Julien Gasc has contacted us saying that we and many others in the Climbing community have a wrong definition of "chipped routes". "The verb 'to chip' comes from the idea of 'removing a chip'. In the world of climbing it was used to describe what was done traditionally with a hammer and a chisel. Actually most people use the word 'chipping' for routes incorrectly since they usually mean 'drilled'. The use of sika, in order to reinforce holds, is an entirely different thing. If you further use the words chip or chipping to refer to the use of sika, there will be a lot of misunderstanding. If you want to include all forms of alterations made to the rock to distinguish between a natural vs. non-natural route you should use the word 'manufactured': i.e. a route that was manufactured is not natural anymore, but that does not specify in which way. It could be drilling, glued with sika etc." If this is something the Community could agree upon, we will start using the word manufactured for the routes which have been either drilled, chipped or put sika on. We do not think you should use the term manufactured for the routes that have only been cleaned from loose rock. Clearly there is a fine line between natural routes that have only been cleaned and manufactured routes where chips have been removed.

Alex Puccio is back on track after her bad neck injury and has done Atomic Cow 8b and two 8a flashes in Wild Iris. (c) Eddie Morillas - Hardest route to date. I have been climbing for 2 weeks now after my forced 2.5 month break due to having a spinal fusion surgery in my neck. It has also been about 8 years since I last really sport climbed outside. Psyched to be climbing again and in 8 days I get my 3 month post OP x-ray and hopefully good news to start bouldering again!

South Africa august 2016 from martin mobraten on Vimeo.

In the beginning of the Climbing era and also mainly in Trad and Bouldering, you did not do the climb until you stood on the top. In Sport climbing and Lead comps we say that we have done routes just because we clip artificially placed anchors. In same rare cases, it is actually the crux to clip the anchor just because the bolter placed it wrong. In such cases, there is nothing wrong with prolonging the anchor with an extra quickdraw, especially for children. If you onsight and you reach the last hold but are unable to clip the anchor because of your reach, I think it could be considered as a valid ascent. Possibly, you should give it a lower grade if the FA added a grade just because clipping was the crux.

97: Kajsa Rosén SWE - Sergei Bydetev RUS 99: Eva Maria Hammelmüller ITA - Jakub Konecny CZE 01: Laura Rogora ITA - Noe Moutault FRA Overall, Italy and France had the best results, braking the domination Austria has had for several years. Among the big climbing nations that had relatively weak results were as usual Germany and Spain. There were also Speed Championships and interestingly, Sam Avezou from France was fifth at 8.50 seconds, which is around the result of Sean McColl's, who is the only senior who has participated in Combined for several years. Last year, Sam won the Youth Worlds in Lead and this year he has won the three last Euro Cups in Boulder including the last Championship. A bit early said, but this 15-year-old could be a man for Tokyo 2020.

Rock & Ice has published yet another article focusing on how fast some guys did a big wall. Is this really interesting? "Stack and Caldwell’s ascent is likely the first time Mount Hooker has been climbed car to car free in a day." It may be interesting to follow the amazing speed records for the nose but should R & I make a new article if someone, including the running, cuts off hours or minutes for Mount Hooker "car to car" for the current record? Sport climbers are sometimes criticized for being so grade focused instead of centering on the beauty of climbing. Does it not send the wrong message to the big wall community if the media so often write articles on speed climbing on big walls? Is it not enough that there will be Speed climbing focus in Tokyo 2020?

In order to be ranked in the Combined World Cup, you need to have results in two disciplines. From the results 2016 we can see that only a couple of male and female have actually gotten semi results during 2016. In previous years, more athletes did compete successfully in both Lead and Boulder but now it seems that almost everyone has chosen to specialize in just one discipline. In fact, the only two athletes that have participated in more than two events in at least two disciplines are Sean McColl and Jakob Schubert. Not one female has actively competed in two or more disciplines. The combined format failure in the World Cup 2016 is confirmed. By checking the starting list for the World Championship you can see that only Sean McColl and Charlotte Durif have signed up by the guys who regularly do the semis in at least two disciplines. Could this be considered as a silent protest towards the Olympic Combined format?

Five Ten talks about WideBoyz', Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall's, new secret trad project in The White Rim in Monument Basin - The Crucifix. The mono roof crack is estimated to be an 8a into an 8B+ Boulder into an 8b meaning it should be at least 8c+. Previously the Wideboyz were famous for putting up The Century Crack 8c, which goes in a 40 meter roof. It took them two years including working on an almost exact replica. The only 8c+ trad route in the world is Beth Rodden's Meltdown.

Dani Fuertes has done his fifth 9a in 2016, the FA of Siempre inconformado in Rodellar and he goes to #6 in the 8a ranking game. Photo by Silvia Borgoñon - The route is an old project from Dani Andrada and it shares the start with Siempre libre 9a. After a very hard crux, you climb the last moves of the route Inconformistas 9a. Without a doubt the more difficult sequence of moves of these routes. 25 meters makes up this incredible route in the roof of that cave.