Narasaki, Fujii, Rubtsov and Chon were the first four in the Boulder World Cup in 2016 and all of them are Top-5 after Keita Watabe this year. What is pretty amazing is that among the next 10 highest ranked only Kruder and Hojer are performing at a high level also in 2017. Rustam Gelmanov was #4 last year followed by McColl, Stranik and Bonder. These four athletes have just, all together, made it three times to the Top-20 semi (Bonder #10, Stranik #17 and McColl #18).

Comparing the style of Jongwon Chon, standing on just part of his toes and failing and missing the final, with Alexey Rubtsov, the winner, doing the friction dependent move using more sole, just confirms what Ondra said during the La Sportiva media day. This was reported just two days ago. "Sometimes there are slabs where you just stand on volumes, and you could actually climb them in normal sneakers. These boulders are about putting as much rubber on as possible and what is most important is how flexible you are in the foot. He also said that for him it is hard to understand why some of the top climbers on this type of boulder use the same very tight shoes as you would for standing on micros on an overhang." In fact, Ondra actually used Jongwon Chon as an example of a boulderer that might be using too tight of shoes meaning he gets less sole on these just friction dependent volumes. He was critical towards too much of this type of route setting as it mainly just measures how flexible you are in the ankle. In practice, Ondra meant that it would have been an advantage for especially Chon but also others to bring an over sized shoe to the comps, using for such slab volume problems, and start training ankle flexibility.

1. Janja Garnbret 4t5 4b4 SLO - Alexey Rubtsov 3t8 4b13 RUS 2. Akiyo Noguchi 4t9 4b9 JPN - Tomoa Narasaki 3t9 4b10 JPN 3. Miho Nonaka 3t4 4b5 JPN - Keita Watabe 2t5 3b6 JPN Complete results Four Japanese on the podium and in the overal WC rankingl, four males are among Top-6 and two female among Top-4. A Japanese coach try to explain why they excel. Besides the first 20 minutes in the female final, where all the athletes had flashed the first boulder and later the first four had hit the last hold on the first try, the final was once again an amazing show as all comps in 2017. Some might dislike the more parkour balance type of route setting mainly based on volumes but in the end it was exciting as you never know what can happen. Among the females, all pressure was on Janja before she started on the last competitor on the last boulder knowing that she had to do it in a couple of tries. Yes, she did and in the end she looked superior. In the winning interview, Janja expressed that part of the reason why she is competing is because she like to be put under pressure. Among the male, Narasaki had flashed two of his three tops and as the two guys before him had made it, everyone thought this was just going to be a walk in the park for him once again. Then Rubtsov, who had not flashed any of his three tops, did the last boulder on his third try, beating Narasaki with one top attempt. Once again, everyone thought that Watabe, the leader from the semi and also the last winner in China, would do it easily but no. Not to be missed is the Ondra shoe and volume analyses he made three days ago which is presented below and to the right. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

1. Shauna Coxey 335 GBR - Keita Watabe 285 JPN 2. Janja Garnbret 327 SLO - Alexey Rubtsov 252 RUS 3. Miho Nonoka 232 JPN - Tomoa Narasaki 249 JPN 4. Akiyo Noguchi 180 JPN - Jongwon Chon 226 KOR 5. Petra Klingeler 178 SUI - Kokoro Fujii 203 JPN 6. Stasa Gejo 176 SRB - Rei Sugimoto 164 JPN Complete results The domination from Japan is just amazing especially among the males where the Europeans keep struggling. Just like in the overall last year, not one boulderer from western Europe within Top-6. Among the female, Shauna who has been Top-2 in eight of the last ten events, is clearly challenged by Janja Garnbret who has three straight Top-2 results.

1. Janja Garnbret 4t5 4b4 SLO - Alexey Rubtsov 3t8 4b13 RUS 2. Akiyo Noguchi 4t9 4b9 JPN - Tomoa Narasaki 3t9 4b10 JPN 3. Miho Nonaka 3t4 4b5 JPN - Keita Watabe 2t5 3b6 JPN Teljes eredménylista A Japanese coach try to explain why they excel.

"The aim of this ambitious venture is to promote climbing by encouraging people from all over the world to spread the news regarding the beauty and the endless climbing possibilities of the area!"

During the La Sportiva media days, we had a chance to talk to Adam Ondra and Pietro dal Pra in regards shoe technology and know-how. First of all, Pietro wanted to say that it is Luca Gabrielli from R & D who is the brain behind shoe construction "no climber could understand this because it is just too complicated." As La Sportiva has so many shoes on the market that try to match the demand of different types of feet, skill, steepness, and holds, they have put together a vector diagram as well as table explaining how to choose. On the other hand, every climber is unique with a personal style and flexibility so La Sportiva can just give general advice. Adam Ondra fills in saying that he has gone up half a size and just such a small change has had an impact on his climbing as the this allows him to use his toes more actively instead of just putting pressure on them. It relates to the angle his toes are shaped into and this is determined by the size. It should be mentioned that Adam now is using 38.5 which is like five sizes below his normal size. Their message is somewhat that every top climber should spend a few hours reading and understanding all this shoe technology know-how, through the new La Sportiva catalog. Sure you will have to invest in some more shoes but then you will climb harder if you know which shoe to use specifically on each foot for each route. The next step is to take the knife and start adjusting the heal as Adam did for his Vasil vasil 9b+. Ondra also used examples from the Boulder World Cup to explain different extremes. ""Sometimes there are slabs where you just stand on volumes, and you could actually climb them in normal sneakers. These boulders are all about putting as much rubber on as possible and what is most important is how flexible you are in the foot." He also said that for him it is hard to understand why some of the top climbers on this type of boulder would use the same very tight shoes as you would for standing on micros on an overhang. "Tomoa is, on the other hand, using over-sized consumed shoes which tell us that he has super strong toes also." Noteworthy is also that Adam, who is now 69 kg, almost always goes for No Edge when he goes for an onsight, as you do not have time to be ultra precise. When going for his hardest redpoints, lately he has been using a prototype of the new Miura XX which has just been released with his signature included. He also told us that he will go for the Olympic, "even if the format is stupid."

Rafa Fanega has done MD MDA in Villanueva del Rosario, which was his third 8c+ in the last 12 months. Interestingly, he started climbing in 1991 and now at 42, the 163 cm Spaniard is in the best shape of his life. It is time to step it up to 9a! In total, Rafa has recorded 1 674 routes, out of which one third are FAs. Most of his FAs are from Fin del Mundo outside of Madrid, which has been one of the most popular crags in Spain recently, although it is closed between January 15th and June 15th.

Piotr Schab has onsighted his third 8c, American Hastle in Oliana, the same day he drove 700 km from a snowy Céûse . "Felt and climbed rather badly, but somehow made it to the top. Seems not so tough for the grade." There should at most be a handful of climbers who have onsighted more than three 8c's, so the 21 year old Pole belongs to an exclusive club.

A Black Diamond atlétája Nalle Hukkataival nem adja fel egykönnyen, az egyszer biztos. Hatalmas erőfeszítések közepette, és vérverejtékes munkával 7 éven keresztül, azon eltökélt szándékkal tért vissza ugyanazon sziklatömbhöz, hogy apránként építse össze munkásságának eddigi leghatalmasabb mesterművét: a világ legelső 9A boulderét, a Burden of Dreams-t. Minderről pedig egy 34 perces igényes kisfilm is készült, amelyben betekintést nyerhetünk, mit is jelent nagyot álmodni, és hogy a sikerhez vezető út valójában mekkora próba elé állítja az emberi testet és szellemet egyaránt. A kudarc, mint olyan, főleg a nyugati kultúrára jellemző módon, elég egyhangúan van kezelve. Ha valaki kimegy a szabadba akár egy mászóutat vagy egy bouldert próbálni, és a sok befektetett energia ellenére is, annak megmászása nélkül tér haza, azt egyszerűen kudarcként könyveli el, és nem pedig egy újabb lépésként a siker irányába. Holott az egyetlen valódi bukás nem más, mint a feladás. Minden egyéb kudarc igenis fontos része az útnak. A maradandó dolgok az életben – attól függetlenül, hogy mekkora kihatással vannak rá – nem azok, amik egyszerűen és könnyen hullottak az ölünkbe, hanem amikért ugyan sokat küzdöttünk, de végeredményül sikerült valóra váltanunk. Ha valaki a végsőkig el akar menni, és olyasvalamit végrehajtani, amit eddig még senkinek sem sikerült, akkor bizony a mentális teher gyakran sokkal jelentősebb, mint a fizikai igénybevétel. Folyamatosan motoszkál bennünk a tudat, hogy erre eddig még soha senki nem volt képes. Ha valamiről tudjuk, hogy azt már más is meg tudta egyszer csinálni, akkor azzal bebeszéljük magunknak, hogy ez működhet, hiszen másnak is sikerült. Ellentétben az ismeretlennel, ahol a siker egyáltalán nem garantált. Mentális síkon az efféle határfeszegetés nem más, mint a tudat és a tudalatti harca. Fejben racionális alapokra helyezve kiszámolod, hogy igen, minden adott ahhoz, hogy egy bizonyos időintervallumon belül egy bizonyos mennyiségű befektetett energia ráfordításával képes lehetsz megcsinálni. Ám ekkor lép közbe a tudatalatti. A tudatalattit pedig semmi más nem tudja befolyásolni, mint az ösztönök. Ekkor jönnek az igazi nehézségek, amikoris az ösztönök nem képesek realizálni azt, amit mi már egyszer fejben elhatároztunk. Albert Einstein egyszer azt mondta, hogy „Az őrültség nem más, mint ugyanazt tenni újra és újra, és várni, hogy az eredmény más legyen”. Viszont mi, mászók pontosan ezt csináljuk: Újra, és újra próbáljuk pontosan ugyanazt. Amikor elkezdtem a Burden of Dreams-et projektelni, akkoriban ez a projekt sem volt különb a szememben, mint a többi. Egy idő után viszont már annyi energiát fektettem bele, hogy többé már nem tudtam úgy tekinteni rá, mint egy átlagos projektre. Egy ilyen kis ’kavics’ megmászása nem lehet ennyire fontos. Mind ez a temérdek energiaráfordítás egyetlen kis tömb megmászásáért? Bizony egy idő után megszűnik ez az elsőre bagatellnek tűnő dolog jelentéktelennek lenni, és becsületbeli üggyé válik. Az emberek azt gondolják, hogy a megmászás pillanata a legkirályabb. Én viszont egészen másképp látom ezt az egészet. A megmászás már csak az utolsó ecsetvonás, amivel a nagy mű elkészül. Természetesen felemelő pillanat, amikor az utolsó darabbal egybe áll a nagy egész, de ez valóban fontosabb lenne, mint az összes többi alkotóelem? Számomra a leglebilincselőbb pillanat maga a felismerése annak, hogy mindez gyakorlatilag is lehetséges, mielőtt még teljes egészében valóban összeállna. A Burden of Dreams-nél számomra nem a megmászás a legmeghatározóbb, hanem az út, ami hozzávezetett. - Nalle Hukkataival

The Lappnor Project - A Documentary About Not Giving Up from Blue Kangoo Films on Vimeo.

Videó: Blue Kangoo, Szöveg: Nalle Hukkataival, Fordító: D3Meter, Kép: Heikki Toivanen