NEWS

David Mason sums up his 58 days in Font
David Mason has written a nice blog after his 58 days in Fontainebleau. (c) Jimy Webb "So there you have it, six boulders (6B+ to 8B/+) that sum up my trip; from hidden gems to sandbags, mental battles to realization but at the end of the day itโ€™s just another climbing trip and I will go through these trials and tribulations many times more I am sure. Hopefully though I have learnt a little and next time I will be more prepared.

Barbara Zangerl, one of the best multi-discipline female rock climbers, reports on Facebook that she has done her first 8c+, Harry's dirty brother in Voralberg after some 30 tries over two years. "Today it was a good one. It took me some time to get this route done. After a biiiiiiiiig fight i clipped the chain of my hardest route, i have ever done. It is not a 1st April joke.) Jacopo (Larcher) did the first ascent of "Harry's dirty brother" exactly one year ago. The route is bolted by the one and only Jรผrgen Hรถfle."

Shooting photos and videos from small helicopters has and will continue to change the media scene. Next up are drones that can be used for pre-clipping carabiners meaning that you do not need to carry 15 quickdraws on an onsight attempt. The new climbing revolution drone will also come with brushing rotor propellars that will do the trick. 8a is currently testing out a prototype and several guys have already made their personal best after the drone pre-clipped everything as well as brushed all holds. Coming up today is actually making the drone carrying the rope to the top clipping it in an anchor. The drone revolution has just begun and it sure looks nice.

Estado Critico 9a by Bouyoud and Pintar
Mathieu Bouyoud has done Estado Critico 9a in Siurana and a few days later it was also done by Gaลกper Pintar who has written an interesting blog with nice reflections. "Myself a few years ago, coming from a background of youth competitions and obsessive training, I was hung up about my performance and had a number of uncertainties and doubts. I would never believe I would one day climb something like this because I was too weak or it simply seemed so abstract. Slowly over the years I made away with the misconceptions about my climbing by stopping pushing for it and going with the natural flow of things, climbing a lot, becoming stronger and finding climbing more fun as more and more things became possible."

Anak Verhoeven, who was #4 in the Lead World Cup last year, has done her second 9a, the FA of Me belle ma muse in Romeyer. Just later, it was repeated by Jean-Elie Crestin-Billet and here is his video. Jean-Elie actually called it an 8c+/9a.

Ryuichi Murai has done his second 8C in the last two weeks, Vanitas in Hourai."I felt this problem was right for myself because I could deal with many of parts with heel hook that I am good at. 6 moves until join the stand version was so difficult. When I got over the fear of mantle, I was so psyched!! Props to Dai did FA in 2014!" Video The 167 cm tall Japanese was #19 in the only Boulder World Cup he has taken part in. "I started climbing at the age of ten. I was mainly focused on competition until enter the university, but later I began to climb the natural rock. Because I still have never been bouldering overseas, I want to try the hard problems there. I climb in the gym three times a week. Basically, I try the problems that is made by gym staff. I don't particularly training, but I do sometimes ''ABC chin-up''. ''ABC chin-up'' is a training that I was taught when I went to the training camp in Austria before." Also Ichimiya Daisuke has done the 8C, which was the second one for the 162-cm-tall.

Mind Control 8c (+) by Monique Forestier (43)
The proud husband Simon Carter comes with great news on Facebook. "I'm happy! She's happy! Everybody's happy! Because Monique Forestier really pulled it out of the bag and did something I wasn't expecting today... She just sent her numero uno project with a really inspired send of Mind Control for her first 8c+, or Australian 34, in primo conditions at Oliana today!"

The downtime on 8a is only related to a hacker attack on our server provider conducted in the same way as the attack the biggest news website in Sweden some weeks ago. As we have reported earlier, the traffic has gone up some 25 % in 2016 and this in combination with the last preparations for the new scorecard pages has made us hit our maximum server capacity. Our server provider has told us that this problem has now been solved. We are sorry for the inconvenience but happy for the increase in traffic and that the new scorecard pages are soon to be released.

Anna Stรถhr is the most successful female competition boulderer. Wrestling with an alligator in Malatal was her fifth 8B after: The Riverbed in Magic wood - 2010, The Vice in Rocklands - 2013, The Power of one in Rocklands - 2013 and Boogalagga in Chironico - 2015.

yihaaaaaa - today i climbed klem loskot's classic 'wrestling with an alligator' 8b in maltatal :)

Posted by Anna Stรถhr on Monday, March 28, 2016

7 million euro worth gym in Bruneck (16 000 inhabitants)
Kletterzentrum Bruneck which opened last year was a 7 million euro investment done by the School Ministry of South Tyrol in Bruneck. As the city has only 16 000 inhabitants it might be the largest investment per capita. Interestingly, the closest city is 30 minutes away, is similar in size, and also has a new climbing gym. In total, there are almost 40 gyms in South Tyrol with just some 500 000 people living there. The size is also impressive for such a small city; Routes indoor ca. 1370 m2 Routes outdoor ca. 450 m2 Boulder ca. 680 m2