Seb Bouin, who has done more than 20 routes 9a and harder has repeated two more: Nadesjda near Montpellier and Molasse’son for which he gives a personal 8c+ grade. (c) Sam Bie "I'm going to try and take a little bit of salt to deal with the following. And I will try to be as objective as possible in my reasoning. First of all, I would start by saying that the quotation of a track may be something that changes between the first ascent and the many repetitions that follow. Indeed, the process of first ascent makes it difficult to take a path. We spend more time, we break the catch, we don't have methods... it's normal that sometimes the quotations move in one direction or another. I have either been decotter or recoter about this, and I find it normal."

In 2013, Tito Traversa (12) fell to the ground from 18 meters due to quick draws fallen apart as they were only attached with the rubber band. Tito had just done his fourth 8b+ and he was on a youth trip with his local club including one instructor and two assistant-instructors but no parents at all. The Italian court has now said the unofficial instructor Nicola Galizia should be blamed and has sentenced him to two two years in prison and also judicial expenses in excess of 21 000 euros. However, Galizia is likely not going to jail as this is his first offense. Pareti.it has more info in Italian For Tito, forever in our hearts, video made by Christian Core which was presented at Arco Rock Master 2013 where Ramon Julian Puigblanque dedicated his victory to him. Tito's father have said we should keep his 8a scorecard as another memory of his son. Statement of Tito's father Giovanni.

The 2018 season has started out better and the local Kalymnos community is more optimistic then before and there are many hotels and apartments have done or are doing upgradings. Starting from June 1, Carian Hotel start up their 4 star services included also car rental. This is a high class luxury hotel, first of it's kind on the island, also with a SPA and relax and they offer half price for climbers in June, see picture. Aris T reports that 1 200 bolts and 200 anchors have arrived to the island. "This is our contribution to the island from the proceeds of the Kalymnos guidebook for 2018." The new updated topo will be released this autumn including several hundred new routes compared to the 2017 edition. Just Claude Idoux has over 200 new routes that will be included. When it comes to climbing shops, Adventure center has closed but Wild Sport is running a new one. "The last two years was rather slow with less flights and many trying Leonidio and other new Greece destinations. This year has started great with perfect weather and many old faces that are coming back. With the upgrading of the Kos airport we see more low budget airplanes coming and from what we have heard, Ryan Air will add more flights from different locations in Europe. We try our best and it is nice to see that the "low budget" destination gets upgraded every year and also welcoming a new segment of climbers."

Jonathan Siegrist has done the second repeat, after Ethan Pringle, of Chris Sharma's Jumbo Love 9b in Clark Mountain. In order to reach the 80 meter route you need to drive 10 miles on a bad dirt route and climb a 7c+ intro route. (c) Cameron Maier - Bear Cam Media More info to come

Niccolo Ceria reports on Insta that he has flashed Chris Sharma's Trifecta Middel 8B and James Morris' Mortality Sequence 8A in Flock Hill. Interesting is that they both only been repeated few times. (c) Gomez Garcia Gonzalez Niky's Insta is full of other great pictures and info about some new FAs, but no grades, in the stunning and famous boulder spot in New Zealand. With a couple 8B flashes previously, he should be considered as one of the best in the world.

Adam Ondra has been invited to climbing in Herculane in Romania where he, among other things, made one 9a FA and Stone Butterfly 9a+. Interesting is that he calls it the “wall of perfection” on his Insta and that he has marked the routes with thumbs up which he actually rarely does. “Amazing project from Gerhard Horhager right of Guri Guri. Power endurance on small tufas and crimps. Very complex and fun climbing.

Looking at Alex Khazanov's long IFSC result board is amazing and very inspiring, for everyone normally fighting way down in the result list. After four years with great progress as a junior, he was one of the best in bouldering in 2014. At the same time he started off by being #67 and #75 in the World Cup. Again with fast progress his best result was #18, coming into the 2018 season which begun with being #57. In the next one in Moscow he was #7 and decided to use all his savings to go to China. Alex works as a coach and route setter, living a low budget life sleeping at his parents house, and unfortunately the Israel federation can not yet support him with the starting fee for the comps. "Right now I cannot afford a rock trip if I want to do all the comps, and I am trying to get the Olympic department to give me some money for lead comps as preparation for Innsbruck." As a preparation for the 2018 season he trained six times a week twice a day for six months. "I like to train alone, that way you can have all the time you want to work on detail, other than rushing between boulders and trying to show who is better." So how can you explain this amazing - A dream come true story? It was so unexpected and I am so happy!! The season is still only half way so we will see what happens. I hope I can make semi next time, haha its always hard in Bouldering. I guess what helped me the most is two factors. One, is physical, I have trained a lot and slightly different than others. But I guess it's my small secret the other one is mental. I climbed extremely free and with no expectations. I was just happy to be in semi finals, and than I was just happy to be in finals. I am not afraid from bad results. Can you say something about that secret training? I have a non climbing coach at home. In order to do a slab you sometimes have to do a one leg squat. It's hard to get this power from climbing. So I went to the gym. imagine you on two volumes on the same height, and you need to transfer balance between the two. It will be much easier if you have strong lower back and stabilizer muscles . So you control your body. In the gym I do not use machines. More with a physio ball, weights, rubber bands and rings. And what about all the jumping around on big volumes? I just try to make some crazy moves. But all and all I guess if you climb a lot on different types of climbing, rock and plastic you get a better feeling in all styles. As for Slabs, the gym is key. I plan to spend one month in Innsbruck before the World Championship focusing on jumping around. Interesting is also that Alex has teamed up with Alex Rubtsov and the Slovenians both outdoors and in competitions and they are all Top-7 in the World Cup ranking together with three Japanese.

Chad Greedy reports on Insta that Isabelle Faus has done The Cat Ranch 8B in RMNP. Isabelle has already sent close to 100 boulder problems from 8A to 8B+ and she's 2nd in the ranking game.

In 2009 Chris Sharma bolted La Dura Dura and two years later he did something unusual for the climbing community, as he told Adam Ondra to challenge him for the FA. Ondra did it in 2013 and one month later Sharma did his first 9b+. Cooperation in competitions is common but "closed projects" are quite normal in the climbing world and calling Perfecto Mundo an open project, Chris has once again showed the way forward. "It was great climbing with Stefano and Alex on Perfecto Mundo. They were very respectful in asking me permission and honestly I had been quite on and off with the route so it was super motivating to try and share there experience with someone else. Definitely way more fun than trying it alone. And it was great to share something special with the new generation. Sometimes keeping projects for ourselves can block the good energy from flowing naturally and it was great to let the good vibes flow with Alex and Stefano. Such nice guys and incredible climbers and athletes. That being said, I think it’s a case by case situation, and people should respect people’s projects and always ask for the bolter’s blessing. I’m super psyched to continue trying and hopefully send Perfecto Mundo one day soon. It’s one of the most meaningful routes I’ve tried and have yet to complete. So whether it goes this season or next, I plan to keep at it till it comes together!" (c) Ricardo Giancola

Akiyo Noguchi and Miho Nonaka won the fourth stage of the Boulder World Cup in Tai'an and continues their total domination. In the last two WCs, Akiyo has done all 26 boulder (Miho 25) and the runner up Stasa Gejo has done 15 boulders. Among the male, Alex Khazanov got his and Israel's first victory, interview is coming up, with the two Slovenians Jernej Kruder and Gregor Vezonik sharing the podium. The route setting and show was perfect in Tai'an with many amazing moments and excitement to the very. 1. Alex Khazanov 34 ISR - Akiyo Noguchi 44:5 JPN 2. Jernej Kruder 24:2 SLO - Miho Nonaka 44:10 JPN 3. Gregor Vezonik 24:4 SLO - Fanny Gibert 23:6 FRA Complete results The results are presented as points and with ties, the number of attempts are added.