During the last week, UKC has four times chosen to report higher grades than had been suggested. 1. Megos - Hubble 9a even if Megos compared it to an 8c+. 2. Schröter - 8B flash even if a half of the repeaters has given it 8A+ lately. 3. Barrows - The Wheel of Life 8C even if Alex said consensus was 8B+ 4. Honnold - The Complete Scream E8 even if they previously said it was E7 Some 15 years ago, 8a said that a grade inflation had started. It is natural for climbers and the media to take the higher grades as it creates better headlines. On the other side, it devalues ascents based on real grades. In general, it is on 8a where you first can read about a new lower grade which often becomes consensus in other media. Grades are the #1 criteria for the media when telling how important the ascent was and if we do not try to report correct grades, i.e. keep the low ones, the deflation will just continue. Another example of this unfavorable trend is when Rock & Ice said Mind Control was an 8c+ without mentioning that lately many thought it was an 8c.

Dai Koyamada, who has been one of the leading climbers over the last 20 years, reports on Instagram that he has put up yet another great line. "Miracle happened! Last night I did it! So glad to established this line which I found last June and dream to send. Definitely this is the one of my best FAs ever. Tentatively V14/15. Hope anyone else evaluate it. Name, it's 'NEHANNA'.

Marc Le Menestrel, one of the leading climbers in the world during the 80-ies who put up routes up to 8c, and a professor in Ethics, was invited by IFSC last year to establish and promote climbing ethics. The starting point also included a proactively thoughts in regards the Olumpic agenda for 2020. "Climbing shows a richness of values that goes well beyond most of sports. Community, Freedom, Nature, Performance, Pleasure, Friendship and many other values are strongly held by climbers. These values can be an inspiration far beyond the climbing community and support the potential for future development. If ethics is about living values, then the ethics of climbing can be proud of a very powerful and diverse set of values." Here is the full report - Climbing Ethics

BOREAL | Alex Txikon on Nanga Parbat – The 4 keys to success! from BOREAL Outdoor on Vimeo.

Thilo Schröter has flashed Monkey Business 8B (A+), which actually was put up by Dave Graham as an 8B+. Asking Thilo how much beta he got, his ascent gets more impressive as he only had the holds pointed out by Martin Mobråten, who did it in 2014. - It was just another day trying a new boulder for me. I always try to flash any boulder I try, not because I care that much, but why not really. One only has one flash attempt and besides that it's good comp training! I knew that I could flash it if I didn't make any mistakes, and I didn't. That feeling of flawless climbing on intuition is pretty sweet, so I was definitely happy!

- Let’s just say I’ve climbed some 8c+ that have felt a lot harder. And I’ve climbed some 8c+ that have felt a lot easier. Full story on Planet Mountain

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who did her first 8c this spring being 11-years-old, has done another four 8a's in Margalef, one out of which she onsighted: Pollastre de Granja. The Australian is in Europe on a four month trip being home scholed. Here is an 8a INTERVIEW from last month.

The North Face has created a training App as well as a new collection for Mountain Sports. The trail running shoes shown in the picture have a Vibram sole and forefoot protection ultra trail running. This Snake Plate™ feels almost like landing on a crash pad.

Olympic.org reports that today the International Olymic Committe (IOC) supported the proposal to include five new sports, sport climbing among them, to the programme of the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo. The final decision will be made in Rio de Janeiro in early August. IFSC has suggested a Combined format where 20 male and female will compete for one set of medals based on who is best overall in Speed, Boulder and Lead altogether. In should be noted that many of the best climbers have been extremely critical towards the suggested concept, including both Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra.

Alex Barrows has done The Wheel of Life in Grampians, which is a 70 moves horizontal endurance testpiece that Dai Koyamada put up as an 8C+ in 2004. Alex, who is on a 7.5 months road trip after getting his PHD, chose to give it a route grade of 9a, which seems to be the consensus grade to 8C nowadays. Interesting, the endurance master who has done Era Vella 9a before, says soft 8B+ would have been his boulder grade. Full story in his well written blog (c) Ella Rusell