Julia Chanourdie, šiesta v poradí v minuloročnom svetovom pohári na obtiažnosť, oznámila na Facebooku prelez svojho prvého 9a. "WAOUHHH ! Včera som vyliezla svoje prvé 9a, Ground Zero v Tetto di Sarre v Taliansku !!! Bol to jednoznačne najkrajší moment, byť na chvíľu ako "kráľovná sveta..." Pred tromi týždňami skončila druhá na majstrovstvách Francúzska a je tak jednou z mála lezkýň, ktoré dokážu skombinovať svetovú úroveň lezenia v dvoch disciplínach naraz.

It is natural for the human being to eager for progress and the media is just full of short cut magic recipes. The problem is that if you get to obsessed with progress you forget about exploring climbing. Instead you will only be happy when you make progress on your training board or on your project. This means also that you will develop more anxiety and in the end you will forget how fun climbing is. Instead of making climbing your great lifestyle, travelling and meeting nice people you might even stop. The easiest way to see if you are at risk is by checking how pointed your grade pyramid is. The general rule is that the base should be built up by a factor four. Another way is to ask yourself if you are looking forward to the following structured training sessions. Skip your short cut training for a while and just enjoy to make your pyramid wider and you just might become a better and more enjoyable climber in the long run.

Studio Bloc Masters sa odohrá už tento víkend a v nedeľu bude aj priamy Stream z podujatia. Semifinále začína o 11:30, finále o 16:00. Dokopy sa zúčastní 500 pretekárov z 34 krajín a viac ako polovica tých najlepších zo svetového pohára 2016. Cena pre víťaza je 10 000€ a výťažok z celej akcie pôjde na Climbers Against Cancer. The Circuit Climbing už publikovali aj report z kvalifikácie.

Studio BlocMasters bolo veľmi dobrým podujatím, ktoré sa však nezaobišlo bez veľkých problémov. Tak ako minulý týždeň, aj teraz sa ukázalo, že nové pravidlo, ktoré dáva lezcom presné 4 minúty na prelez, je sklamaním. Dúfajme, že sa do najbližšieho svetového pohára, ktorý sa začína o dva týždne vo Švajčiarsku, pretekári lepšie prispôsobia tejto zmene pravidiel. Na tomto linku nájdeš report z kvalifikácie od The Circuit Climbing spolu s fotoalbumom. (c) Eddie Fowke - Víťazka kvalifikácie Janja Garnbret. 1. Jernej Kruder SLO - Fanny Gibert FRA 2. Jongwon Chon KOR - Janja Garnbret SLO 3. Jan Hojer GER - Chloé Caulier BEL Kompletné výsledky Za zmienku takisto stojí, že prví traja muži na pódiu boli takisto vo finále CWIF minulý týždeň, čo nám napovedá, kto môže byť, okrem japonských pretekárov, favoritom nasledujúceho svetového pohára. Zo žien sa však žiadna nedostala do oboch finále.

Studio Bloc Masters will take place this weekend with live streaming on Sunday. Semi starts at 11.30 and the final at 16.00. In total 500 athletes from 34 countries will participate including more than 50 % of the best ranked in the 2016 World Cup. The prize money is Euro 10 000 and all profit will be donated to Climbers Against Cancer. The Circuit Climbing has the qualifying report.

The Studio BlocMasters turned out to be a great event with great problems. As of last week, the new 4 minute rule did was a disappointment. Let us hope the climbers will adapt better when the World Cup starts in two weekends in Switzerland. Here is The Circuit Climbing qualifying report and album. (c) Eddie Fowke - Janja Garnbret winning the qually. 1. Jernej Kruder SLO - Fanny Gibert FRA 2. Jongwon Chon KOR - Janja Garnbret SLO 3. Jan Hojer GER - Chloé Caulier BEL Complete results Noteworthy is that the three on male podium on BlocMasters did also make it to the final at CWIF last week, which should give a hint who are favorites for the WCs, beside the Japanese. None of the females made it to both the finals.

Gonzalo Larrocha has done La novena enmienda in Santa Linya recording it with a personal 9a grade. "I tried the route for 4 or 5 months, but usually just once or twice a week. I used many good rest to do the route. I could do this route because I live near the cave."

Mile Heyden has done an amazing jump from 8A to do Feuerwalze 8B+ in Schwäbische Alb. So how many sessions, any specific indoor training and what is next with the 8B+ confidence? "I think about 20 to 25 sessions :) First I just wanted to do the second part which is 8A, but I did it in only one session which was really cool :) I recreated the boulder in our gym and did a specific undercut training (like the beastmaker 7sec program). I also did lots of boulders with many moves for the endurance. Now with 8B+ confidence I think I will dare to try some more harder boulders :) There are some really cool lines in for example Silvretta that I've always wanted to do like Charity Bouldern (8a+). And I think I will try all the open projects, also a 6A jump I never was able to do! Maybe I'm able to now:) But first I have to go rope climbing with my boyfriend because he spotted me all the time (really don`t like rope climbing :))"

IFSC has informed 8a that there will only be six in the Speed finals in the Combined format. What they previously said, which 8a questioned, was wrong. "For the Speed Final the concept of “Lucky loser” (7° and 8° ranked Athletes in the 1/8th finals) applies, as a quota of 6 does not allow the duel system." IFSC says now that the six finalist will compete in three Duels and that the winners as well as the best time of the losers will qualify to the semifinal.

Steve Townshend, the fastest 8c+ climber in the world, has always used speed to do hard routes and here he explains the importance of breathing. Adam Ondra, known for his Speed, agrees with Steve and have also given some comments in the end. "Generally fast is better as long as you don't sacrifice efficiency. On some hard moves or sequences I have discovered I need to force myself to slow down. I also have practiced a lot of yoga, where you time your breathing with your movement, and I've learned to apply this same concept to climbing and that really helps. I used to fall off at the crux sometimes but other times I wouldn't and I couldn't figure out why? Until I applied this "breath with movement" idea and discovered that if I was breathing in during the crux I would fall. I needed to take air in just before the hardest moves and then either hold it in during the crux or exhale during the crux. This is why Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma scream (and tennis players and Bruce Lee) during the hard moves: it enhances your power. A hard part about this "rest" or with climbing slowly in general, is letting other thoughts enter your mind. You want to stay in the "zone" and not start to over analyze things. Sometimes if my mind starts to wander I just focus on my breath to keep those thought out. Deep breathes seems to be a key to climbing at your max. Just listen to Adam and you'll see he's figured that out too. I'm making a conscious effort to get better at breathing deeper and louder and times with the moves better when I climb at my max and at "full speed"." We asked Adam Ondra if he could comment Steve's interesting article and climbing style. I definitely try to breath as much as possible, because why do you get pumped (ie. get lactic acid)? Because of lack of oxygen. The more you breath, less lactic acid. What I usually do when I get to the jug or any rest - breath a lot at the beginning of the resting period, then slower to let my heart rate go down and just before going for it breath deeply a few more times again to motivate myself and "wake" myself up. Steve's climbing style is very impressive, but I would guess he could try to find a few half-a-second- or 1 second-shakeouts while climbing the first section of the route up to the rest. He has a very good pace with a generally relaxed body, but there is not even one second when he would shake either of the hands completely. He just keeps going. And that is tiring. Or the route is too long to be climbed in this style. Of course for somebody as fit as Ramonet it is not efficient to climb as fast. For Steve or me it could be the most efficient to climb that fast. But if we decide to train like horses, we could be fitter, our ability to shake out while climbing would better and it would be more efficient to climb slower and find more short rests. Other climbers have this fitness naturally, or due to long-life training, ability to rest almost everywhere (weight-dependent and genetic too). For these climbers, it is probably useless to start climbing faster."