Toshi Takeuchi has done his third 8C of the last 12 months, Spray of Light in Rocklands, and he goes to #3 position in the 8a ranking game. "YESSS!! Total 4 days. Mental battle was over because of bad weather. I have still 7 days more. On to the next!!"

"First time ever using a kneepad!! What do you think? Cheat or part of climbing accessories? It makes this cool boulder (gliding through waves like dolphins) more 7B instead of 8A. I don't even know whether kneepads are allowed in competition!? My opinion seems split on the topic..." (c) Jon Glassberg Why should not kneepads be OK? The 8a opinion is very clear. OF COURSE A KNEEPAD IS OK! Actually, it would be funny to hear some arguments on why it should not be OK :)

Tom O'Halloran reveals how his Awesome Woodys portable hangboard has helped him to do a 9a FA in Blue Mountains. Tom says, "my work takes me all around Australia for weeks at a time. It can be lonely being far away from everything. But there is a bit of the familiar here with me, my Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini. I never leave home without it now. It’s there in my bag as a little reminder of home, of who I am, of what I do and, most importantly, what I want to do." "The Cliff Board allows me to connect with something I love. When I get back from a hard day of work, it can be tricky to find the motivation to train. But my Cliff Board sits there in the corner of my room, staring blankly back at me. ‘Come on Tom you’re a rock climber, not a lazy bones do nothinger, remember. Pick me up, grab the sling and set me up on the rafters outside.’" Video “When I’m at the cliff I can’t warm up properly without my Awesome Woodys Cliff Board. When I get to the cliff I’ll find a low first bolt or wrap a sling around a branch to clip my Cliff Board to. I start off with a few dead hangs on the jugs for a few seconds, then a few pull-ups. Once I feel like I have enough blood flowing through my arms I’ll start to slowly get recruited in my fingers. I’ll hang off the big edge for a second, rest for a few seconds and hang again. I’ll repeat this 5-6 times. I’ll then hang off the same edge for a few seconds longer than the first round, resting for about as long as I was hanging, repeating it 5-6 times. I’ll continue this until I’m hanging for 10 seconds at a time. After this, I’ll do a bunch of pull-ups on the same edge I have used already. I’m usually feeling pretty good and limber after this. If I need a little more I’ll move to a smaller edge or start doing some one arm hangs.” “Before a redpoint attempt I’ll do a few hangs and pull-ups on the smaller edges to wake up my fingers and arms. Pre redpoint warm ups are very undervalued. You are doing yourself a disservice by not getting yourself fully ready before pulling on. It would be like not putting your shoes and chalk bag on!”

Adam Ondra is back in Flatanger, where he is working on a potential 9c. As a preperation he did the FA of Valhalla. (c) Tendon/O. Simko - Odins Eye extension, all the way to the final rail of Thor's. Incredibly massive pitch of ultra tiring climbing, at least 65 meters. Possibly one of the harder 9a's, but not 9a+. Bolted by Joe Kinder

Chad Greedy reports on Instagram that Shawn Raboutou has done two 8C's in Rocklands; Monkey Wedding and Spray of Light. - He's on his way to becoming the champ ,, just has to do 'livingLarge' ,,, to become the king of the land. Shawn is a part of the possibly best climbing family in the world. His sister is Brooke, who did her first 8c being 11 years old and his father is Didier, one of the best rock and competition climbers during the 90s. His mother is Robyn Erbesfield, possibly the best female climber during the 90s, who later became one of the most successful trainers, and being 50+ she still does 8b.

Some 15 years ago I started saying that the grades in Ticino were exaggerated as I did not want to spread false info. Later I said the same thing about Rocklands Boulders. The reason for the grade inflation was that Boulders in these areas were steeper than most of the old school Fontainebleau ones. Today, with all the new boulder gyms and training boards it is in practice easier to be a good steep boulderer in comparison with what was 15 years ago. Based on the scorecard ascents in 2016, we can see that most of the previous personal downgrading suggestions have been confirmed. The guys who have been on the forefront giving us more correct grades are, among others: Adam Ondra, Dave Graham, Niccolo Ceria and James Webb.

Monster Cafe does baby sitting while you are climbing on Kalymnos. They charge Euro 7 per hour for the first child and Euro 5 for the sibling.

Adam Ondra has visited six crags in Switzerland and Germany in the last two weeks and added 17 routes 8a and harder. The most impressive are two 8c+ onsights, Barracuda in Kaitersberg and Gimmel Express in Grimmelwald. "8c in the guidebook, but it felt like dfferent level compared all the other 8c's in the last weeks... And Jonathan seems to go for 8c+ too. Amazing fight in a really desperate warm conditions." In total, the 23-year-old has now onsighted 17 routes 8c+ and three 9a's, excluding some personal grades. The runner-up in the onsight ranking is Alex Megos with one 9a and then there are some guys who have onsighted a couple 8c+'s. Furthermore, Adam did the FAs of Hyper finale 9a+ and Super finale 9a in Rawyl. Apart from that, he conquered Black Label 9a in Frankenjura in 25 minutes.

Jonathan Hörst, who did his first 8b+ when he was 10 years old, has done an 8b+ and the FA of Valkyrie 8c in Ten Sleep. "New route on our Frankenjura Wave Wall. Hardest route I've ever climbed. Power climbing on really small holds." Jonathan's father is Eric Hörst, one of the most famous climbing coaches, who has published many training books. As you can see in the picture, the focus is building a wide pyramid rather than just go for the the hardest grades.