For the first time, La Sportiva invited some websites and bloggers to a media day showing how they produce and develop their shoes locally in the Dolomites. They have some 160 workers that are in the production line producing some 1 000 shoes every day. On an average, it takes in between 30 - 60 minutes labor time to produce one shoe divided in 35 steps. What was also pointed out is that the stitching as well as the advanced machines providing the highest technology for producing the shoes are the most important for the production. In regards, R & D and prototypes, their famous tester Pietro dal Pra, explained that normally more than 50 prototypes are made before the end product is finished. Now they have started with a new idea and for the first time they will be allowed to use two years before it will be finished. Pietro also pointed out that what is getting more important is actually testing the material that goes into the factory. More raw material is getting in from more suppliers and the end product can not be any better than how good the raw material is. Sales are increasing and they have sold out everything and it is almost to the point that shops have to be put on a waiting list for getting new shoes. At the moment, the shops have to wait several months if you order new shoes as of today. Even the media could not get the two different pairs of shoes that were planned originally. Within two years a new factory next door will be finished. 240 athletes are sponsored from the headquarter. Lately, La Sportiva has also increased their focus on recycling and one of their shoes is mainly done by recycled raw material. They will also shortly present a shoe with a colorful sole that could be used indoors not leaving any marks.

The good news is that as in the first three Boulder World Cups, the # of participants has increased almost 20 % in Japan compared to last year. In total there are 142 athletes in the start list In comparison to the two events especially, Australia, Canada, Italy and USA are sending bigger teams. Japan participates with 20 females and 22 males and based on the results in China, it just might be that they will have, at least, a dozen males and a half dozen females in the semi. Sunday Livestreaming GMT+9 09:00-11:15 Men and Women Semi-Finals 14:30-15:50 Women Finals 15:50-17:10 Men Finals

Alberto Gines, who three weeks ago onsighted his first two 8a+', has done it again with Goliath and Abú Simbel in Cuenca. (c) Mario Martínez Muñoz In the 8a onsight ranking game, the 14 year old is #24 and among the 14 year olds he is #2 after Jan Vopat, who has recorded two 8b's. As Adam Ondra has pointed out, 8a encourages youngsters to focus on onsights, in varied styles, in order to be more challenged oriented instead of spending long time projecting down some hard sequences that fit small climbers.

Eric Hörst, one of the most well-known trainers, who also has two hard core teenage son climbers, has published an article in regards - Reducing Risk of Growth Plate Fractures". Here is part of his advice: "While highly fit and advanced youth climbers may be able to do a small amount of hangboard training and “laddering” up a campus board, they should not engage in any “double dyno” campus training nor weighted hangboard training during their growth spurt years. The most prudent coaches will allow no campus board training during the growth spurt years. During the period of highest growth velocity, time spent “limit bouldering” should be reduced to just 30 minutes once or twice per week. Climbing frequency should be limited to 2 to 4 days per week during the growth spurt years, with an immediate reduction in climbing time at the first sign of pain in the knuckles. Coaches should instruct on minimal use of the crimp grip, which is highly stressful on the middle (PIP) joint of the long fingers. All youth climbers should have an “off-season” during which they do little or no climbing for one to four months. Playing a second sport is strongly recommended through age 16, in order to develop a high physical IQ and diverse motor skills that will last a lifetime." Based on this knowledge, Eric Horst thinks that route setters for 10 - 16 year old competitors should avoid crimps. Possibly, IFSC should publically announce that in competitions, the route setters should, in fact, avoid crimps. This would have such an impact that the youngsters actually would train less on crimps in order to be prepared for such moves. Instead, the kids would focus more on open hand training, getting less growth plate fractures.

Nemrég egy maroknyi hazai legény aprított a boulderezés Mekkájának számító Fontainebleau-ban, de még nem tért mindenki haza - úgyhogy az össznépi összefoglaló később fog csak jönni, ha jön egyáltalán. De addig is ismerjetek meg jobban egy hazai huligánt, aki az elmúlt egy hónap aprítása után vastagon megérdemli a címlapot. Ő Zsigmond Árpád, becenevén csak Pád. Árpi Szekszárdi születésű – a mászással budapesti tanulmányai alatt ismerkedett meg a BME tesióra keretein belül. Köteles mászásba Borbély Gáborék, aztán az igazi szerelmébe a boulderezésbe pedig talán én rántottam be. Árpi a tökéletes példája szerintem a „Lassú víz partot mos” népi bölcsességnek – már a sportra levetítve. 5év mászás után 2012-ben mászta első 7C boulderét, egy évvel később az első 7C+ -t, majd az egyetemi tanulmányokat befejezve Ausztriába költözött feleségével ahol übermotivált edzés vette kezdetét. 2015-ben megmászta első osztrák 8A fokozatú bouldereit, jelenleg pedig ott tart, hogy az elmúlt egy hónapban 8db bouldert mászott meg 7C+ és 8A fokozat környékén, nem egyet Fontainebleau-ból és Zillertalból elhozva és biztos vagyok benne, hogy ezzel a motivációval pár éven belül akadni is fog az első 8B. Nem mászó kedvese és másfél éves kisfia gyakran kísérik el bouldertripjeire. Árpi ékes példa lehet a gyerekes mászóknak is, miszerint a teljes munkaidő és család mellett sem kell hogy a mászótudás és erő visszafejlődjön. Árpi motivált edzéseit volt hogy az udvaron lévő moonboardján 0°C-ban tette, vagy a pincében felszerelt fingerboardon ment az önsanyargatás. Erejéről a 10 egykezes húzódzkodása is árulkodhat picit. Motiváció terén ajánlom példának mindannyiunk számára.

Pri špárovom lezení mal lezec doteraz dve možnosti: buď stráviť dlhý čas tejpovaním rúk alebo si ich zakrvaviť. Nové gumové rukavice od Ocúnu však sľubujú zmenu, keďže teraz bude možné liezť v nich ťažšie veci a v praxi ušetria čas a peniaze a ako bonus sú ekologicky nezávadné. Viac info V hodnotení na Amazone dostali veľmi dobrých 4.7 z 5 a používa ich napríklad aj Adam Ondra. Momentálne sú dostupné v piatich veľkostiach a niekedy môže byť celkom komplikované trafiť veľkosť, ktorá presne pasuje. Ja ich napríklad nechcem mať také veľké ako na obrázku a menšie (S) mi boli celkom tesné. Autor: Jens Larssen

Keita Watabe is #1 in the Boulder World Cup 2017 having started the season with being 3 - 4 - 1. He started climbing at eight years old and participated in two Youth World Championships 2008 (#10) and 2012 (#29). Last year he was #23 in the Boulder World Cup, averaging around #16 position. In 2015, which was his first year on the Boulder WC, he was on average #37 based on five events. In regards to the Olympics he has not been thinking about it yet. How can you explain the great progress? I practice body control. How to put force on each hold. How do you train this? The practice is beyond description. It is secret but relates to be conscious of where you are going to do the pull up and where to stop. How do you deal with the mental pressure? I focus on the front of the challenge of the problem to reduce the pressure.

Hand crack climbing has always mean that you either spend long time taping your hands or get blood on them. Now Ocun presents their rubber gloves that in practice will be a game changer as it will make you climb harder and also that it will save you time and money, beside being eco-friendly. More info On Amazon they receive a whopping 4.7 out of 5 stars and also Adam Ondra uses them. Right now, they are only available in five sizes and it can be quite tricky to get the perfect size based on your preferences. I do not want to have them as big as in the picture and for me small was pretty tight with a hand that could be considered as pretty small.