NEWS

8C FA by James Squire
31 August 2018

8C FA by James Squire

James Squire, who previously has done four 8B+' and 30 8B's, has done his first 8C by the FA of The World Is Yours in Biblins Cave. (c) Tom Maidwell "We were lucky enough to have Biblins Cave unbanned five years ago and this mega project was the obvious line through the middle of the cave from sitting at the back, climbing to the lip of the roof. It involves 18 powerful and beta intensive moves. I have spent over 30 sessions on this roof in total with 8 of them being in the last two months after I was finally able to work out beta for the top section. It ended up being a massive mental battle after I dropped the easier top moves a few weeks ago and couldn't reach that high point for a few sessions after. You have to climb an 8B to get into the crux meaning you don't have loads of attempts each session and it caused a number of skin problems. I am both very psyched and very relieved to have finally climbed this! Still can't believe it!"

Two 8A's by Camilla Moroni (17)
Camilla Moroni has done her first two 8A's Supersupernova and The right hand of darkness in Magic Wood. (c)Pietro Biagini Camilla has won one Euro Boulder Cup during the last two years and in the World Championship this year, the 17 year old was #7. This weekend she has travelled to Brussel to compete in the Euro Youth Championship.

30 August 2018

Innsbruck Teaser

8A+ by Leah Dempsey
30 August 2018

8A+ by Leah Dempsey

Leah Dempsey reports on Insta that she has done her third 8A+ the last twelve months, Deep Blue Sea in Manly. "Radical fun! This thing could've turned into nemesis... that right toe hook!" (c) Matt Norgrove In the 8a ranking game, the Australian is #7. Here is a Vertical Life Mag interview from last year where they say. "Possibly the smoothest, most stylish climber since Patrick Edlinger glided over the rocks like a cheese-eating French serpent."

Zangerl and Larcher do 30 pitches Odyssee 8a+
Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher have made the second repeat of the 33 pitches and 1 400 m Odyssee 8a+ on the north face of Eiger. "Both of us climbed all the pitches free in four days (swinging leads) and the crux pitches both on lead. Roger Schaeli and Robert Jasper established the route in between 2009-2013 with pitons and bolts. In 2015, they were joined by Simon Gietl and made a so called team ascent during that summer. Later Fabian Buhl made the first repeat in a four days solo mission. (c) Paolo Sartori "The Eiger was a serious adventure for us. We didn't have perfect conditions. It was a real alpine experience. It was always a dream to climb a route on the famous Eiger north face. So first of all we wanted to climb something easier like Deep blue sea which was great climbing on perfect limestone. After we climbed Magic mushroom (in a day) what was double as long but still in a alpine-sport climbing style what means well protected with some longer runouts on bolts. Then we wanted to go for a longer more alpine route through the steepest part of the north face and we choose Odyssee because Roger Schรคli told us about the great climbing through a steep challenging part of the wall." Ten years ago, the 163 cm Austrian was one of the very best female boulderers in the world. In 2009, she got an herniated vertebral disc which had her to stop bouldering. Today, including trad FA up to 8c and several 8c+' in sport and a 9a as well as world class multi-pitches and big walls up to 8b+ on El Cap, she is most be considered the best female multi-discipline climber in the world.

Spectacular 8C FA again by Dave Graham (36)
Dave Graham reports on Insta, including a video, that he has done the FA of Parzival 8C in Rocklands. (c) Chad Greedy "This amazing line baffled me the first time I saw it years ago; it looked super cool but I had no clue how to climb it. After stumbling upon it again during a hike this this season I saw astonished that it possibly could work, and if so, it would be a crazy epic two-part rig which sits at the base of this crazy disc shaped bloc suspended over a small canyon and summits directly up the prow." Dave has been one of the leading climbers for almost 20 years straight and is known for his visionary style finding and putting up hard core boulders. Next is Switzerland, back to US with Las Vegas and Bishop are on the list before heading back to spend the winter in Spain.

8b+ (c) by Oriane Bertone (13)
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 Lรฉgere.

9a FA by Mathieu Holtz
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."

James Webb #1 flash boulderer in the world
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 Bรคckstrรถm