Here is a popular article from 2005 - Short cuts to 8a. "We have ranked 12 strategical and practical short cuts in order to push grades. Most climbers focus on strength, i.e. in comparison it is easier to develop technical, tactical and mental skill, which are in focus here. Give highest priority to the first four short cuts as the biggest gains are found here. The last four are really supplementary studies for reaching 8a and beyond."

Domen Škofic, Lead WC winner 2016, has had a great day in Kotecnik where he did two 8c+'; Miza za šest and Beautiful Pain, which he did second go. (c) Just Vidic How is your training preparations for the Lead WC going Nothing special, the only thing is that I finally started to climb more outside again and I like it a lot. I feel in a good shape but everybody trains hard and we’ll see what happens this year. I’m just excited for the season to finally start again.

An "air sofa" cost like Euro 20 and we have been testing it as a crash pad supplement with great experience. If you are going for a high ball, you can use one or two air sofas as a sandwich in between two crash pads. Actually we have tried to just have the crash pad on top and although pretty high impact, the air sofa did not collapse. Obviously, it is not good to land on as you will bounce away but for the kids it works fine spotting them carefully.

Gonzalo Larrocha has done Victimas Perez 9a in Margalef. In total, the 33 year old has done 1 063 routes 8a and harder. ©Silvia Abad "Perfect breezy day. Thanks Campe for coming on his rest day, Sergio for all the days he came up and Silvia cause always encourages me. Fell 8 times in the very last crux but finally happy."

Kids love to climb but it is rather difficult to make the youngest once start liking outdoors. Indoors it is much easier as the holds are bigger, the mattress are softer and it is easier to be rappelled down, on a vertical wall. In fact, rope climbing outdoors will almost always end up with a problem lowering down the small kids on a slab, especially when they have a full body harness. In such case, it is almost impossible to make the youngsters to lean out backwards to be able to walk down like the firefighter. In one way, it is best to start climbing by bouldering outdoors if possible. You do not need any climbing shoes. Just help them push their gymnastics against the rock so the do not slip and hurt their knees. The only climbing shoes our kids use is the sandal look-a-like, Grip-it from La Sportiva. These they can use for hours and even walk to and from the crag. All normal climbing shoes they refuse to use. They are simply to hard and uncomfortable. Do not forget the helmet and once again it should be a cool and comfortable one so it can stay on for several hours. It is also good to have knee pads or rough trousers because the most common incident we have had is bruises on their knees. It should as always be noted that once inviting beginners to our rock climbing scene, make sure you begin super ultra easy on short walls. In practice this means bouldering grade 2a on 2 meters boulders or 8 meters rope climbing. Then they are of wanting to challenge themselves on more difficult and higher walls. It will not take long until they learn the grade system so you better start setting goals like climbing 100 meters or doing 10 boulders instead.

Outdoor in Friedrichshafen is the biggest trade show in the world for the climbing industry, awarding innovative new products. Vertical-Life won their seventh award and this time through their Smart scorecard for running competitions. - "This is the first ever fully digital solution for running climbing and bouldering competitions. The innovative, user-friendly design is impressive. MadRock won for their Haywire climbing shoe - "The Haywire rock shoe has the entire toe box made of one piece of rubber thanks to a new moulding technology." Tindeq won the start up category for their gymnastic rings. - "Training rings with all the functionality of a fingerboard, but lighter and more portable. They also function as rings to allow core training exercises and warm up routines. The high-quality, ergonomic, plywood construction feels great and wont wreck the skin on your fingertips.

Wolfgang Güllich's Action Directe in Frankenjura from 1991 is known as the first 9a, even if the proposed XI german grade, at that time, was translated to 8c+/9a. Today many in the UK scene think Ben Moon's Hubble from 1990 also should be upgraded to 9a. It just might be that in a few years, the history books have to be rewritten saying Moon put up the first 9a in the world? An example where the history books already have been rewritten is Bernabe Fernandez Chilam Balam which originally was claimed to be the first 9b+ in the world. Now it is considered 9a+ or 9b. Based on this list we can see that like a third of the 9a ascents now have been listed as 8c+/9a. The most known example of a grade change is Era Vella in Margalef. It was repeated and confirmed by some 20 climbers before Jonathan Siegrist said that for him personally, he did know other 8c's that were equally hard. This together with also that many of the repeats could be considered personal best, made some others say it should be down graded. In one way this shows that there are no such thing as confirmed grades that can be written on stone and the same goes for historical achievements. Grades will always be subjective and in practice it means that most probably we will see the history rewritten when it comes to first of the grade. In the same way, this means that professional climbers' CV's also need to stay updated.

Piotr Schab, who just did Biographie 9a+, has onsighted his sixth 8c, Nuria in Cuenca. "So happy to be able to control everything all the way to the top." Including also eleven 8b+ onsights, the 21 year old Pole should be among the Top-10 best onsight climbers in the world. The superior number one is Adam Ondra with 81 onsights between 8c and 9a. A possibly runner up is Kleman Becan with around ten 8c and 8c+ onsights. Here is an 8a onsight interview from 2005. The first climber to onsight 9a was Alex Megos with Estado Critico.