Giuliano Cameroni, "1 in the 8a ranking game, has published a video where he Webb, Ometz and Cotting make some hard sends in Cresciano including three FAs. "Cresciano is a very futuristic place, I think that some of the hard projects could be 9a or 9a+, who knows, but many of them are also more doable! I would like to climb there a lot, so we will see what this season will bring!"

Winter 2018 - New boulders in Cresciano from Giuliano Cameroni on Vimeo.

The Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires begins in two weeks and in less then six months the qualification for Tokyo begins. The count down have started and it is time to start training Speed seriously. Here is a prediction of 16 out of the male 20 that will make the cut. Narasaki, Harada, Schubert, Megos, Hojer, Ghisolfi, Schenk, Chon, M Mawem, Cornu, Kruder, Skofic, Lehmann, Ondra, Rubtsov and Bosi. What makes it interesting is that the max quota of two per country and with some few countries dominating, this actually opens up for lower ranked climbers, some who have not yet tried Speed and some youngsters that can get good progress during the last year. This is why four spots were left open.

Paul Robinson has done his 18th 8C, Delirium in Mt Evans, up at 3 700 meters, after five days of projecting. " The climb is 18 moves long out this big roof. Relief! too many mishaps on the end of this one. should have done this days ago but i just kept messing up the top! very happy that this mini epic is OVER! onward to the next one on the list :) 7 more to go! According, 99boulders Dai Koyamada and Daniel Woods have done 22 8C's which is most in the world. In total, Paul has recorded 909 boulders 8A and harder so on that list he is probably #1. Here is his latest video featuring New Zealand.

Fabrizio Peri, who recently did an 8c+, has done the FA of Camo 9a in Grotti after some 50 days. He bolted it five years ago and projecting has been on and off also due to injuries. "It was very emotional to open it." His first 9a, the military instructor, did when he was 42 years old, two years after he had done his first 8c. Fabrizio started climbing in 1979 and his progress came after stopping body building and loosing some weight.

There are now 4 465 crags and 1 807 boulders areas in the 8a database which guides you to find the best climbs around the globe. You can search the Ticklist based on Most repeated, Thumbs up, Star or Onsight rate etc. For every listed crag, there is also a seasonal diagram a map orientation etc. For each crag there is also a ranking game. The most popular is Frankenjura 147 609 ascents and the most "trendy" ones are Kyparissi and Leonidio. For Bouldering Fontainebleau is #1 with 131 229 ascents and here Milo Verde is the most trendy one.

William Bosi, #13 in the Lead WCH in Innsbruck, has done a quick ascent of Practice of the wild 8C in Magic Wood. Next is the World Cup in Kranj this weekend. (c) Eddie Fowke, who also got it on video. "The routes in Kranj revolve around a hard boulder in the roof half way up where I always fall, so I decided a hard boulder in a roof would be perfect training for this. It’s been really good fun training everything, I actually enjoy speed training the most..."

Gareth Parry, #3 in a Boulder WC in 2003, has done the 55 meter long Nordic Flower 8c in Flatanger. (c) Esteban Lahoz "Last year I went for a short trip to Flatanger where I mainly climbed os up to 8a+. I had a quick look at Nordic Flower but instantly knew it would take a more focussed visit. This time I returned with one aim. More time and a relaxed and systematic approach to working it as 3 sections rather than considering it as one massive route meant it kept the progress coming. After climbing the 8b+ 1st around 4 times I managed to pass the boulder after the belay and clip the chains. It was a a dream end to the trip with the route going down on the last go of the last day. That evening we drove home."

Marta Palou Carol spent the whole summer in Rodellar out of some 15 days projecting the 40 meter Florida 8c. During the La Sportiva Festival celebrating the 90 years anniversary, she sent it. (c) Edu Ruano "The hardest part it’s on 35 meters! I’m so happy that this line has become my first 8c! I’m so psyched right now! My next big goal is to take my driving license :) Maybe next summer having finished my Sport science studies, or this winter if I have time, and I'm psyched to try another 8c or 8c+.

Oriane Bertone has done Chykungunya in Ouaki giving it a personal 8c grade. In the Combined ranking game the 13 year old is #2 in spite of frequently suggesting personal grades. "Harder (right) variant of "Pari". The last section and the specially the final boulder is really hard. It was called 8c+ on the topo, but as I downgraded Pari (8b+), so Chykungunya seems to me more 8c. Very pumpy and cool to climb". Video.

The hardest thing in climbing, for most, is to always give 100 % during onsight and flash. On the other hand, this mental skill is what differentiates the very best from the rest of us. If you could fight as hard as the obsessed unique top climbers like Ondra you would immediately onsight two grades harder and also do much better in competitions. At the same time, such experience will produce more adrenaline and your climbing energy will be more awarding for you and your friends in several ways. One way to train the obsession to always fight 100 % and get rid of the fear of failure is to do orienteering exercises on steep boulder walls. Instead of just following and working on a specif color marked boulder you need walls fully covered with different holds. Set up some control points on the bouldering wall and ask your friend to give you directions and exercises at your level. This means that some holds need to be out of bounce or that you are just allowed to use one foot etc, in the beginning of the circle. Your "coach" could also say that a maximum of three moves are allowed to reach the next control point etc. Such orienteering will also train your tactical skill but the main point is to make you do 20 times as many 100 % fighting flash moves then you are used to in a training session. It will not take long until you feel you are mentally stronger to more often fight 100 % during onsight and flash. You will be fully pumped with adrenaline, very long from doing the robot training, repeating the same routes and boulder over and over again. Picture from Adam Ondra's Insta. "I have been taking annual two-week-break, so I could start working on changing the setup of holds in my gym @kotelna.brno. One part is almost finished, my dream of having the wall as full of holds as the japanese gyms or @chonjongwon96's gym has not been reached yet, but getting closer..." Possibly it is not a coincidence that also the best bouldering competitors train with fully covered walls so they can use their creativity to fight and enjoy as many challenges as possibly, to get mentally stronger.