Based on 1 000+ unique votes in regards chipping, we can see that the community is actually slightly more positive compared to an identical poll four years ago. 10 % YES! = Better climbing (7 % in 2014) 10 % OK, but very seldom (9 %) 02 % I do not know (2 %) 58 % No, but cleaning is OK (54 %) 19 % NO! Brush is the limit (28 %)

Ben Moon, one of the greatest climber in the history, created the Moonboard in 2005 which has been a smash hit including the App and led marked boulders, introduced in 2016. Lately, we have seen many have copied the invention and it will probably not take long until the climbing wall producers will give us 15 meter high MoonBoards. Imagine going to your gym where you can choose from 10 000+ routes marked with led lamps or similar instead of just having new routes every other months on a panel. Sure there can be walls where the route setters can create routes in the normal way and of course the holds on the Moon board needs to be washed but in practice, the gyms will also save a lot of money for route setting. Further more, world or national wide competitions can he held just like already has been done with the Moonboard. In the long run, I would be surpiced if not digital led walls will be the standard in gyms.

Angie Scarth-Johnson has taken two months off from her school in Australia to visit Spain like last year. This week she has onsighted Sense friccio 8a in Margalef and a 7c+. In the Gender and Age ranking game, the 13 year old is #11 but with one more 8a onsight she is #3. On the picture by Joao Giacchin, we see her non-climbing mum and dad who have been travelling around the globe with her for some years now. The first long trip to Spain they did in 2014, when she did her first 8b being 9 years old. This is what her mother, who is a teacher and do home schooling with Angie, told us then, "We believe that the experience of learning while traveling is very valuable for Angie and hopefully opening her perspective on the world."

Oriane Bertone has done La Cicatrice de l'Ohm 8A+ in Fontainebleau which actually has been 8B. Amazingly, the 12 year old did only need three attempts. Previously, Oriane has done 22 boulders 8A and harder including Golden Shadow 8B (+) in Rocklands. In the 8a ranking game she is #3.

ADVERTORIAL - These top five climbing routes in Tirol have been chosen according to their nature, route and rock quality as well as the mental and physical challenge posed by the climb. 1. Number One, Schleierwasserfall Waterfall, 7b Two challenging sections near the bottom with long moves demand maximum strength and good foot technique. At the top there is one final tough pitch. 2. Puls 2000, Chinesische Mauer climbing area, 7c+ Small holes, reverse holds and narrow ledges demand both strength and endurance. Climbers who make it to the top are rewarded with spectacular views. 3. Le Miracle, Niederthai climbing area, 7b A single block of granite with a crack running from bottom to top. With the right technique an absolute pleasure to climb. 4. Weißer Riese, Nösslach climbing area, 6b Large and small holds, tiny cracks and finger-punishing ledges make this route a technical challenge even if it is rated only 6b. 5. Another Play in Paradise", Dolomitenhütte climbing area, 7c Climbers wanting to make it to the top should not let themselves be distracted by the incredible views, even if this technically challenging route has plenty of anchors drilled into the rockface to catch you if you fall.

Covered in the great interview with Adam Ondra is Silence 9c which took 200 tries, the 9a+ and the Olympics. In 2019, he will do all Lead and Bouldering WCs and in regards Speed it is an Olympic training sacrifice gamble. "How much training you should sacrifice into Speed and how much impact it will have on Bouldering and Lead... all of us who want to go to for the Olympics is kind of gambling on that.

8a wants to support the International Women's Day. Often podium prizes are not equal, or a route is downgraded when a woman does it, putting on doubt hard ascents just for the only reason of be a woman. Climbing has the same value if you're a man or a woman, a boy or a girl. We would also like to see more female bolters as well as bolting being more adjusted to girls and female height. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing On the competition scene, female is getting closer to male performance and Janja Garnbret, on the picture, has often climbed as high as the best male during training. When it comes to junior training and competitions, girls often outnumber the boys. In bouldering, Ashima Shiraishi did an 8C when she was 14 years old which no boys have done yet. Last year, Angie Eiter ldid a 9b meaning only two male have climbed a harder graded route. When it comes to gender performance equality, this means that climbing is a unique sport and, even so, probably we have just seen the beginning of the climbing Girl Power!

Although not official, the IFSC qualification system document for Tokyo 2020 has been found on internet. A total of 20 male and 20 female will participate and 1 + 1 is guaranteed the Host Nation and 1 + 1 Tripartite Commission. There is also a maximum of 2 athletes per nation. "The qualification events are listed in hierarchical order of qualification." 6 - Top ranked on the Combined World Champion in Tokyo 2019 1 - Overall World Cup Winner (OWC) 2019 6 - Qualifying event where Top-20 from OWC 2019 will participate 5 - Continental Championship 2020 A. As soon as one country gets two spots (like from WCH 2019), that countries quota is full and the remaining qualifications have no impact for that country. B. During the Continental Championship for Europe and Asia, it is likely that you do not have to qualify to the Top-6 final to make it through if you are not from; Japan, Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia or Germany. C: It is not clear if Host and Tripartite Places go beyond max 2 + 2 per country. D: Further comments in the right column.

Based on the IFSC 2020 Olympic qualification system one might say that there is very little use for the athletes to actually focus on Speed, beside technical training, until the end of 2019. 1. Six spots have been allocated to the Combined World Championship in 2019, i.e. it is the qualification that will decide. Based on the multiplication format, good results in all three discipline are poor in comparison to an uneven result: 1 * 10 * 50 = 500 wins over 8 * 8 * 8 = 512 2. Focusing on Speed 2019, meaning training hard and travelling, in order to get some few points in Speed, among the specialists, means you are likely to loose more points in Lead or Boulder: #1 = 100 points and #4 = 55 points/#25 = 5 points. The Top-20 in the overall World Cup 2019 will finish the season with an Qualifying event and here Speed will have more impact as no Speed specialist will probably qualify. However, it is not until the Top-6 final in Tokyo when the Speed ability will have the greatest impact, due to the multiplication format. It should also be mentioned that if you are from countries that have more than two guys that could qualify like: Japan, USA, Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia or Germany, the first qualification WCH in 2019 is most important. After that comp, most likely Japan and one more country have filled their quota.

Some ten years ago, when we often had Grigri accidents, I personally taught many of the most famous climbers how to clip in the Grigri in the harness. Instead of just clipping it in the belay loop they clipped it in sideways by attaching the screw carabiner where you are supposed to tie in. If the screw carabiner is sideways it is much harder for it to lock. Fortunately the bad Grigri accidents have almost stopped which probably relates to this sideways use. However, during the last few weeks I have seen videos of famous athletes that actually feed out rope without holding into the rope. Climbing is a growing sport and safety is most important. I think it would be nice if the athletes and the film producers could take responsibility to not show Grigri misuse in videos which million of climbers end up watching and learn from.