Pirmin Bertle has presented an open letter in regards how he grades his FAs as almost all his hardest routes are FAs. In practice, the #2 in the 8a ranking game compares how many tries he needed for the five 9a's and nine 8c+' he has repeated. Further more, Adam Ondra has repeated two of his 9a's and confirmed the grade and suggested 9a+ for Pirmin's 9b as he found a no-hands rest knee-bar. Having two kids he prefers to stay around his neighborhood and actually his first European rope climbing trip since 2011 was done this year to Siurana. He worked on Via de la Capella 9b and was close to send it and says that it just might be 9a+ with the new beta comparing it to the grade standard in Switzerland.

Markus Schauer is a specialist in physio therapy, osteopathy, nutrition and micronutrients. He has worked with the Austrian national team and many World Cup athletes. Here is his brand new website (in german). "Every climber should know his micronutrient status, i.e. vitamine D, C, B12, magnesium, sodium etc levels. Athletes should do regular tests a couple of times every year, so that deficiencies can be compensated with supplements. Here is some practical nutrition advice: • Last meal 3-4 hours before exercise should include carbohydrates, protein and vegetables color on plate. • Before exercise eat less fat because fat reduces the absorption of nutrients and extends the retention time in the stomach. • Hydration during training: up to 2.5 hours of training – drink water with carbohydrates; from 2.5 to 4 hours – drint water with carbohydrates, sodium, potassium and magnesium; over 4 hours – drinks should also contain amino acids like BCAA or L-glutamine. • If you drink a carbohydrate drink in the first 30 minutes after the training it is possible to reduce the risk of an infect at the upper respiratory system and you stabilize your immune system.​

Iris Matamoros Quero, who previously has done 12 8c+', has done another two in Santa Linya; Fabela and Blomu. "For both routes I tried them eight days last year and ten more this, but most of them the routes were wet or to warm... it has not been a good season for climbing in the cave. I am a physical training teacher. I usually get one month off without salary to travel and climb with my wife and my soon. We have now done a two days stop in Albarracin and then we go back home. I have a FA 8c+? project there in Murcia. Starting to work again in two days." Last year, Iris was #3 in the spanish Ninja Warrior and he did take part also this year but he can not tell the result until it is on television 18/5.

Jernej Kruder, who won the first Boulder WC and was runner-up in the second, did spend December by working on his big 30 meter endurance project in Croatia. "I just think it's a solid 9a+."

"Parkour style dynos challenge special skills and promotes strong physically well balanced bodies. The route setter should have great credit for their innovative and ingenious work! This is all good but a drawback is the increased risk of new types of injuries specifically to shoulders, elbows and wrist. When jumping horizontally the stress on these structures is very high and the sudden stop (most often required) will increase the impact. Even higher risk is introduced when the athletes have short recovery times between attempts and this is magnified when rotating 5 minutes with just 5 minutes rest. Even though I personally like the change of style to more physically challenging boulders, it is not a wise move to let too many boulders in a comp have these kind of moves, especially in succession. In the last EYC in Graz, we even saw a dynamic move with elbow overstretching, causing an injury. Björn Alber Md general medicine & sports medicine, MSDT sports physiology Coach & Team Physician Swedish Climbing Team

Shawn Raboutou reports on his Insta that he has done Duele la realidad 8c+ in Oliana. and First Ley 9a+ in Margalef. Not bad for the 8C boulderer who has not climbed with a rope for the last five years. (c) Matty Hong

There were several complaints from coaches and athletes in Meiringen in regards deteriorating friction for the ones starting last. The reason for this was that the Polyurethane (PU) plastic holds lost their surface friction and did get warmed up faster, in comparison to thicker Polyethlene (PE) holds. During the last years, with bigger holds and volumes, the thinner PU holds are almost always used. What the coaches, athletes, route setters and even officials have said is that in the future IFSC have to regulate the holds so fair conditions can be obtained throughout a competition. One recipe for this is to actually start making the bigger holds and volumes in PE which also will make them heavier. Tomasz Oleksy, one of the most frequently used IFSC route setter the last years, who also set in Moscow and who will set the next one in China, shares his view. - The big advantage with PU volumes is that we can add screw on holds. As a route setter, you always want as many different types of holds as possible but there are often some political and money issues involved. During the qualification I think PE holds should be used in order to create fair competitions.

99: Filip Schenk ITA - Laura Stöckler AUT 01: Sam Avezou FRA - Sandra Lettner AUT 03: Paul Jenft FRA - Naile Meignan FRA Austria dominated among the the girls with two golds and three silvers and for the boys, France was best with nine in in Top-7. By looking at the, complete results we can see that it was kind of hard to get the right difficulty level. In one class, you did get the bronze without getting one top. On the other hand, the level among the ten finalist were diversified with some guys getting all four tops at the same time as two did not get one top. The route setting was in general very modern with actually often parkour, dyno and coordination moves. The Swedish coach and medical doctor, Björn Alber, likes the new style based on volumes and big sloopers, (c) Björn Alber. On the other hand, he is a bit concerned about all the dynos, also horizontal, as the risk for injuries increases. There was at least one bad injury. - One problem was also that there was just five minutes rest in between each boulder meaning that there is no time to recover which increases the risk for injuries.

Pirmin Bertle has added five 9a's and La Cène du lézard 9b in Jansegg to his impressive scorecard. Video with three 9a's in Kochel, out of which two FAs. The father of two small kids is #2 after Adam Ondra in the ranking game. "I bolted the 9b in 2012 and projected it ever since in different variations and during some 30-50 days." More info in his blog and here the projecting video from the wild spot up at 1 800 meters elevation. "Very special, calm spot, pleasant and beautiful. No problems to return there very often. We once met wolves up there and Vultures, Chamois, Marmots, Eagles, Falcons and lots of flowers - Climbing is just a pretext for having a beautiful life". Training at home video on his personally produced authentic rock climbing Lizard holds.