- That 6c+ does also look amazing! Do you want to top rope it? Having climbed together with many of the best climbers in the world during the last 20 years. Steve McClure stands out, climbing and enjoying easier routes the most. During five very intensive days on the Swedish west coast, he focused purely on quality doing possible 30 routes in between 3a to 8a in eleven crags, with 7b as average. Together with Steve was two of his old climbing friends 60 and 69 years old (Kieth Sharples and Rab Carrington) and Steve was actually basically enjoying putting up quick draws and top ropes to his good friends, including me at 52. Having trad climbed for 20 years, Steve started sport climbing when he was 24. Although he was the first to do an 8b+ DWS, having done 8c trad and having onsighted or flashed at least 10 routes of 8b+ etc, we have yet seen his full potential around Sheffield. In total he has redpointed ten routes 9a and harder including his 9b FA this summer. The reason for this might be that during travelling he has mainly focused on quality climbing instead of taking down big challenges and grades. Going abroad means normally having his family in the car doing wild camping and climbing easier. At the same time, around Sheffield where he lives, he has concentrated on doing some extreme redpointing where he keeps the beta in small diaries and always refines it. It just might be that this recipe of focusing on climbing is the best way to for a continuous motivation, avoiding all the anxiety that you normally increase after trying your project for the 100th day in a row without success. (c) Keith Sharples captures when Steve does a 5c+ at Trellebystrands Camping. Within 15 min walk, there are 150 routes from 3a to 8b just by the fjord. Within 15 min in the car you are in the epicenter of trad mecca Bohuslän and in the picture Steve does the classic Electric Avenue 8a. - - The Swedish westcoast has some of the most diverse climbing styles that I have ever experienced and in such a compact area. I have on the same day climbed some excellent sport, trad and DWS routes. What I find particularly impressive is that fantastic quality sport and trad routes can exist in perfect harmony side by side. And there is also so much potential for new routes in all styles. My plan was to go for the onsight of Electric Avenue but thank God I did not try. I could see immediately that it would be far too hard and challenging to protect, which was confirmed on top rope. I checked all the placements on top rope, which were fairly spaced, then went for the lead. Pretty spicy! Originally the line was bolted which would have made for a fantastic onsight challenge, but in its current state it is a very different, though equally amazing route.

Ryuichi Murai has done 12 boulders 8A+ and harder in Magic Wood including two 8C's: In Search of Time Lost and Practice of the wild. Amazingly, the Japanese did it in just eleven days although it rained half of the time and he is now #1 in the ranking game. "By the bad weather I could perceive importance to climb problems that I want to climb regardless of the grade. In the second half of this tour, the weather improved and I could produce many good results! I already can't wait next trip!" How did you prepare yourself before Magic Wood? There are many hard roof problems in Magic Wood, so I went to Shiobara which has many big roofs. What is the next plan and ambition? First, I want to complete my big project in Shiobara roof. This Magic Wood tour was also good training for it. The project links original part (8A+) to UMA 8B+. So hard and long, maybe more than 40 moves. Then I want to climb V16. I haven't even tried yet though.

Thomas Blaabjerg has done his first 8B+, The Never Ending Story in Magic Wood four years after he had a bad accident which still forces him to use crutches during the approach. When it comes to landing on the crash pad he cannot land directly on his just feet, instead he has to fall down on his back. (c) Camilla Hylleberg - In 2013, I had an accident climbing on the auto-belay in my local gym, that resulted in an eight meter long free fall leaving me with a broken wrist, two crushed heels and, according to the doctors, some bad prospects for the future. Today, 4 years later, I still have to do a lot of rehabilitation; I still have trouble with walking, everyday activities and many things in climbing. However, if I’m careful, it’s still possible for me to climb hard, especially on rock, where it is easier for me to compensate for the lack of movement and strength in my feet. In climbing, there are a lot of things, which is almost impossible for me now, but there are still lots of things that I can do, so I’m very happy with that! I tried the line on and off over 4-5 days, but it was only the last 2 days where I gave it actual send burns from the bottom. In the crux (the connection of part one and two) it all comes down to a hard right heel hook, which I found very difficult. Therefore I spent the first sessions trying to connect this part. When I did that, around 3 moves before the red point crux, I knew I was able to do the full line.

Live-streaming Updated results (c) Eddie Fowke semi gallery

Adam Ondra has onsighted In the Middle of Nowhere and Grandslam (after break) in Frankenjura giving both a personal 8b+ grade. Besides being the best overall climber in the world since he was 15 years old, especially superior in onsight, he is also the top climber who suggests the most personal grades. In total the 24 year old has recorded 149 onsights 8b+ and harder, however, using regular topo grades, it should be at least 20 more. Now Adam is in Flatanger to continue on his Project Hard 9c but meanwhile he made the FA of Halibut 8c+ on his second go. "start like Elden Inuti, then directly into the anchor of Litt pa Kanten. Bolted by Joe Kinder."

Romain Desgranges, who last week got the gold in the European Championship, won the first stage of the Lead World Cup. Last year the 34 year old was #3 in the Lead World Cup and this start of the season is actually just a continuation of an almost 14 year progress trend. Among the females, the 2016 overall winner Janja Garnbret won again and actually in a rather spectacular way getting a complete, just standing no-hands rest, before executing the last dyno. More great pictures by Eddie Fowke. 1. Romain Desgranges FRA - Janja Garnbret SLO 2. Domen Skofic SLO - Mina Markovic SLO 3. Fedir Samoilov UKR - Anak Verhoeven BEL 4. Jan Hojer GER - Jain Kim KOR 5. Yuki Hada JPN - Jessica Pilz AUT Complete results It's impressive that Slovenia with just 2 million inhabitants continues it's domination. The most surprising results is that Jan Hojer almost made the podium. The Boulder Champion also exceled in Speed with 8.56 and should just by this be a contender also for the Tokyo Combined podium. In a short comment after his climb, he said that he was really pleased to just make it to the semifinal as he has not for several months trained and done four routes during a weekend! It was also great to see that 16 year old Laura Rogara from Italy defended her #6 position from last weekend in the European Championship. This must be kind of a nice surprise for the young Italian who in the last European Youth Cup was #4.

Alex Puccio has done Freshly Squeezed 8A+ in RMNP. In total, the #2 in the Boulder World Champion, has done 66 boulders 8A+ to 8B+. (c) Joel Zerr "What a nice line!!! I tried it the other day for the first time. It was too hot and couldn't send. Went back today with better temps and sent first try from the start! This boulder is notorious for being hard. It's so steep that it's almost a roof and the feet are kind of small. The second move was actually the hardest for me since I was unable to keep the foot on for the bump move so I had to make it into a jump. Another classic off the list!"

Alex Khazanov has had a remarkable start of his Rockland trip by doing 16 boulders 8A and harder including five flashes. Yesterday he got his and Israel's first 8C by doing Fred Nicole's Monkey Wedding. (c) Valdo Chilese "I am truly happy, overwhelmed and humbled to send this boulder, further more in only 3 days of work. My first and Israel's first 8C. A dream..."

Jernej Kruder, one of the most multi discipline climbers in the world, has done a trad ascent of the bolted route Umazana igra 8b+ in Kotecnik. "I don't want to chop the bolts. It's just some people that say it is more ethical to removes bolts at such routes. At around ten meters you have two good cams and then you have to climb 15 moves (quite hard) and then you place one cam below that is hard to place...but still you need to do the last crux move above that." This year, the Slovenian was #7 in the Boulder World Cup. He has done two 8C's, DWS 9b and several hard multi-pitches. At the same time, the 26 year old has started to do Lead and Speed comps so it might be that the big plan is also to go for the Olympics. Today he was #11 on the the first qualification route in Villars but did not make it to the semi.