Alexander Rohr has done the first repeat of Simon Wandeler's Alpenbitter 9a in Gimmelwand from 2007 and the story is great. "During the first tries I came have way up the boulder but failed horribly! Too nervous and too much power just end in very inefficient climbing for me. As I got more and more tired and about to fire go number six, something magic happened. Something I never really experienced before. Very intense. I started climbing to the first No-handrest before business starts. I was thinking about having a slight chance to still get through. But instead of making thoughts, I just completely forgot myself and I can‘t even remember what happened. I just remember the feeling while climbing towards the top. It felt like a big rush, full of energy and tiredness. Two opposites balancing out perfectly. My body got more and more tired but my mind was releasing energy I never knew it‘s existing. Perfect on a route like this where every move gets harder and harder until everything is over. The last move before the rest are very bouldery and hard. I was just smashing the dropknees around and totally went for it. In the last move I almost passed out as I didnt‘t have oxygen in my body anymore. Everything was gone and I just realized that I‘m on the redpoint. Calm, and suddendly almost fresh. I did not get nervous, I just knew that I‘m going to do it now. Totally trapped in a bubble. Then I just climbed to the top and realized that I‘m the complete opposite of fresh! I couldn't yell or cry for long. Too tired. I jumped off and felt like I was running to save my life. Truly a special experience!‘

Manon Hily seems to be in her best shape in her life and has done Coma Sant Pere 8c+ in Margalef. "Much easier then Era Vella meaning 8c/+." (c) Théo Cartier Last week she did Era Vella 8c+ (9a) after just trying if for four days and during her trip she has onsighted or flashed every 8a she has tried and she also did her first 8b onsight, La presó dels monstres. She says that the Margalef style with many two finger pockets suites her style.

Instead of doing the Bouldering World Cups in China, Shauna Coxsey is enjoying summer weather in Västervik, Sweden, where she today did Namaste 8A+.

Alex Megos has done the old Chris Sharma project, Perfecto Mondo in Margalef which Chris has commented. "When it goes it'll surely be one of the best and hardest routes ever." Video of Chris Sharma projecting it. Megos comments on his Insta. "I'm incredibly relieved. This has been an important process in my climbing career and clipping the anchor of "Perfecto Mundo", my first 9b+ as well as getting the FA was an incredible experience. Video of one attempt. Stefano Ghisolfi has also been working on it and this was what he told us last month. "Perfecto Mundo project first part could be 8c to a rest, then the main section starts, about ten intense moves with the crux that is a jump from a mono to a pinch which is the hardest move. I can do it as single move but not always. From there is still a bit hard, 8a+ to the chain I think." (c) Ken Etzel

Liv Sansoz is one of the best female climber in the history. She was the second woman to do 8c+ and she won 11 World Cups and two World Championship. Being 24 years old she took a bad ground fall and had to stop climbing for several years. In 2009, she had a bad base jump accident that kept her in the bed for three months. Later she has broken legs etc multiple times.

Nice video of Ignacio Mulero climbing some new problems up to 8B+ FA's in a brand new area in La Pedriza, Spain. Video by David López. La Pedriza is one of the biggest crags in Europe that still remains relatively unknown. New areas keep being devoloped every year, making La Pedriza one of the best granite destinations in Europe, and just 40 min from Madrid airport. The Pedriza Bouldering Guidebook updated 2nd Edition is coming up in 2018 by local boulderers Talo Martín & Roser Giralt, teamed up with Vertical Life, compeling 80 sectors and over 2500 boulders, including kids sectors and many more, making the Albarracín-Pedriza combination a serious option to consider. La Pedriza is mainly known by the unique character of its 4000 routes, where technical slabs up to 8c+ get along with face and overhanging sport climbing, 8c trad, 8b multipitch and A5 in aid climbing.

Thomas Dauser has done his second 9a, The Essential in Frankenjura which took him a total of eight days. (c) Ole Koenig "In a major battle, I climbed "The Essential" (9a) on Saturday. After my foot slipped twice at the last move to the jug, I finally climbed it in the 6th try on this day... and impressed myself. More exhausted than the previous tries, but very focused... seems like a rare moment where the mind wins over simple physical power."

Obsession is the greatest force to make you train and push harder in climbing. It is about getting addicted to the adrenaline rush and just love everything about climbing; the challenges, the scenery, exploring, the community friendship, improving and performing on competitions and grades. It is about having the most fun and for some it is like building a wider pyramid to make it more solid so you can reach higher. For others and especially for the most obsessed ones, reaching higher is not the ultimate goal. Instead, they just love everything about climbing equally much and just because of this, they have the most fun and this automatically take them to new levels. Sure, in the short run, loosing weight or doing a short training program where you can measure progress is a great feeling. On the other hand some will feel they sacrifice something and that can create anxiety ones the performance trend stagnate or make a sudden dip. Being a climber mainly driven by performance, it is a difficult task to stay obsessed for a long time and it is very hard to start appreciate all other aspects of climbing equally as much. One way to broaden your perspective is simply to set your goals on making your grade pyramid wider and instead of going for your first 8a, set the bar at doing twenty 7b out of which five onsight.