ladder training. ladder training is simple. climb up and down, but I perform it as fast as possible and long time. It train endurance and agility, finger strength.

Lasse von Freier has done his first 8B+, Off the Wagon in Valle bavona. " Finally my hard training this winter payed off! A few days ago I repeated the classic„Off the Wagon” (8B+) in my second session. Skipping the 8B grade felt kind of unexpected."

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Ett inlägg delat av Lasse von Freier (@lasse_von_freier) 14 Mar 2019 kl. 10:47 PDT

Marco Zanone, who has done three 8c+' in 2019, has done his first 9a, Dave Graham's Coup de Grace in Ticino. (c) Matteo Pavana "I started trying this route back in 2016, I was recovering from a bad injury to my middle finger and I was definitely not strong enough for even climbing all the single move, but I knew that I was investing well my time because maybe in the future I would have been able to climb it. Then in Autumn 2017 I came back with my brother Andrea with a different mindset, the conditions were prime and even if I was attending a Film School in Milan with limited time for climbing, my shape was quite good. My progressions on the route was steady and after few days I was able to climbed the route from the second bolt to the top, but adding the 8A boulder problem at the start was another story. I was feeling very close, cause I fall few time at the end of the roof, but then the winter came and I had to give up. 2018 was a bummer, the route was always wet I've never been able to give a proper go from the bottom. This year the spring arrived earlier than ever and after climbing A Muerte in Spain last month I felt ready to come back there. On the second day of attempts I eventually found my self topping out this outstanding boulder of granite, marking my first 9a. My brother Andrea climbed this route back in autumn 2017; I was there belaying him on the send go and since then I've never stopped dreaming to feel all the emotions he felt during that day."

Ema Seliskar has done her fourth 8b+ the last six months, Agresija II in Kotecnik. In the Age & Gender bonus ranking the 14 year old Slovenian is #13. Last year she was between #9 and 12 in all four European Cups she entered. (c) Lucija Tarkuš "Last year I was really nervous on comps, so I couldn't show my best and because of that I decided that I was not ready to compete in the Worlds yet. I am really looking forward and training hard to participate in the Youth Worlds this year in Arco. Nowdays I train 5 times in a week for 3-4 hours a day."