Angela Eiter, the best female Lead competition climber in the history, reports that she is back after her injuries. During the last months she has done two 8A Boulders in Silvretta, British Airways and Shining. With rope, she has just done three 8b+'s in Jaen and flashed Lagunas mentales, 8a+ (b). "This year I have struggled with an inflammation on the tendon of my ringfinger, which almost recovered. Moreover, I ripped a tendon on my thigh, but regular therapy help me recover. I am sure that recovery periods are essential when you focus on hard climbs and maybe more when you are getting older. Climbing on high level bears the risk for injuries. Therefore I need a sensitive body feeling and have to listen deeply to the signals of my body. This method payed off!"

Laura Rogora has made the FA of Tomorrowland extension 8c+ in Collepardo after eight tries. " It is one of the most beautiful route I have ever tried, congrats to Intorre Domenico who bolted this super line leaving it completely natural." (c) Franco Loadi This spring the 15-year-old did her first 9a and she is #1 in the 8a ranking game. When it comes to onsights, she is actually quite superior with four 8a+'s and two 8b's.

18 months ago, Jonathan Siegrist compared Era Vella with 8c and 12 months ago, Magnus Midtbö was the first one to call it an 8c+. In the picture you can see Pablo Barbero. (c) TrilobitePro Prior to these statements, Era Vella was by far the most popular 9a in the world with 30 ascents during just five years. After these downgrade suggestions, however, it has just been repeated twice in 18 months. This route, put up by Chris Sharma, is one of the highest star-rated routes in the 8a data base so you wonder if the drop in popularity is because some climbers have chosen to redpoint another 9a instead doing something that is at risk of being downgraded?

Claude Remy has put up some 15 000 routes/pitches during the last 40 years. Recently he has has been focused on Leonidio and before that - Kalymnos. The Swiss says that he has more or less always been working half-time for 30 years and the other half he has spent putting up routes, mainly with his older brother. The picture from Leonidio shows Claude helping out when local children try to climb for the first time. - Please do not ask me why I have this obsession. My wife has asked me that so many times and I just do not have any answer. I like in an area in Switzerland where I practically can go out every day and just open new routes. I love to be part of opening up new destinations like Kalymnos and Leonidio. During the last years, he has not so often paid for the bolts but other than that he covers all expenses himself and does not get paid for his work. - It is strange that I often meet so many climbers who think that this is my job and that I make good money out of it. It is noteworthy that he recently did get the Albert Mountain Award and that his father Marcel (94) did an eight pitches long 5a this summer.

Jongwon Chon, the World Cup 2015 winner, has made an amazing show in the La Sportiva Legends in Stockholm by doing all five problems in his first try. The format was redpoint and the competitors had worked the problems on Thursday. In the final they had three tries and with many tops, Jongwon had actually secured his victory in just 1 hour. It is interesting that actually only the winner uses La Sportiva. Video. 1. Jongwon Chon KOR 5t5 5b5 2. Kokoro Fujii JPN 5t7 5b6 3. Alex Megos GER 4t4 4b4

2015 World Cup şampiyonu Jongwon Chon, Stockholm'deki La Sportiva Legends'de tüm rotaları ilk denemede çıkarak şov yaptı. Formata göre yarışmacılar önceki gün rotalara çalışmışlardı ve bugün 3 deneme hakları vardı. Jongwon bir saatte kazanmayı garantiledi ve ilginç olan şu ki yarışmayı kazanandan başka kimse La sportiva kullanmıyor. Video. 1. Jongwon Chon KOR 5t5 5b5 2. Kokoro Fujii JPN 5t7 5b6 3. Alex Megos GER 4t4 4b4

Jongwon Chon, víťaz Svetového pohára v boulderingu 2015, predviedol na La Sporiva Legends Only v Štokholme parádnu šou a preliezol všetkých päť bouldrov prvým pokusom. Netradičný redpoint formát znamenal, že si súťažiaci mohli nacvičiť problémy už dva dni pred pretekmi. Vo finále mal každý pretekár na boulder tri pokusy, no keďže sme videli mnoho topov, Chon si zaistil titul za približne jednu hodinu. Zaujímavé je, že je jediným spomedzi piatich účastníkov, ktorý lezie v lezečkách od La Sportivy. Video. Výsledky na pódiu: 1. Jongwon Chon KOR 5t5 5b5 2. Kokoro Fujii JPN 5t7 5b6 3. Alex Megos GER 4t4 4b4

Za posledných 40 rokov navŕtal tento švajčiar viac ako 15 000 ciest a dĺžok. V posledným rokoch sa zameral na lezeckú oblasť Leonidio, predtým sa pohyboval na Klaymnose. Claude vraví, že v posledných tridsiatich rokoch viac-menej stále pracoval na polovičný úväzok a všetok ostatný čas venoval robeniu nových ciest spolu so svojim starším bratom. Na fotke istí miestne deti, ktoré si prvý raz vyskúšali lezenie. Prosím, nepýtaj sa ma, prečo mám zrovna takúto mániu. Moja žena sa ma to už pýtala toľkokrát, no ja jednoducho nemám odpoveď. Vo Švajčiarsku žijem pri oblasti, kde môžem každý deň vyjsť z domu a jednoducho začať robiť nové cesty. Takisto som rád súčasťou toho, keď sa otvárajú nové lezecké destinácie ako Kalymnos či Leonidio." V poslednej dobe už Claude nemusel tak často platiť za istenia, ktoré osádzal, no okrem toho si všetky náklady hradí sám a za robotu nedostáva žiadny plat. Je to zvláštne, často sa stretávam s lezcami, ktorí si myslia, že toto je moje zamestnanie a že mám z toho celkom slušný zárobok." Za zmienku takisto stojí, že nedávno dostal Albert Mountain Award a jeho otec Marcel (94) v lete preliezol osemdĺžkové 5a.

Pred jeden a pol rokom Era Vellu prirovnal Jonathan Siegrist k 8c-čku a pred rokom si ju Magnus Midtbö ako prvý zapísal za 8c+. Na fotke je v ceste nalezený Pablo Barbero. (c) TrilobitePro Pred týmito vyhláseniami bola Era Vella jednoznačne najpopulárnejším 9a-čkom na svete s viac ako 30 prelezmi počas piatich rokov. Po návrhoch na zhodenie však zažila len dva prelezy počas posledného roka a pol. Táto cesta v španielskom Margalefe je z dielne Chrisa Sharmu a v databáze 8a je jednou z najlepšie hodnotených ciest vôbec. Môže byť tento pokles v jej popularite spôsobený tým, že si lezci radšej vyberú iné 9a ako by riskovali, že po ich preleze bude Era Vella zhodená?

Sachi Amma stopped competing after he won the World Cup in 2014. Next year he reached his goal to do ten routes 9a or harder. In 2016, he has slowly been shifting again and just stopped doing hard routes after a 9a+ in Flatanger this summer. (c) Sam Bié above Leonidio.

"I can not find any value to be a better person by comparing myself with other climbers. That is why I stopped competing and climbing hard routes. Why do I need to be better than the others? I my case, I had strong beliefs that I am the tiniest concept of myself. I needed to cover this weakness by doing amazing things (winning comps or climbing hard) but I noticed that you will never be satisfied by being better than the others. Because the essential problems are just covered and they are still there.

Please do not misunderstand that this way of thinking applies to all people. I think competition is very good way to learn yourself (And I know that lots of my friends who compete do it not just for winning....) I am pretty sure that comparing with others never gives you the real happiness.

So what is your goal now? (10 seconds of silence) I do not know... I am in the maze of my life. Today the image of climbing, specially media's focus, is mostly about power, strong or crazy. It is masculine. But my point of view, human has a feminine side too which is like smooth or beautiful. If the balance of climbing becomes more feminine, it will be beautiful! But this new vision came to me after stop pushing myself and it is still an undeveloped area for me.

And another vision is to createa place where climbers can show there passion and spirit, specially in Japan. There are not so many slideshows or film festival in Japan. I hope people who loves climbing (even if they are not strong) stands up more. I just want to get more ideas to enjoy and expand the potential of climbing.

Could not Tokyo Olympics become a motivator for fame and sponsors again? I have thought about this a lot and first I did hesitate but, no. This huge topic let me think what I really want to do and it was not Olympics.

So what is the next plan? I keep asking myself this all the time as I asked myself, "Why am I doing this?", when I was competitive... (10 seconds of silence)I will go to Spain for three weeks in December. But I do not know what I will climb. But I believe if I just keep being myself, life goes where I want to go!