Rock & Ice has published an interesting article where they say that according to research, carabiners that have fallen to the ground are safe to use. "Omega Pacific also tested carabiners that had been dropped from unknown heights off El Cap. If anything, O.P.'s report shows that a piece of gear gets stronger while flying through the atmosphere then impacting rock—those dropped carabiners broke at loads higher than their rated strengths ." It should be noted that Rock & Ice missed out this important piece of advice from Omega which actually goes against what is said in the article and the quote. "Don’t climb on gear you salvage from the base of cliffs, regardless how sturdy our little box of kit turned out, that’s first. Second, if you drop any piece of hardware from high up, you should just retire it. When you trust your life to a piece of equipment, you don’t need the doubt. Plus, it’s a good, professional practice, anyway."

Paul Robinson has done his 16th 8C, Topaz in RMNP, of which Dave Graham did the FA just two weeks ago and which has been done also Daniel Woods. "It has been crazy lately! We have been finding and developing so many new boulders in Colorado. All of which are really good quality! I am really excited about the new lines and also trying to repeat some of the old ones. Having an entire fall in Colorado has allowed me to train a bit in the gym and climb outside a lot! I am super psyched to have climbed topaz and look forward to some more."

Rock & Ice yere düşen karabinaların kullanımının güvenli olduğundan bahseden bir araştırma yayınladı. "Omega Pacific ayrıca El Cap in belirsiz bir yerinden düşen karabinaları da test etti. O.P.'nin araştırması düşen bir malzemenin bir taşa vurduktan sonra daha yüksek kuvvetlere dayandığını gösteriyor." Şu da not edilmeli ki Rock & Ice, Omega'nın aslında yayınladıkları makale ve alıntıya karşı olan söylemini gözden kaçırmış görünüyor. "Kayaların dibinde bulduğunuz ne olduğu belli olmayan malzemeleri kullanmayın, her ne kadar sağlam olursa olsun, bu önceliğimizdir. İkinci olarak, herhangi bir malzemeyi yukarıdan düşürdüyseniz, onu kullanmayı bırakmalısınız. Hayatınızı bir ekipmana emanet edeceğiniz zaman şüpheye yer vermemelisiniz. Ayrıca, bu profesyonelce davranmaktır da."

Dave Graham, son 15 yılın en iyi tırmanıcılarından FB ve ilk 8C+ kısakaya çıkışını yaptı. Aslına bakarsanız bu dünyanın ilk doğrulanmış 8C+'sı. (c) Cameron Maier/Bearcam "WOW!!! @dawoods89'un yeni rotası Creature From the Black Lagoon'u ikinci çıkışını yaptıktan sonra dün Upper Chaos daydım!!! Bahardan bu yana 16 günlük uğraşın ardından, inanılmaz ince bir ayarla rotayı algılayabildim ki bu hana çıkışın yolunu açtı! Gerilimli ve sinir bozucu şartlar altındaki bir çok günden sonra, gece yarısı kurgularım, yüzlerce çuvallayan çözüm sonrasında anladım ki aslında çözüm en başından beri gözümün önündeymiş. Çılgın bir kol bükme acayip yoga hareketi tüm bölümü birleştirmemi sağladı, ne zamandır didindiğim alt tutuşu birleştirmeme izin verdi ve ilerlemek için ihtacım olan vücut pozisyonunu elde etmemi sağladı." Continue reading Ve son olarak: "Bu tırmanış bana uydu ve beni daha önce çıktığım tüm 8C lerden daha çok zorladı. Zaman gösterecek, ama 8C+ bana tamamen mantıklı göründü. Fotoğraf ve videolar yakında @island_io"

It is great that Nalle Hukkataival did not go for a slash grade and instead marked himself one grade above everyone. The first 8Cs were suggested some 15 years ago and even if at least a dozen 8c+s have been put forward, original 8C+s have never been confirmed, instead all have been down graded. In fact, Nalle Hukkataival has always been said to be one of the guys who keep the grades very hard and that you should use the lower grade when in doubt. It is interesting that he actually changed his mind since his grade article in 2010 which was part of the reason why we shifted from grade inflation to deflation. "Last June I did the first ascent of Livin' Large in South Africa. It is by far the hardest boulder I've climbed so far, a lot harder than any 8C that I have climbed in the past. Does that mean that it is 8C+? Maybe, just maybe. Does that mean that I should grade it 8C+? I don't think so. Why do we always have to shoot high first and then wait for the downgrade. Why is it never the other way around? I graded it 8C because I feel certain that it is at least 8C. If other people feel like it's harder, they can upgrade it. Why do people always choose the egotistical approach to these things instead of "playing it safe"? Although Hukkataival has never given an 8C+ grade for any of his Boulders, he suggested 9A for his Burden of Dreams. This must mean that he has taken into account the amount of time this project has taken and how much stronger he thinks he is now compared to last year. Furthermore, he must feel that the Boulder is very much his style. Possibly, some guys will try Burden of Dreams and think it is just one grade harder compared to some sandbagged 8Cs. Possibly they could use Hukkataival's 9A as the new standard and upgrade some of the 8Cs that deserve it. It is also interesting that Hukkataivals's 9A is much shorter then most of the 8C and 8C+ problems in the world, which are often more endurance based.

Black Diamond reports that Adam Ondra has tried to onsight The Nose with his father but failed on Great Roof and Changning Corner. They made it to the top at midnight in the starting rain but could not find a descent route so they had to spend the night in a small cave. The Nose was established in 1993 by Lynn Hill who rated it 8a but nowadays most think it is an 8b or 8b+.

Alex Megos has done yet another 9a+ in Frankenjura, Markus Bock's "Becoming", meaning that he has done all the Top-5 hardest. He reports on Instagram that the route seems manufactured. "Well built that thing but the Sika doesn't seem of good quality, it crumbles..." Please explain some more what you mean by "Well built"? I wanted to say that the route is "well built" (sarcasm) cause normally you don't build routes outside. And then I wanted to point out that it's not even well done because the Sika crumbles. It's built like a route in the gym almost. Just that they didn't use colored holds... Pick a stone from the ground and glue it onto the blank wall where there was nothing before. I don't want to say exactly how many holds are chipped or glued. But it's definitely a few. At least a hand full in that route and then a few more in the route to the right of it and a few more to the route to the right of that.

Ignacio Sandoval Buron started helping us out with translations, interviews and stories from the Spanish scene directly from the start of 8a, 15 years ago. Unfortunately, he had to stop working for us and therefore we are looking to hire new translators and editors. Ignacio would like to thank specifically all pro-climbers he has had the opportunity to interview. Currently, the Spanish page has over 1 000 unique visitors every day and 8a would like to say thank you for all your good work creating a very good Spanish page and helping out globally as well. We are also looking for more country specific editors and other people who would like to help out. Please contact [email protected].

Alex Puccio, who during the last two years has badly injured herself twice in Boulder World Cups (being forced to undergo a knee and a back surgery, respectively), is back on track with an 8A flash of Skull in Joe's Valley. "I'm just psyched to be getting back outside!!! Didn't expect to flash it. Worth taking the shoes off to cross the river. " In 2014, Alex got the silver in the World Championship, and since then, in spite of the bad injuries, she has done 12 Boulders 8B and harder. Here you can find her story: The Comeback Queen. (c) Joel Zerr