Alex Puccio took her eleventh win in the USA Bouldering Nationals by beating Ashima Shiraishi with 9.7 points. They did the same number of tops but Alex controlled two more zones. Brooke Raboutou did the same number of zones as Ashima but had used two more tries. If they would have used the IFSC scoring actually Ashima would have won and Alex would have been third! IFSC scoring (USA scoring) 1. Ashima Shiraishi 2T2 4b4 (70), 2. Brooke Raboutou 2T4 4b4 (69.8) 3. Alex Puccio 2T6 4b4 (79.6). Among the male Nathaniel Coleman, #4 in the Boulder WC 2015, won his third title with the perfect score 100 points meaning he topped all four problems. Sean Bailay was second at 99.6 and Drew Ruana third by 98.6. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

The Parkour boulder setting has seen some negative reactions at the same time it often create spectacular shows. However, sometimes it is dead boring to see several climbers running around like a pinball ball landing on the floor with no points, 30 times in a row. It is also a bit problematic that the route setting can be so divers so sometimes the strongest guys have no chance as the route setters did choose to mainly challenge the parkour skills. One idea to more easy find a better balance would be if the route setters actually for parkour problems sometimes added another solution maybe from another starting hold or traversing on underclings, not reachable from the parkour running volumes. Lead climbing has gotten much more popular the last few years due to much more volumes being using creating different solutions. We often see different solutions also in bouldering but when it comes to running on volumes it is almost identical moves being done. We are getting closer to the Olympics and that would be every IFSC route setters dream. Who will be the first to just simply add four underclings creating a traverse that you can not reach from the parkour horizontal running volumes? Update: IFSC route setter Tomasz Oleksy has said, " I think I can create this future problem:)"

Maggie Odette has done Killer Bees 8b in Hurricave where Chris Sharma did the FA. The 48 year and 157 cm tall old has the last five years previously done five 8b's and two 8b+'s. "I've been trying it for two years now to climb this 50 feet of rock. Hardest of the grade for me so far because it's so short...and so am I ;) Actually, I think it's pretty fair as far as the height game goes. The tricks are there if you're willing to take the time to find them!" (c) Heidi Baxter

The semifinal of the USA Bouldering Nationals is streamed live, 09.25 MST: Euro 17.25. Interesting they rank the climbers by three zones; 5, 10 and 15 points and you get 25 points for the top. For each try 0.1 points are deducted both for the zones and the top. Here you have the results. The big change for this system, in comparison to the IFSC system, is that two tops can loose to somebody that does many zones. Scoring by points have been up to discussion inside IFSC and 8a have forwarded a similar scoring system with two zones 3 and 5 points respectively 10 points for the top or 11 points for a flash. No deduction for tries but instead counting attempts for tied scoring. On the picture by Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing you clearly see the 5, 10 and points zones holds.

Adam Ondra reports on Instagram"First ascent yesterday, a route bolted by Quentin Chastagnier - La Castagne 9a+ (name was changed - did not know the name had been given)." This means that Adam has now done 32 FAs 9a+ and harder and on the diagram by Alex Beale we can see that Chris Sharma is runner up on this exclusive list, followed up by Alex Megos on seven.

99boulders.com has together with Willis Kuelth created the complete 9a+ to 9c statistics, including a diagram showing the great progress. In total we are talking 69 9a+, 7 9a+/b, 24 9b, 2 9b/+, 3 9b+ and Silence 9c. In total 69 climbers are listed, including Margo Hayes, Anak Verhoeven and Angela Eiter. Noteworthy is that 92 % of the ascents have been done in Europe, with a concentration around Lleida in Spain. Here are the most repeated. 19 La Rambla - FA Ramon Julian Puigblanque 18 Papichulo - FA Chris Sharma 15 Biographie - FA Chris Sharma 11 Thor's Hammer - FA Adam Ondra 05 Chilam Balam (9b) - FA Bernabe Fernandez Alex Huber's Open Air from 1996 is listed to be the first 9a+ because of Adam Ondra's upgrade and probably also due to that Huber having said it should be due to the grade inflation. It should be mentioned that grades are subjective and there just might be some further up- and down grades that can change the list. Currently Ondra has done 23 of the 30 listed 9b or harder.

Nina Williams has done her Window Shopper in Flagstaff which is her fourth 8A+ the last eight months and she is #2 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Alex Kahn "Extremely finger-position specific. Getting the far right hand determined how the come-in move to the crystal crimp felt... The crystal crimp determined how the next three slaps felt. I used an insecure high right heel for the end moves and never trusted it. Came down to micro-beta and getting out of my own head. Not sure if I ever really got out honestly... Just pure luck on the send :P Epic mental battle."

Adam Ondra reports on his Instagram, with 174 000 followers, that he has done the first repeat of Pirmin Bertle's Meiose in Charmey on his 3rd go giving it a personal grade of 9a+. In the video below you can see Adam finds a no-hands kneebar. Out of all 36 9a+ (b) and harder listed on 99 boulders.com Adam has done 24. Including also his latest recorded 9a, Retour Gagnant in St Legere, "Done with a headlamp in the end of the day. Waiting for the big projects to dry up, hopefully...", Adam has now done 153 9a's and harder. Here you can sign up for one of Adam's training session in March in Spain.

Ett inlägg delat av Adam Ondra (@adam.ondra) 1 Feb 2018 kl. 1:30 PST

Picchu from Petzl is a light weight kids climbing helmet that has also gotten official standards for cycling. The testing children have all liked it wearing it for multiple hours. It is said to be designed for kids in between 3 and 8 years old but that might be stretching it a bit as the headband is 48 - 54 cm, meaning some 8 year old might find it a bit small. Other than that, it is easy to adjust and it comes with reflective stickers so your kids can personalize it. In general another high quality Petzl product.

IFSC reports that Reza Alipourshenazandifar, who set the Speed World record last year at 5.48, has been selected as the Athlete of the year by © International World Games Association. In 2014, Adam Ondra won after having become the double World Champion in Lead and Boulder. “Wow, already two Athlete of the Year awards for sport climbing, the most of any sport,” said IFSC President Marco Scolaris. “Congratulations to Reza for this success as well as for his achievements in 2017. He is the fastest Speed climber and the first Iranian athlete to win gold at The World Games. Keep climbing!” IFSC and the climbing community just might need tp get prepared that Speed climbing will be at least as popular in the upcoming Olympic Games 2020.