Alberto Gines has done his second 8c, Entre tus Piernas in La Muela. In the 8a ranking game he is #2 among the 14 year olds. "I have been climbing since I was 3 years old, but I started to climb seriously at 6, and I started training with David Macià 4 years ago. I train 4 days a week and the on the weekend often I go to climb on rock. This year I want to win the Spanish climbing cup and some international competitions and do my first 8a+ onsight and more 8c's.

The Techno Creativesje globálnou agentúrou pracujúcou v automobilovom priemysle. Aby udržali svojich zamestnancov v kondícii a boli atraktívnym zamestnávateľom, vybudovala si táto spoločnosť vo svojich priestoroch malú lezeckú stenu. Nie sú však jediní, už sme takýchto príbehov počuli niekoľko z viacerých kútov sveta. Evolúcia lezeckých stien naberá na obrátkach a to sme ešte len na začiatku. Na stene Techno Creative takisto ponúkajú zapožičanie materiálu zadarmo, takže keď sa ich zamestnanci rozhodnú skúsiť lezenie vonku, mali by byť dostatočne pripravení.

Brunico v Južnom Tyrolsku má približne 20 000 obyvateľov. V roku 2015 mestská správa otvorila 8.5 miliónovú halu, ktorú riadi Alpenverein Südtirol, s jediným cieľom: aby mohli mať školáci ako povinnú súčasť telesnej výchovy lezenie. Každých 6 týždňov majú študenti od 9 do 17 rokov spolu s učiteľmi dve hodiny lezeckých kurzov. Neskôr prinesieme informácie o tom, ako sa tento systém osvedčil v praxi. Na obrázku je za ľavou stenou schovaná 20 metrov široká a 18 metrov vysoká outdoorová lezecká stena. Ešte lepšou správou je, že je otvorená 93.5 hodín do týždňa! Ďalšia trojmiliónová lezecká hala sa nachádza asi 30 minút cesty autom v meste Brixen s cca 25 000 obyvateľmi, no tu ešte lezenie nie je povinné. Zaujímavosťou je, že v regióne Južné Tyrolsko žije približne 500 000 ľudí a 12% z nich sú členmi Alpenverein!

Toshi Takeuchi tells us about the new Japanese hard core 90 minute video where he, Ryuichi Murai and Daisuke Ichimiya are featured. They are all in Top-4 in the ranking game. "Mizugaki 160 km from Tokyo and Toyota 300 km away are my favorites. I think, maybe best way to start a trip to Japan is go to one famous climbing gym first like Rocky, PUMP or Basecamp. They have a lot of information about many crags and some people can speak English. PUMP also has all guidebooks which are filled with pictures and maps so that you can figure out how to make it to the crag and boulders."

Mumin Karabas, who did the first 8c+ in Turkey, has done the ten year old project Karma Sutra 8c+ in Geyik Bayırı. "I struggled for 10 climbing days to figure out beta, and the other 10 climbing days for actually doing it. The route is very bouldery, there's 25 moves without chalking or resting." Mumin also reports that there are more than 50 % less climbers this winter season. "As you know the situation in Turkey...Not many foreigners are coming to Turkey for climbing. People are afraid... but there's a beautiful blue sky today and great season for climbing :)))"

Michaela Kiersch has done her fourth 8c+ in Red River Gorge the last year, 24 Carat, which took some 4-5 weekends. The full time university student, who plans to graduate this year, seems to every other weekend make the seven hour trip from Chicago to challenge some of the best sand stone routes in the world. (c) Leslay Ladlad "So excited to finally put this one away!!!! It was a rollercoaster of emotions between falling low and falling high. I try to take it in stride but it's not always easy to remain open minded. Every climb is a learning experience, and in the end it was the go that started with Mariah Carey that got me to the top!"

Paul Robinson has done House of Doom in Hueco Tanks suggesting an upgrade to 8B+ of this problem Daniel Woods put up in 2011. "Great addition Daniel! This thing is so much harder than any other 8B+ on the mountain!" It is very important to have guys like Paul Robinson and Adam Ondra who actually dare to upgrade. There are so many super lines waiting to get more traffic if just somebody would care to upgrade them.

Paul Robinson presents the Uncharted lines quality film about being a pioneer and his lifestyle which he shares with guys like Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma and Niky Ceria, featured in the one hour film. Jimmy Webb gets the last word and sums up, "Once it is done, you are satisfied for just that moment, just that small amount of time and shortly after, you find yourself thinking, - That was sick but what is next! And that is just how we are, what we do. I don't think that will ever change."

Felipe Camargo won among 108 challengers from Brazil, Usa, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Germany the Netflix Ultimate Beastmaster. The prize was USD 35,000! "It was pretty cool! I won the show and the final was together with a Korean who is ex world champion in ice climbing!!" In 2007, the Brazilian was #27 in the Lead World Champion when he was 16 years old. Later he has done three 9a's and also two 8C boulders. He is also one of the guys that have put up many hard core routes and boulders in Brazil.

Pár hete egy Bubb Feri telefon kapcsán merült fel a téma, magam is meglepődtem – mennyire kikerült ez az Úr a mászó történelemből, pedig igazán érdemes lenne pár szóban megemlíteni. Úgy látszik John Gill árnyékában sajnos számos kemény arc elfelejtődött. Az ő története azért különös, mert 1975-ben (több mint 40 évvel ezelőtt!) megnyitotta elvileg az első 8A+ bouldert a világon (Trice), melyet aztán majdnem 30 évig nem tudott megismételni senki. Hogy ez az út jellegének vagy Jim 193cm magasságának köszönhető azt nem tudni, mindenesetre a helyiek elmondásaiból fogalommá váltak a Holloway boulderek. A nehézségi fokok besorolására sajátos nehézségi skálát hozott létre; (JHE – Jim Holloway Easy, JHM – medium és JHH – hard). A Trice nevű bouldert Coloradoban végül Carlo Traversi ismételte elsőként 2007-ben és fokozta be az amerikai V12 fokozatba (8A+). A másik nagy vad a még kevésbé ismételt Slapshot ami 77-ben született és az emlegetett fokozata csak azért lett 8A+, mert ez is a híres Holloway hármasba tartozott. Később számos fogásmorzsolódás következett be, de az út jelenlegi 8B-re titulált fokozata még megerősítésre vár. Az öreg természetesen ezeket a bouldereit chraspadek nélkül mászta, ami még egy fokot emel az old schoolba minősítésen. Végül a mászással felhagyva emberünk bicikliversenyző lett, de Coloradoban máig ott az a több száz V3-V8 boulder – amit fennhagyott az utókor számára. Érdekes cikk az alábbi linken.