Ruben Firnenburg has finished his long term 9a project in Santa Linya, Seleccio natural. Nice projecting video from April by Henning Wang, who also took the picture. "When I got back on Seleccio my expectations were still pretty low but once I made it through the hardest crux in the middle I knew it's on. Sealing the deal on the last big move (same move as Analogica) was a very big relief! This route is certainly the hardest route I've done so far and climbing two 9a's in only four days is the best gift I could have ever made myself before 2017. Speaking of 2017 I am looking forward to go to USA for a boulder trip at the end of January. For the upcoming winter training I will include more bouldering on rock and therefore start off in Norway in a couple of days. Psyche is very high! Talking about competitions the idea is to do more boulder competitions and involve speed training as my brother David and I want to go for the Olympics in 2020. Now that I am out of Youth I can also focus more on the World Cup circuit."

Mind Control in Oliana was put up as an 8c+ by Chris Sharma in 2009 and the high quality route quickly became one of the most repeated 8c+'s in the world, having also some female ascents and Adam Ondra's onsight, who was the first to call it "soft". In early 2012, Gabri Moroni did the route and commented, "Everybody knows it's only 8c...but nobody will ever downgrade it :-P" One year later, Reffo Silvo flashed it and recorded it as an 8c, "Stay a dream send a 8c+ flash...8c is the true". At the same time we started to report it as an 8c (+) and there were some complaints about this meanwhile others sent e-mails confirming what we said but did not want to record it as 8c since they did not want to upset their friends and celebrities. Of the last seven ascents recorded on 8a, all have marked it as an 8c so it is time to drop the 8c (+) grade and call it an 8c. In fact, other media still have created 8c+ headlines for it several times over the last years. It should also be noted that of course it might have been an 8c+ when Sharma put it up in 2009 as some holds might have been broken. Some 15 years ago, 8a was first out to questioning hard core boulder grades mainly in Ticino, in order to present as correct news (gradewise) as possible. Later this was confirmed and the same story has also happened regarding several other crags. The easy way to track grades that are too soft is just to check the percentage personal best that appear in an area, aka Time Comparison Grading, see the picture. Mind control as an 8c+ would mean that in fact most who did it actually made a personal 8c+ best based on grade or invested time. This grading theory article was presented in 2002.

"We're looking forward to organize the 2017 IFSC Youth World Championships and the Innsbruck2018 IFSC World Championships here in Innsbruck - Tyrol (Austria)".

Új megoldásokat találni a kunsztra egyike a legnagyszerűbb dolgoknak a mászásban, különösen új utak nyitása esetén. Néha olyan ez mint egy tombola, egyszerűen csak próbálgatod a fogásokat és pozíciókat – míg nem egyszer csak beakad a tuti. Akár azt is mondhatnánk néha a siker, hogy meg tudtuk csinálni az összes mozdulatot ugyanolyan édes jutalom – mint egy megmászás. A videók döbbenetesek és jelentősen felgyorsítják a fejlődésünket a mászásban, különösen az izmozós boulderek esetén. Ugyanakkor bétát találni egy videóban és aztán lemásolni, mint egy robot teljesen értelmetlen és hosszútávon a szikla olvasás-értésének rovására mehet. Videó nélkül valószínűleg meg kellene próbálnunk az összes lehetséges bétát és néhány kimenet után különböző megoldásokat használnánk, a próbák során erősödnénk – míg ki nem kristályosodna az egyénre szabott legtökéletesebb mozdulatsorozat. Persze egy jól ellesett megmászós béta nagy ajándék lehet flash mászásnál, de a megoldás lemásolásának ára van: elveszhet a projekteléssel járó öröm az egyszerű „robotüzemmód” során. Így hát ne vesszünk el a pixelek között. : )

Evan Hau, who did his first 9a in 2013, has done Seleccio Natural 9a in Santa Linya. (c) Firnenburg brothers " Yes!! My second 9a! Feels good, I haven't climbed this grade since 2013 even though I feel much stronger than I was back then. After sampling this route last year I knew I had to come back to give it a solid try! One of the best climbs I have ever been on!"

Peter Macúš už má na svedomí viacero ťažkých prelezov na Považí a na začiatku decembra pridal ďalší - Šum svistu 11- (8c+). Cesta sa nachádza na Slnečných stenách v Manínskej tiesňave, má 8 istení na cca dvadsiatich metroch. Jej najťažšou pasážou je boulder v obtiažnosti 8A+ a Peter ho skúšal od jari minulého roka. Okrem tejto cesty je takisto autorom najťažšieho manínskeho prvovýstupu Mäsiarov učeň 11-/11 (8c+/9a) a postaral sa aj o prvé opakovanie cesty Gekon 11- (8c+) z dielne Stana Klima. (c) Roman Ripka

Jonathan Flor reports on Instagram that he has done Crisis 8C/+ near Crevillente, which was put up by Nacho Sánchez. The 20-year-old's second last Instagram post was from the Boulder WC in Munich, 20 weeks ago, when he made it to the semi. Previously, the Spaniard has done six 8c+ Routes and three 8B Boulders.

Mind control v Oliane bola navŕtaná, prelezená a ohodnotená ako 8c+ Chrisom Sharmom a krátko nato sa z tejto kvalitnej cesty stalo jedno z najviac opakovaných 8c+ na svete. Má aj niekoľko ženských prelezov a OS prelez od Adama Ondru, ktorý ako prvý cestu nazval "ľahkou v obtiažnosti". Gabri Moroni ju po preleze komentoval slovami: "Každy vie, že je to len 8c... no nikto ju nezhodí :P Rok nato ju Silvio Reffo flashol a zapísal ako 8c. "Flashnúť 8c+ stále zostáva pre mňa iba snom... Pravdou je, že je to 8c." V tom istom čase sme Mind control začali na 8a.nu písať ako 8c (+), na čo sme dostávali sťažnosti, no zároveň sa ozvali viacerí, ktorí s týmto hodnotením súhlasili, ale nechceli si cestu zapísať ako 8c, aby tak nesklamali svojich kamarátov či nespochybňovali tých z lezeckej špičky, ktorí Mind control vyliezli. Z posledných siedmich prelezov zapísaných do denníčkov na 8a si cestu každý zapísal ako 8c a tak je načase, aby sa vypustilo hodnotenie 8c (+) a Mind control bola považovaná za 8c. Niektoré média v posledných rokoch na titulkoch cestu stále označovali ako 8c+. Treba ale povedať, že keď Chris Sharma cestu vytvoril, mohla byť 8c+, keďže sa niektoré chyty mohli ulomiť. Pred cca pätnástimi rokmi 8a.nu začalo otvorene spochybňovať hodnotenie niektorých ťažkých bouldrov hlavne v Ticine, aby sme zaistili čo najpresnejšie reportovanie obtiažností a prelezov. Neskôr sa spomínané hodnotenia potvrdili, a to nielen v Ticine, ale aj v ďalších oblastiach. Jednoduchý spôsob ako zistiť, či je cesta "jednoduchá v obtiažnosti" je pozrieť si aké má percento dosiahnutia osobného maxima pre danú oblasť, aka Časové porovnanie obtiažnosti (obrázok). Ak by bolo Mind control 8c+, pre väčšinu lezcov by prelezenie cesty znamenalo dosiahnutie osobného maxima na základe predošlých prelezov alebo času, ktorý do cesty museli investovať. Článok o časovom porovnávaní obtiažností z roku 2002. Autor: Jens Larssen

Finding new solutions on cruxes is one of the greatest things in climbing, especially for FAs. Sometimes it is like a tombola and you just keep trying all the holds and positions before it clicks. To say that you have finally done all the moves can sometimes be equally rewarding as to actually make the ascent. Videos are awesome and they surely speed up the process of doing a climb, especially in Bouldering as it is so much about muscle recruitment. However, a solution found in a video is just there to copy like a robot even if it feels meaningless and hard in the beginning. Without the video you would probably have tried all solutions and after several sessions using the different methods, getting continuously stronger in all, found your way. The risk with copying video beta to large extent is of course that the projecting joy is reduced simply to a robot excursion.

Mushroom Pads reports that Iban Larrion has repeated the 8C traverse, Misti in Fontainebleau, and compared it to an 8A+ boulder. Over the years, ascents of Misti have created many headlines in media and the first one to reveal the bluff like in the Emperor's New Clothing was Markus Bock's: he compared it to an 8A boulder. Iban also thinks the Emperor is naked by calling it 8A+. For many years 8a has been saying that traverse grading is illogical as it is impossible to draw a line. Both Misti and Gioia 8C (+) are diagonal boulders but they use different grading scales. It is totally wrong for the media to create headlines for Misti as it is nowhere near as hard as Gioia. Instead it is probably an 8A+ at the most.