Pirmin Bertle has done South America's first 9a, video, Azul es el cielo de los ciegos (Blue is the sky of the blind) in Patagonia. Last year he did first a 8C+ FA and in November a 9b FA. Then he took the boat from Italy to Buenos Aires for some real family adventure. Full story and pictures on his blog, which finishes like this: "The causal game. My baby is sleeping on the canyons ground, my cheering rather soft, more of relieve than happiness. What kind of a struggle! What logistic strain. To get for more than 30 tries, 12 days, 4km deep into this volcanic crack. 4km back, sometimes at night. And Jules, our 4 years old son, who walks this distance not only once all on his own. He is the true star in this story. My girlfriend and my baby girl. Thank you my family! Love you so much."

Rock climbing often means that your power and your gripping position drops. The reason for this is that you more seldom climb on crimps outdoors and at the same time you often get high level of lactic acid in your muscles. The easiest way to regain power is doing some campus recruitment sessions. Actually, the best thing is to do some campus warming up before going to the rock but no contact more than 1 second. In fact, you should warm up with the same gripping position as on the project you are going for. After a session outdoors, you can do some normal strength training if you plan to have a rest day. Just hang on the rungs for 6 - 10 seconds and rest one minute. Once you feel you are getting weaker, increase the rest and once you start dropping in power, you should stop. A training article.

Jongwon Chon, the #1 in IFSC Bouldering ranking, has flashed Bear toss 8B in RMNP. Next day he did Jade 8B+ in his third go. Later he took a 7 meter fall and had to go to hospital for some stitching. © Eddie Fowke/The Circuit Climbing has the story. - Walking a cliff edge path between boulders a hold broke and pitched him 20 feet off a cliff. Luckily his years of bouldering experience saved him from major damage. He's incredibly lucky to get away with some nasty cuts.

Jan Kareš will go for a world record - 232 continuous pull-ups attempt - next month. The amazing thing is that he is 42 years old and weighs 81 kg. The simple secret is frequent high intensity training meaning doing about eight pull-ups, then rest 20 seconds and continue in this way for 30 minutes. In 1998, he was #17 in a Lead World Cup but nowadays he is a bolting and onsight fanatic. Since 2008, Jan has spent some 150 days bolting, paying everything by himself, in Sardinia and that is what he does during all his vacations. His dream is that this area, close to Cala Gonone, will be one of the best and most famous climbing areas in Europe. The video includes possibly the biggest climbing cave in the world, where Adam Ondra has already been invited. More info and pics soon.

During 2014, I bolted 80 routes in Lysekil in Bohuslän and 6 anchor bolts in Utby. Both areas are well-known for trad climbing. I had informed the chairmen of the two local clubs of my intention and I did follow the local bolt policy. First the six anchor bolts were sabotaged and so were the 80 routes later. The three guys that did it had not talked to their local club. They just thought they could decide by themselves. After many discussions, both local clubs and the national Federation took decisions in order to facilitate the bolting. Even the local municipality have stepped forward to support bolting. In Utby, the six anchor bolts have been replaced with some 60 bolts creating the most popular sector and in Lysekil the rebolting has started, see picture.

Stefano Carnati has done the 19th ascent of Wolfgang Gullich's Action Directe 9a in Frankenjura after over 60 tries. - I first checked it in august 2013 and on my second go I could do all the moves except the first dyno. I came back a couple of times in 2015 as I wanted to try it more seriously but I was not strong enough. Last year in June I was very close to do it, falling at the last move on the last day of the trip! Then I tried in august with a broken meniscus and temps up to 38 °C and I couldn't do any moves! Fortunately I had the opportunity to come back these days and eventually send it! It took me over 60 tries!! With this route I've understood how hard it could be to try a route at your limit far from home. Since I started climbing, I've always had the desire to try it one day as I really like pockets but above all for its history! I've been watching videos of the routes countless times!

Most advanced climbers are very close to their physical peak when it comes to maximum strength and endurance. Surely, the advanced could improve a bit if they spend another 100 hours which possibly could mean they could do their project. However, based on the knowledge that the #1 rock climbers, Adam Ondra and Ashima Shiraishi, are also possibly the most flexible advanced climbers out there, it might be better to invest the extra hours improving your flexibility rather than your strength. When you come to the regular 8a climber, I bet, training flexibility is at least ten times more effective rather than doing another campus or endurance session. (c) Pavel Zvire

Having got some emails saying that there there had been much less climbers at the popular sectors on Kalymnos this year, I asked (c) Aris Theododopoulos if he could find another explanation for it, apart from the fact that Ryan Air have reduced their number of flights with 50% last two years. - Actually this year the airport of Kos has 25% less arrivals in comparison with last year. I think this is happened first of all because of the refugee situation at Greek islands last year. Kalymnos it is at its best quality ever, with more than 3.000 friendly bolted routes with a big rebolting project just completed. Another possible reason why there have not been any queues this spring, even on the popular routes, is that it seems climbers are more frequently checking out the new sectors, especially on Telendos. There is also new sector being developed just on the other side of Arginonta with possibly close to 100 mainly easier routes with just 5 - 10 minutes approach. Full info on the refugee situation, new routes and rebolting. Mayte Radek at Axium 6c+, Ghost Kitchen.

USA Today reported last month that Andrew Shapiro had set three world records in pull-ups. After six hours he did 3 515 of them, after 12 hours - 5 742 and then he continued another six hours to set a new 24 hours record with 7 306. The Guiness book official record holder for 6, 12 and 24h, is Jan Kares (41) who did 6 800 in 24 hours. In 1998, Kares was #17 in a Lead World Cup.