Jakob Kronberger has done his second 9a FA, Baumwesen in Salzburger Land. Three weeks ago the 16 year old did The Power of Goodbye 8B. "The route was shown to me by Klem Loskot in last November. Klem showed me his beta for the crux and I immediately fell in love with the Baumwesen. He said it would be totally fine with him if i made the first accent, so I went for it. All in all I spent about 10 days in the route. For the year 2017 my number one priority is to stay healthy. I had quite a few problems with my fingers the last season. I wasn't often able to try really hard routes and when I did, I usually payed the price for it the next day. Aside of that I really want to do a project in Salzburg which I started last season. I don't have many more routes on my wish list this year."

KYMY DE LA PENA has done his first 9a, Seta Total 9a in Cuenca. The route was partially bolted by local Cuco and finished by Luis Alfonso Félix and José Luis Palao 'Primo'. Both did it after the Pablo Barbero's FA and also Ramón Julián. (c) Javipec Based on his scorecard with 600 ascents, we can see that the 31 year old has had a continuous progress for eight straight years. How many tries did it take you? The route took me 4 tries this year. Last season I tried it as well after I sent El Intento (the 8c+/9a on its right) and I was very close, but I couldn't. Maybe 8 tries in total. Tell us more about your progression.. Since 2009, it has been very progressive. I started climbing in 2008 when I was 23. Yap.., I'm not Alex Megos haahaha. I think that the progress is the result of the motivation for climbing, and that is the key, enjoying the same as when I did my first 7a. Also my experience as a trainer, based on working with so many people has made me better in the last years.

Fish Autotuber is another smart belay device which allows you to feed out rope very easy at the same time it pinches any rope in between 8 mm to 11 mm. It weighs only 68 grams. It is very intuitive and it also has a lever like Grigri for making lowering down more easy and safe. You can also just put in your thumb and lift the device up to release its friction on the rope. Video All in all, it is a very user friendly belay device and the price is around 60 Euro with the Rondo crew carabiner included. The Rondo is mandatory to use and we asked why? "During the development process we found out that it is extremely important that the carabiner's cross section fits to the belay device's shape. Only in this combination we can guarantee that the correct function is given. That´s the reason why we decided to sell the FISH in combination with our RONDO carabiner only. If a different carabiner is used, it could happen that the carabiner blocks and doesn´t provide any friction to the rope."

Patxi Usobiaga, the best climber in the world during the late -00's and who then got a neck injury from a traffic accident, has written a new blog. Road to discovery - beyond 9a. "It is with pure joy and restless motivation that I write this post. I am so overwhelmed right now. Just days after celebrating the 14 year anniversary of my first 9a ascent (Il Domani) I sent a new linkup between Joe Blau (8c+) and Papichulo (9a+) and I think it could be dubbed Patxitxulo 9a/+ (5.14d/5.15a)." (c) Javi Pec

IFSC has decided that the results in the three results will be multiplied instead of summed-up. In practice this means that it is better to focus on getting one or two very good results instead of performing evenly. A climber who gets #5 in all three disciplines will most probably not qualify to the Top-6 final. Here are some examples of pretty bad results that even so will beat the even #5 climber, due to the multiplication. 5 * 5 * 5 = 125 (15 summed-up) 1 * 6 * 20 = 120 (27 summed-up) 1 * 11 * 11 = 121 (23 summed-up) 2 * 4 * 15 = 120 (21 summed-up) In the final, the multiplication does not effect the overall results so much but the guy who is #2 in all three events will be beaten by the guy who is 1 - 1 - 6. Using multiplication will of course also make it more hard to analyze the results during the competition as a calculator will be needed. It could also be noted that in all other Combined sport, the calculation is based on sum-up. Another reality of the multiplication scoring is also that it is perfect for Adam Ondra and other top climbers as they do not need to train Speed. Adam can be last in in Speed in both the qualification and the final and win the Olympic gold anyhow. In fact, as most of his competitors will be training Speed and therefore loose some of their Lead and Boulder performance. It just might be his best strategy to skip Speed training to get the gold in Tokyo.

Počas tlačovej konferencie IFSC sa jej prezident Marco Scolaris vyjadril, že je ťažké porozumieť štýlu počítania bodov pri bouldrových závodoch a že pracujú na riešení, ktoré by mohli predstaviť v priebehu niekoľkých mesiacov. Reprezentant pretekárov Sean McColl povedal, že možnosťou by bolo hodnotenie pomocou bodov a že metóda, ktorá sa používa v USA je takisto zaujímavá. V skutočnosti sa zdalo, že štyria zastupujúci členovia IFSC sa za systém hodnotenia, ktorý je desať rokov starý, hanbili. 8a už niekoľkokrát navrhovalo iný formát, ako aj systém bodového hodnotenia ako alternatívu používania systému Zón a Topov. Zmena času na prelez vo finále lezenia s lanom z 8 minút na 6 a zo 4+ minút na 4 minúty vo finále boulderingu sú nastavené tak, aby boli vhodné pre televíziu. Scolaris: "Momentálne je toto riešenie, ktoré vieme predložiť pod tlakom. Vieme, že veľa ľudí nie je spokojných, nie sú z riešenia šťastný." "Očakávame, že presvedčíme IOC (Medzinárodnú olympijskú komisiu) a nielen ich, že pred 2020 budeme potrebovať pomoc, lebo náš šport rastie príliš rýchlo a nemáme dostatočné zdroje na to, aby som ho mohli menežovať. Ak to takto pôjde ďalej, ak sa naše príjmy nezvýšia, nebudeme mať dostatočné množstvo peňazí, aby sme zamestnali ďalších ľudí. Staneme sa obeťami nášho úspechu." Autor: Jens Larssen

During the IFSC press conference, the President Marco Scolaris said that it is hard to understand the scoring in bouldering but they are working on a solution that will be presented in some months. The athlete representative, Sean McColl said that the scoring with points is a possibility and it was also said that the USA method is interesting. In reality, the four IFSC representatives almost seemed ashamed in regards the scoring system and that it was ten years old. 8a has several times suggested format as well as scoring system in regards points instead of Tops and Bonuses. The changes with 6 minutes instead of 8 minutes in Lead finals, as well as 4 minutes instead of 4+ minutes in bouldering finals, were made to fit into TV. Scolaris: "At the moment, this is the solution we were able to produce under pressure. We know many people were not satisfied, not happy." "We expect to convince IOC, but not only, that hopefully before 2020 that we deserve some help, because the sport is growing to fast and we do not have the resources to manage the sport. If it goes on in this way and our income does not increase and therefore we are not able to hire additional human resources. We will become victim of our success."

Libor Hroza reports on Facebook that he was #2 in the USA Speed Nationals after J Brosler. Interestingly, the starting holds were placed to at least 6 cm too and in the final Libor fell directly in his second race. In the qualification, he made it to the top of the shortened route at 3.65 seconds, which can be compared with the world record 5.60. Even in the last world championship in Paris, the Speed route did not get certified allowing world records. It will be critical for the Olympic challenge that IFSC can help all organizers replicate the official route.

Patxi Usobiaga, egyike a legjobb mászóknak a 2000-es évektől, sajnos egy autóbalesetnél összeszedett vállsérülés miatt korábban kellett befejeznie a sportmászó karriert mint tervezte. De Patxi rendíthetetlen és visszatért. Tavaly már letolta újkori 9a-ját, most pedig ő is hozzájárult az olianai fal "elgerecsésítéséhez", azaz Adam utan ő is nyitogatja a variáns nehéz utakat. Na de ha más nem az út neve olyannyira valid, hogy megbocsájtjuk ezt a kis szépséghibát, megszületett hát a Patxitxulo 9a/+, ami a Joe Blau (8c+) and Papichulo (9a+) közötti összekötés. Egyénként Patxi pár nap híján 14 éve mászta első 9a útját, az Il Domani-t, mely Adam Ondra első 9a on-sightja lett később. pár örömteli sor és kis sztorik: Road to discovery - beyond 9a.

Nový blog z dielne Patxiho Usobiagu, najlepšieho lezca sveta počas rokov 2005 až 2010, ktorý kvôli zraneniu pri autonehode na dlhší čas odišiel z lezeckej scény: Road to discovery - beyond 9a. "Tento post píšem s čistou radosťou a neupadajúcou motiváciou. Som naozaj ohromený. Len niekoľko dní po tom, čo som oslávil štrnáste výročie môjho prvého prelezu 9a (Il Domani) som vyliezol nové spojenie ciest Joe Blau (8c+) a Papichulo (9a+) a myslím, že by sa mohlo volať Patxitxulo 9a/+ (5.14d/5.15a)." (c) Javi Pec