Climb Kalymnos, which just recently reported that Ryan Air will stop flying to Kos in 2017, comes with more bad news. Olympic Airlines will as of tomorrow stop flying from Athens to Kalymnos. It is said that Astra Airlines will take over but reduce to three flights a week until 2020. It seems that the best climbing destination will get even better soon as it will get less crowded but how to get there in the prime season as the charter companies mainly fly from mid May to September? Here are some low price airlines alternatives (as of 2016 but it does not fit Kos airport info): Easy Jet did fly to Kos from Milan, London and Glasgow this year; Vuelving from Rome; Air Berlin. Anyone who have some further tips how to get to Kalymnos in 2017?

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The first 8C+ suggestion was done by the former World Champion Mauro Calibani for his FA of Tonino 78 in 2004. Later it was downgraded and that is also the case for most of the 20+ boulders which were given 8C+. However, during the last years, it seems that we have gone from grade inflation to grade deflation. As it stands, excluding Traverses and contrived Boulders, only Guillaume Glairon-Mondet and Daniel Woods have put their neck out proposing 8C+s for FAs. Daniel first for The Process in 2015 and later he upgraded Hypnotized Minds from 2010 and yesterday for Creature from a Black Lagoon. Guillaume's has later been given a personal grade. The first and only 8C+ suggested upgrade, after a repeat, was done by Adam Ondra for Gioia in 2011. Talking to several of the best boulderers in the world during the last years, examples of potential upgrades have been forwarded, based on their trying hard without success. Is it not kind of strange that 15 years after the first 8Cs were done, only Daniel Woods, Adam Ondra and Guillaume Glairon-Mondet think they have reached a new level?

Jakob Kronberger, who did his first 9a last year, has done the FA of Die rechte Hand 9a in Salzburger Land. In the new Age & Gender Bonus ranking game, the 15-year-old is #5 overall in the world. "The route is an old project of Klem Loskot. Its a short bouldery route with 10 hard moves on small holds. The route is just a part of a superhard project. After the 9a is over, there is a boulder which is for shure 8B but it should be possible for stronger climbers. There isn't a possibility to rest in the route. It would be very interesting how hard the whole route is. Maybe 9b but I can't really tell how hard it exactly is because I am not even able to do all the moves of the upper boulder. If anyone is interested in the route, feel free to contact me."

Roland Hemetzberger comes with the great news on Instagram that he has repeated Alex Huber's multi-pitch Nirwana, giving a personal grade of 8b+, instead of 8c+.

In the new Age & Gender Bonus ranking, Chuck Odette (60) is #3 and his partner Maggie (46) is #26. It is very interesting that they both did not start pushing hard until they were 40. Maggie has just done her second 8b+ and Chuck has just done an 8b but his ambition is to get back on 8b+ level. They are both on lookout for the next project to get inspired by. Chuck: "I need more rest and more yoga than I used to. And I have to continue working my weakness, which is power, while focusing on climbs that suit my strength, which is endurance." Maggie: "For training, we spent most of the winter bouldering in Moe's Valley and Marioland, both in southern Utah. We plan to continue that program, taking about 3 months every year to boulder for training power, which is our biggest weakness. In some places we've also been able to hang gymnastic rings or a pull-up bar for reps at the end of climbing days."

Daniel Woods has done his third 8C+ FA, Creature from a black lagoon. His wife Courtney says it has been a long summer project. We got the pic from Paul Robinson, who also got it on video. The first 8C+ FA was Hypnotized Minds, which Daniel set up six years ago as an 8C but there were upgrade suggestions, first by some world class boulderers who could not repeat it, and in 2016 also by Woods. In 2015, he also gave 8C+ for FA The Process. Overall, including 22 8C's, the 169 cm tall has the most impressive Boulder ticklist in the world. In 2010 he won the Boulder World Cup in Vail. On Instagram, Daniel explains the process and comments the grade. " We are left dumbfounded to realize that the same level in bouldering has maintained from Fred Nicole, Bernd Zangerl, and Klem loskot a decade ago until now. We can either acknowledge what is a level up from the standard of 15 (based off of consensus over the years) or continue climbing v15 (8C) for another decade."

Climbskin has helped us out with some skin care advises. Chris Sharma is one of their ambassadors. - "It is a great product, it moisturizes and rebuilts your skin. It is not like the waxy or oily materials, you can actually put it on before you climb which is one of the most amazing things. Climbskin is gonna change people's climbing. It is by far the best product on the market".

Alessandro Marrocchi and Enrico Rogora, the father and trainer of Laura Rogora, have published an open letter to IFSC in regards to Speed climbing. 8a totally agrees with their thoughts and based on discussion here comes with some further considerations and a solution on how to get greater chances to make Combined climbing a success in Tokyo. The number of Speed walls are very limited and actually there are just eleven certified ones, which in fact the World Championship wall in Paris did fail to be. In Europe there are three certified walls but none in the USA. One simple way of increasing interest for Speed climbing among climbers and gyms is of course to allow 12 meter walls and to set different Speed routes for each event and gym. This would make it more interesting for the Lead/Boulder climbers to take the Speed challenge. The biggest obstacle for having a strong interest for climbers to run for the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 is the lack of Speed walls around the globe. On the other hand, why should a commercial gym invest in a certified Speed wall that most probably will not get any big interest whatsoever? If IFSC cannot guarantee several hundred certified Speed walls around by 2017, there will be limited interest in the Combined. It is also immoral to let one company be the only official and certified manufacturer of Speed holds. More critiscs from Climbing Business Journal.

Isabelle Faus, #1 in the 8a ranking game, is featured in a really interesting interview in Climbing. “I know I’m one of the best and anyone who really likes climbing knows that too,” she said, “but when it comes down to it, sponsorship companies would rather put money into cookie-cutter Barbies and CrossFitters. I’m a rock climber and I don’t fit into their box, so they simply aren’t interested.” The fact is that Isabelle, the female who's putting up the most hard core FAs in the world, actually does not even get free shoes, etc. (c) Chad Greedy - FA of Microkline 8A+ (B) in Rocklands, last month.