Christof Rauch has done his third 8C in 2018, Der mit dem Fels tanzt 8C in Chironico which Martin Keller did put up. In total, Christof who works full time, has done 144 boulders 8A and harder this year which should be most in the world. In the 8a ranking game, based on the Top-10 ascents, he is #5. The pic is from Big Kat 8B+ which he did three days ago. (c) Largegon Damien "Already tried it when I did „Insanity of Grandeur“, back then it felt way to hard to link it from the bottom, this trip it was different and I managed to do it on my third day of the trip. Great problem with sick moves, especially the feet first part and the compression at the end. Syked!"

We have been informed that although it has been raining a lot in Fontainebleau lately, many climb as soon the holds have dried. This should not be done as holds can break and it has actually happened many times. If you cannot wait 36 hours after a heavy rain in areas with limestone or sandstone, you should opt for slabs or Boulders with really solid holds.

Eric Hörst, one of the leading climbing trainers and authors the last 25 years, have made a review of Vertical-Life's new Route Setter Magazine, which can be bought for 5 Euros. Alternatively you might check it up in your gym as Vertical-Life has sent out one magazine to 1 000 different gyms around the globe. "Just received this copy of the new #RouteSetter magazine published by @vertical.life.climbing. All I can say is “WOW!” @matthiaspolig (and his crew) have created a stunning publication—it’s the most amazing first issue of a magazine I’ve ever seen. NOTE: This magazine is about much more than routesetting—I believe this will become THE worldwide trade magazine for everything gym oriented...including gym management, holds & wall manufacturing, gym software, training area design, “player” profiles, gym gear, new products, and more! Kudos to the @vertical.life.climbing crew for their vision and execution!"

Jakob Schubert, double World Champion and World Cup winner in 2018, reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of Chris Sharma's Neanderthal in Santa Linya from 2009. (c) John Campbell "On my first day working this 115 moves (!!) monster I thought it will take a while to be able to send. But I quickly made a lot of progress and today (my 6th day on the route) I stuck the crux move and kept it together until the top." Gareth Parry, winner of Arco Rock Master 2007, witnessed the ascent. "Classic Jakob, a cool, calculated and somewhat precision perfect ascent of another hard route. He looked well within his maximum. Back on the ground he said one of the hardest moments was to stay focused after the dyno and not let the mind play tricks and take over.

Based on 800+ unique votes, "Best hard core bouldering temperature?", we can see that single digit temperature are preferred. Interesting is that 5 % think below freezing is the best. In comparison to a previous poll in 2015, the results are very similar. 05 % Below Freezing - 7 % 2015 32 % 4 celsius (39F) - 34 % 33 % 8 celsius (46F) - 29 % 17 % 12 celsius (54F) -14 % 12 % I enjoy the sun - 15 %

The picture shows in which months the ascents in Leonidio have been recorded in the 8a data base. In Europe only Geyik Bayiri and El Chorro of the popular crags have a similar concentration in the winter season as Leonidio. Other great winter destinations in Europe are San Vito lo Capo on Sicily, Osp/Misja Pec, Arico on Tenerife, Fenda near Lisbon, Mallorca and crags around Malaga, Valencia and Barcelona.

Oriane Bertone has repeated Madame X assis in Les Avirons giving it a personal graden of 8A. The next day, she did the FA of Agamemnon Assis 8A. "I send the sit version after 3 work sessions. I felt it harder than "Madame X", 15 meters from Agamemnon in the same area, which was called 8A+ in the topo. Wery happy for this second hard FA of the month, after Le Spartiate Sit Direct !" In total, the 13 year old has done 13 Boulders 8A to 8B+ in 2018 and she is #2 in the female ranking game after Isabelle Faus. Video of her last four done boulders.

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who did an 8c+ being 12 years old, has done Staring at the sea 8b+ in Blue Mountains.

"The Kalymnos guidebook by @ariskaly and Roussos has been completely updated since the last edition was published in 2016. The digital version is now available in our app! The update has over 1,000 new routes and 12 crags that are only available in the app. Enjoy a total of 3,800 routes with full-color photo topos." More info⠀

Hopefully this year has been full of good climbing and successful trips to beautiful crags and we wish you strong motivation into completing new challenges in 2019.