Oriane Bertone, who previuosly has done 27 boulders from 8A to 8B (+), has done Epilepsie in Grande Ravine giving it a personal 8b+ grade. In the 8a Combined ranking game, the 13 year old is #2. The picture is from earlier this summer when she did three 8b's in St Légere.

Mathieu Holtz, who previously has done eleven 8c's, has done the FA of Les rats sous-marins 9a in Bellosset after ten days of projecting. (c) Noyan Ronin "Short route of about 20m slightly over-hanging. The effort is sustained all the way and includes a 32 move long power endurance section with no possibility to chalk up which caused me the main struggle. The route has got no broken holds and requires a good belay to avoid decking since I had to skip a heinous clip in the middle section and commit to the next hard sequence without falling."

Here is a ranking, based on the 8a data base, who are the best flash boulderer in the world. Note that grades vary and some have stopped recording ascents so the list should be more considered an indication of who are the Top-10. Anyhow, superior is James Webb and what strikes out the most is his 14 recorded 8B flashes. It should be noted that among the top boulderers, he is the one who have suggested most personal down grades. Daniel Woods just post his ascents on his Instagram since 2014, so he is probably not so far behind. The scoring points: 8B+ * 10, 8B * 6, 8A+ * 3 and 8A * 1 1. James Webb 0 - 14 - 36 - 63 = 255 2. Daniel Woods 1 - 3 - 11 - 45 = 107 3. Adam Ondra 1 - 7 - 8 - 28 = 104 4. Paul Robinson 0 - 1 - 11 - 42 = 81 5. Jan Hojer 0 - 2 - 13 - 22 = 73 6. Keita Mogaki 0 - 2 - 4 - 19 = 43 7. Gabri Moroni 0 - 0 - 7 - 20 = 41 8. Matt Fultz 0 - 0 - 6 - 21 = 39 9. Niccolo Ceria 0 - 2 - 3 - 14 = 35 0. Jernej Kruer 0 - 0 - 5 - 19 = 34 On the picture, James flashes The Globalist which he recorded as an 8B, although the other three entries in the data base, have it as an 8B+. (c) Nico Bäckström

The wheel of retardation 8b ffa rocklands alizee dufraisse from dufraisse alizee on Vimeo.

1. Akiyo Noguchi 2,1,6=12 - Jongwon Chon 3,1,2=6 2. Sol Sa 3,4,1=12 - Kokoro Fujii 1,3,5=15 3. Jain Kim 1,3,5=15 - Tomoa Narasaki 2,2,4=16 Complete results It should be mentioned that Narasaki was superior in the qualification with a 1,1,3 score among the six finalists. Among the female, Jain Kim won the qualification.

alizee dufraisse has done The Wheel of retardation in Rocklands which is considered a hard 8B and moves to #6 in the ranking game. "Hard, crazy kneebaring boulder. It is beautiful and different, I was super sycked on it! It took me around 5 sessions to figure out the moves, very different style, and then two sessions to send. I still have two weeks here and then Switzerland and America." The 31 year old was earlier a route specialist, having done two 9a's and been on a Lead World Cup podium. Overall, the French should be considered one of the best female sport climbers. 8a interview from 2009 with the former French champion in pole vault (4.35).

Daniel Woods reports on his Insta that he has done Skadoosh 8B+ and Black Eagle assis 8C in Rocklands which is originally a Fred Nicole stand start creation. (c) Oliver Kruger "Made the 2nd ascent of this perfect font esq power compression bloc which @dave_graham_ resurrected this season (the other versions of this line have broken over the years). I've tried this line as a stand on and off for a couple years, but for some reason could not figure it out and deemed it impossible for me. Even the way @dave_graham_ did it was too morpho for my size. In the end I found this heinous heel hook for the left that allowed me to make the large span and control this dope rip off of two gaston edges. It's amazing when everything just works out haha!" So what is your next plan? Mmm, well now I am back in CO and just took a week off. Next is this project I have in a place called the Box which is a 9km walk in. The line I'm working is a 5 move lower start into an existing 8A. The low start will add a 8C bloc into the stand with no rest, so the full should be 8C+. I spent 3 days last year trying to link the sit (did all the moves and linked a couple at a time) but wasn't able to. Hopefully all this Rocklands training has helped!"

Daisuke Ichimiya reports on Facebook, with a video, that he has done Nalle Hukkataival's The Finnish Line 8C in Rocklands. Previously the Japanese has done four 8C's and Creature of the Black Lagoon 8C+ in RMNP. ”I practiced upper part moves with rope and lower part moves without rope. When I thought that try from the bottom,I could send one time.”

Erik Bäcklin, Insta, has done his first 8B+, Netsuke in Murgtal when it actually was 29 degrees. Possibly he has discovered a new trick that also competition climbers could use during hot conditions. "I found this problem to be quite workable even through the heat wave. Starting real send attempts it was however getting to me. Noticing further down the hill a small stream I decided to walk down. I rolled up my shorts and waded out to the deepest part and stood there for a few minutes, then went back to shore and laid down next to a small pool to soak my arms while being careful not to get my hands in. I sat with my arms and legs in it for half an hour at which point I was pretty much freezing. Slowly walking back up the hill and trying it again proved to be the thing to make it go. After it having an effect, or at least feeling like it did the first time, I only had to do it once more. I guess the water came from some glacier so maybe it was 10 degrees or something. Do you think this could be done any time and even before competitions? Interesting idea, sitting in an ice bath before climbing would definitely make your hands colder, maybe give some extra friction.

Born in Liberec, Czech Republic, and currently living in Zürich, Switzerland, Vladek Zumr - Insta made his passions climbing and photographing to his profession. The climbing coach and self-employed photographer was part of the last IFSC Bouldering World Cup of this year in Munich, which was an intense time for him, as so many strong athletes were competing. Vladek took some amazing shots of the worlds strongest climbers such as Akiyo Noguchi, see below. The next few months are going to be very busy for Vladek. In September, he will travel to Innsbruck for the IFSC Climbing World Championship and to Stuttgart, for the Adidas Rockstars event. Finally, he would like to join again the La Sportiva Legends Only competition, taking place in Stockholm in November. 8a will publish some of his best pictures during these events. He recently started collaborating with the overall bouldering world cup winner of 2018 and one of the best climbers in the world in all climbing styles, Jernej Kruder - see picture, with whom he will be working between the competitions on some outdoor photo projects and trying to choose the best partner from all the sponsorship offers, after his over all world cup victory.