As the winter has hard time to let go in Europe and everyone is keen to get out we can get inspired by Petter Ulmert who sent an 8b+ outside Göteborg in 3 degrees minus fully cloudy. To make the story even better, Petter is 49 years old and this was his hardest ever and he has done 7-8 similar trips during the winter, meaning six hours in the car. "It was cold as hell and I fell twice on the last move as I could not feel my fingers. It is hard to warm up specifically for it. On my third attempt it did go down. (c) Hampus Räf

IFSC has changed the boulder scoring so the number of zones is the second criteria which might make it easier to analyze the scoreboard. At the same time it could be more complicated for the commentator to present it as well as for the audience to understand it. "Ondra leads by one top in one attempt followed by Chon, one top in two attempts and Narasaki one top in three attempts", is how commentators normally present the ranking and how it was done in CWIF last Sunday. The problem is that it just might be that Chon and Narasaki has done one more zones and with the new rule, zones being the second criteria, Ondra is #3. In practice this means that the first sentence needs to be presented like this. "Chon is in the lead with one top and two zones in two attempts ahead of Narasaki with one top and two zones in three attempts followed by Ondra with one top and one zone in one attempt. " In other words, until 2017 you only had to present two criterias to get a good separation but from 2018, you almost always will have to present three criterias. Presenting and understanding a ranking with three criterias instead of just two will be more complicated. One option to make it much easier for both the commentators as well as the audience, could be to just replace the definition Top with 10 points and zone with 1 point. Even the non-climbers would fully understand. "Chon leads with 12 points and two attempts followed by Narasaki also on 12 points but three attempts and Ondra with 11 points in one attempt."

Daisuke Ichimiya, who last autumn did Creature from the black lagoon 8C+ in RMNP, has repeated Dai Koyamda's Gekirin 8C in Ryutosen. "It has unique holds in a hard traverse and with a dead point crimper crux. I did suffer for the crux move. After practicing the moves, it took me some 12 tries. My next project is a new boulder on the same block. (c) Chikara Ishizuka

Moritz Welt has done his first 8B+, Hips don´t lie sit 8B+ in Frankenjura and the 16 year old goes to #2 in the junior ranking game. "Finally my little nemesis is over! After a lot of sessions where i was ill or nearly every hold was wet, I finally did the last remaining boulder at this spot! Definitely my hardest problem until now!"

Daniel Woods reports on Instagram that he has done First Ley 9a+ in Margalef. Now he just has to finish the line straight adding an 8A boulder to do First Round First Minute 9b. It should be mentioned that the other day, Daniel broke a fixed quick draw which almost resulted in a ground fall. "Reminder to check your gear and pre placed gear to prevent anything serious from happening. Be safe out there. (c) Alex Kahn who belayed Daniel during his close-call fall, also witnessed a friend fall and break his leg and arrived to Siurana the day of the rock fall at El Pati. Be smart and stay safe!

Vertical-Life has added points for the recorded climbs available in their App meaning you can measure progress and play the ranking game at your gym with your friends. Alex Megos is leading the global outdoor ranking game at 12 658, bear in mind that you can until know only add climbs connected to the VL App guidebooks. You can filter in different ways focusing on just the last months and count 100 routes etc. More filters and options will be added and soon. The plan is also to make it possible to run outdoor festival and gym competitions based on the new ranking game feature.

Giuliano Cameroni reports on Instagram that he has done Big Island 8C in Fontainebleau. (c) Jess Talley "I tried it a little in 2017 but I wasn't strong enough to do it. This year the conditions were much better and it took me two days."

It is natural that in the future, most topos will be available in Apps as a compliment to the printed guidebook. The App will mainly be used at the crag once you, back home, have selected with crag and routes to try out. The digital topos actually means you do not need to carry and dirtying the "catalog look-alike" topo to the crag. In other words, the topo producers who also have a mobile version, could create a Coffe Table Book from their topo focusing more about pictures and the local stories. Imagine having a Kalymnos, or your local crag, Coffe Table Book to get inspired from where you also can show your friends and relatives what climbing is all about. It is very important to support the local community and it is the topo producers who often handle the access issues and are in contact/support the guys bolting and rebolting. A Coffe Table Book could be yet one more way to support and strengthen your local community. The idea has come from talking to Mikael Widerberg who has just released the new topo for Stockholm at 17 * 24 cm.

Clément Lechaptois, who the last two weeks has done a Font 8B+ as well as being #5 in the French Nationas, has done his first 8C by Malédiction assis in Rioupéroux. "Finally!!! What a battle... It took me ~15 sessions after that I did the (8B) stand-start in 2016! The line is complete now... The sit adds only 4 moves to the stand start but it's enough for it becomes a way harder! We'll see what the next repetitors say about the grade. Soooo happy to finally have finished it off! I didn't do a specific training for that boulder. But I train regularly to progress in climbing in general. I am passionated about rock climbing for years... I always try to improve my weaknesses."

Anna Liina Laitinen reports from the sending train in Siurana, where she did Pati Noso 8c+, Jon Cardwell and Matty Hong both did Estado Critico 9a (8c+) and Daniel Woods Jungle Speed, which gets back to 9a after one hold has broken. (c) Jon Cardwell of Daniel Woods, who says on Insta, that it took him four days. "Savage opening boulder (hard 8B) to an 8a outro." Cardwell and Hong have reached out saying that as it only took them 6 respectively 3 tries. "We think that the grade of Estado Critico is much more 8c+ than 9a :) It’s rather hard and bouldery still but just not enough for 9a."