Daniel Woods has done the first repeat of James Litz Ace of Spade in Pop Tire Cave suggesting an upgrade to 9a+. He also tried Peruvian Necktie which adds a final 8A (+) boulder saying this could be 9b. More on Daniel's Insta. (c) Mike Call Back in 2004, James Litz was one of the best climbers in the world having done two 8c+'s as well as Dreamtime 8C. His original grade of his two FA's were 9a and 9a/+ but this was under the radar and no media reported about these sends. Interview of the potential 9b crusher under the radar is coming up. Noteworthy is also that Jonathan Siegrist tried it last summer writing in his blog, "It is certainly one of the hardest routes in the country."

Margo Hayes, who just did two 8c's in Oliana, reports on Insta that she has done Joe Blau 8c+ in Oliana. Including the two 9a+', La Rambla and Biographie, the 20 year old is a contender for having the most impressive female ticklist ever together with Angy Eiter. (c) Jan Novak

Thilo Schroeter, #11 in a Boulder WC this spring, has made the FA of Agnes Buen 9a in Sørkedalen outside Oslo, which was bolted 25 years ago. (c) Henning Wang "I worked on the route for about five days two years ago, and now close to ten days this autumn. The route is short and climbs up an 15 degree face. The crux revolves around holding an undercling that explodes your biceps, then getting your feet onto very high and terrible footholds, and reaching up to a very strange sloped V-slot with the middle finger hooking onto a tooth. Ten moves of 8A+ boulder lead up to the crux, and the crux sequence which starts with the move explained above is a very low percentage 8A boulder. From there another 7B boulder before an easy top slab. 9a is my grade suggestion." More info on his Insta.

Margo Hayes who last year did two of the most famous 9a+', La Rambla and Biographie, has done two 8c's in Oliana, Fish Eye and Mind Control*. (c) Jan Novak In 2016, she won the Youth World Championship in both Lead and Bouldering and now her goal is Tokyo 2020. In the Combined World Championship in Innsbruck, the american was #11. * It was originally 8c+ and as such is became the most repeated in the world. Later 8c was suggested and now it seems almost everyone agrees with this and in fact also 8b+ has been suggested for the mega 3-star line.

Michał Jaworski has done his first 9a, Sprawa Honoru in Dolina Kluczwody which is a link up of three 8b (+)'s. "I started working on this project four months ago. I am really glad that I finished this project, and feeling motivated to work harder and harder. Now I am going to try Spanish limestone and sun in Cuenca during my climbing vacations."

Janja Garnbret started last out and looked to have everything in control three moves from the top when she slipped and it was obvious that the hold was wet, as the exact same thing had just happened for Jain Kim. As the rain seemed to just get stronger they decided to cancel both the finals. This means that the final results was based on the semifinal. As both Janja and Jain topped both qually routes and had the same scoring in the semi, we got two winners among the female. This also means that Janja Garnbret secured her overall title 2018. 1. Janja Garnbret/Jain Kim - Romain Desgranges 2. Jakob Schubert 3. Jessica Pilz - Hyunbin Min 4. Akiyo Noguchi - Hidemassa Nishida 5. Katharina Posch - Stefano Ghisolfi Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke Among the male, Romain Desgranges got his first victory in 2018 and Jakob Schubert secured the overall title without having to climb the final. Overall, Japan got sex male and female in the Top-15 although some of the top male did not participate.

1. Jakob Schubert 495 - Janja Garnbret 550 2. Stefano Ghisolfi 437 - Jessica Pilz 460 3. Romain Desgranges 313 - Jain Kim 330 4. Domen Skofic 270 - Manon Hily 238 5. Alex Megos 230 - Hannah Schubert 202 Complete results National Team Ranking 1. Austria 1 526 2. Slovenia 1 328 3. Japan 1 298 4. France 945 5. Italy 759

Adam Ondra is on a roadtrip in Balcan and in Mavrovo he first he put up Macedonian Trip 9a. "Project bolted by Klemen Becan in 2014. Amazing tufa line, almost 50 meters of perfection. 3 goes." Then he made the FA of Czech Trip 9a+. "Harder and longer exit of Macedonian trip. Bolted with headlamp on day 1, cleaned on day 2, rested on day 3, sent on day 4. (c) Bernardo Gimenez

Stefan Scarperi, #3 in the Euro Bouldering Championship in 2015, has done Back Road 9a in Rovereto after three days of projecting. In the Combined ranking game, the Italian is #11. (c) Fabio Fin "Next week I will go to Frankenjura for two weeks. The main goal is to climb Action Directe and other cool stuff, then bouldering in Ticino.

Several of the finalists in Wujiang were upset about the cancellation of a final again in China and said unofficially that they will not compete in China next year. Most of the athletes spend a full day travelling from Europe and then they are not allowed to climb a final in fair conditions or to climb the final at all. As this has also happened in Europe, it is time for IFSC to either have all events indoors or to really cover the walls so it is possible to compete also during heavy rain. Do you know any other sports, beside regatta sailing and snow sports, where cancellation like this happens as often as in climbing?