Eric Hörst, a well known climbing trainer, explains Why strong fingers matters. This article might balance out the Cafe Kraft guys with a focus on almost everything but finger power. "The bottom line: By increasing your limit strength and advancing your high-end climbing ability, the submaximal level at which you can climb with relative ease and aplomb—and in high volume—is elevated. Therefore, by making a long-term training commitment to getting stronger (and improving your mental and technical game) you may someday find your current maximum climbing level to be “moderate” and achievable in volume."

Felipe Camargo, who two months ago won 35 000 USD in a Neflix "Ninja Warrior" show, has done his first 9a+, Papichulo in Oliana. Chris Sharma made the FA in 2008 and the Brazilian got it's 17th ascent. (c) Lena Drapella "I worked the route six weeks last year and seven days this trip. Trained a lot of endurance and tried to set my traverses in the gym with similar amount of hard moves, resistance and boulders. Like 28 moves to the first bad rest, then a 12 move boulder, better rest and then 40 endurance moves to the top. I never worked so hard or wanted anything as bad as I wanted this route!"

Two weeks ago, I published, "A boulder final can turn into a horror show with the new 4 min rule", explaining that a boulderer might reach the top within the 4 min but might not get an OK. The IFSC rule says that in order to get an OK you should within the max 4 min, "Controlled the marked finishing hold of the Boulder with both hands." Ask can be seen on the picture, Alexey Rubtsov is dynoing to the top hold when there are two seconds left but even so he did not get an OK. It took him some three seconds to control the last holds with both hands as, his feet cut loose, to move his left hand, his feet cutting loose again. Imagine if this had been in the Olympics and he had been one second earlier and most would have believed he made it and then it would have been up to the judge estimating split seconds, in order to give him an OK. At the very least, the new 4 min rule must be changed so it is good enough to get to the last hold within the 4 minutes and then you are allowed to establish the controlled position for some seconds.

Floclimbing, famous for almost closing a three year live-streaming contract with IFSC, has run Tuck Fest DWS. Carlo Traversi and Kyra Condie won the USD 5 000. In order to see this comp live you had to pay a monthly fee of USD 20 as would have been the case also for the World Cup streaming.

Floclimbing, spoločnosť známa pre nedávnu aféru s plateným live-streamom svetových pohárov, bola organizátorom súťaže v Deep Water Sóle (DWS) Tuck Fest. Víťazmi sa stali Carlo Traversi a Kyra Condie, ktorí si odniesli hlavnú cenu 5000 USD. Na sledovanie tejto súťaže live bolo treba zaplatiť mesačný poplatok 20 USD, ktorý bol temer aplikovaný aj na Svetové poháry.

Eric Hörst je známym lezeckých trénerom a v tomto článku vysvetľuje, prečo na sile prstov záleží. Článok môže zároveň vybalansovať príspevok chalanov z Café Kraft, ktorí sa sústreďujú na skoro všetko ostatné okrem sily prstov. "V skratke: zvyšovaním silového limitu a posúvaním hraníc tvojej maximálnej obťažnosti sa zvýši level a množstvo ciest pod tvojou maximálkou, ktoré dokážeš preliezť na istotu a s relatívnou ľahkosťou. Tým pádom, ak si zaumieniš dlhodobo trénovať a zvyšovať svoju silu (ako aj techniku a psychiku) môžeš jedného dňa zistiť, že obťažnosť, ktorú teraz považuješ za maximum, je pre teba "normálnou" a vieš ju liezť aj vo väčších objemoch."

Philipp Gaßner, who did his first 8c+ when he was 14 years old, has done his second, Pain makes me stronger, every day! in Frankenjura. "The route fits my style pretty well because it's short and bouldery with pockets. I just needed a few tries to stick the crux move that is a little dyno to a good pocket and to send the whole route. After my finger injury in 2016 I want to climb outside as much as possible. In summer my plan is to travel to Rocklands and the psyche is already high so let's see."

Klemen Becan did 60+ WC before he won in Kranj 2008 being 26 years old. On rock he has also enjoyed late blooming and with three 9a+' the last year. With several 8c onsights he is already among the Top-3 in the world. One was actually 8c+ but has gotten down graded and he has been close on several 8c+'. "Still my main goal is to onsight 9a hopefully also this will come one day as well, if not I will just enjoy the journey. I was close to one 9a in Cuenca some time ago.", where he actually placed the quick draws. (c) Anja Becan How many sessions did you need for La Rambla and how was the process? I gave it one try 10 years ago and now I was trying it since the beginning of the year. Could maybe have done it faster if I would be focused only on this one, but where is the fun in that? Too many cool routes around here to do only one at a time :) How can you explain your late progress on comps and rock? Well I never thought I was a bad competition climber. Yes, I could have a better results but that is another story. Also I think the focus was never a big problem since even if I was "just" climbing I was still "training" more than many people. Not with written program and blindly following someone but with many tests and trying what is best for my body. Now I still don't have a training plan. It's all in my head and apparently it works. I know enough to train myself.

Janja Garnbret, the Lead overall winner in 2017, was superior in the Boulder World Cup in Chongqing, winner of all three rounds and topping all 13 boulders in a superior style. Runner up was Shauna Coxsey who overall did ten boulders. Among the males, Jongwon Chon #4 in the Boulder World Cup last year, won both the semifinal and the final and in fact he had to do the final boulder twice as he misunderstood how to top out in his first try. 1. Janja Garnbret SLO 4t11 4b7 - Jongwon Chon KOR 4t6 4b5 2. Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4 4b5 - Tomoa Narasaki JPN 2t2 3b3 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3t13 4b13 - Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 2t2 3b3 Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke