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.

In the Youth Nordic Championships in Finland, they divided the eight finalist in two groups and let them start on all four boulders at the same time. Including the fixed 5 min interval, the finals took just 40 min each for eight participants. If they would have used the normal final format, identical to WC semis, the finals would have taken 70 minutes each. Instead of finishing at 17.30 and some missing the flights back home, the competition was finished 14.30. In the competition the new format worked perfectly, Norway with Nicki Horak as Head coach and who took the format initiative, got more than 50 % of the medals. In the youngest girl category, Norway was 1 - 6.

Seb Bouin has done the FA of the 60 meter long La Côte d’usure in the Ramilore cave in Verdon. Previously he has done six routes 9a+ and 9b. " I bolted this route 9 years ago, when i was 16 years old. It's by far the most beautiful route I have ever bolted, and climbed." (c) Tilby Vattard

David Mason has done the first boulder ascent of Mortal Immortal 8B+ on Sean's Roof and it is a great community story showing every style has it's merit. "Floodgate into Sean's Roof, 23 moves in total with the top out. One of the best in the UK in my opinion, shame about the location but handy for pad carrying. 15 sessions over 2 months." Video - I do like to be beside the roadside. Originally Jerry Moffat did the FA in 1995 of the stand start Sean's Roof 8c including three bolts. Later Mark Leach skipped the rope and as there were no crash pads it was even called the hardest "solo" in the world. In 2010, Dan Varian and Ned Feehally then climbed the stand start above pads and thought 8A+ was appropriate. Last month, Dawid Skoczylas added a sitstart and did the FA of Mortal Immortal 8c+ which later also Alex Barrow repeated. "They both climbed it as a micro route but for me it was a boulder and I had even brushed up the end, making it possible to top out instead of dropping off at the jug. Grade wise it is definitely the toughest battle a problem has given me and took double the amount of sessions that I have put into anything else. For me it feels like 8A into 8A+ with the redpoint crux being right at the end. I think the movement mostly suits me but the number of moves certainly doesn't ;) Thanks to everyone who spotted, listened to my ramblings about it and cheered me on."

Cathy Wagner has added two more 8a+' and three 8a's to her impressive scorecard the last two weeks. In total the 53 year old has done 687 routes 8a and harder out of which one third second go. During the last 12 months she has done 70 routes 8a to 8b. She has previously said that one laziness but also explanation for her sending so much is that she skips warming up and go right on it. Cathy started climbing being 21 yers old back in 1985 and did her first 8a in 1994 and her first 8b when she was 35. You might wonder how hard she would be capable of if she started projecting a route for some months, instead of just doing multiple rather quick sends of routes up to 8b.

Gabriele Moroni, who won the Boulder WC in Japan in June, has done the second repeat of Hazel Grace in Gottardo suggesting a personal 8B+ grade. Nalle Hukkataival reported on Insta that he did the first repeat just four days ago. This is at least the fourth time Moroni suggested a down grade for an 8C including Highlander last month. In total the Italian has 21 boulders 8B+ and two 8C's recorded on his scorecard but it could at least have been six 8C's. Moroni has been an active IFSC competition climber since 2002, when he won the Youth World Championship. In 2004, being just 16 years old he was #3 in the European Championship in Bouldering. In 2009, he was #3 overall and then he did not make any finals until two times in 2018, out of which one he won, see picture.

Adam Ondra has done the FA of Interklemezzo 9a in Kanjon Tjesno. This was his 163 route 9a and harder out of which he did his first 12 years ago when he was 13. "Amazing wall in Bosnia close to Banja Luka. It was bolted by Peter Schwamberger and during two days at Chill&Drill Fest I made the first ascent. First pitch is 8b+, then hard boulderproblem into technical finish. More projects waiting." More info on his Insta, where he says he has bolted a new line. " It has been a while since I bolted any mega-line and I enjoyed the whole process so much. The curiosity whether the line will go, how the moves are going to be... Lot of uncertain factors but that what makes the bolting so exciting. "