Some months ago we published articles about VERTICS.Sleeves. Today more than 2 000 climbers around the world are using them but also motocross riders, cyclists, rowers, tennis players, golfers. Many examinations, tests and studies of different sportsmen have been conducted. This picture shows what has been found out in a survey of 107 climbers who are using VERTICS.Sleeves. Last autumn a medical study was performed by the Swiss national climbing team. In this study the perceived excretion with compression sleeves was much less and lactate was a little less. So this were the first medical measured effects of the forearm compression sleeves. Read more about the study on Vertics website.

Ramon Julian made the FA of La Bongada in Margalef in his second go and proposed 8c for it in 2012. In 2014, Alex Megos repeated it in four tries and suggested an upgrade to 9a, as he also did four 8c+'s on his second try. "The route is called La Bongada and when it was a project they thought it might be around 8c+/9a. Then Ramon did the first ascent of it calling it 8c. I repeated it and would definitely suggest 9a. It was nothing to do with 8c! Ramon might be just too strong ;-). When you compare it to some of the 8c+ in the same sector, it is a hard 9a. But for me it felt like a normal 9a." Last month, Daniel Fuertes did it and recorded it as a 9a in his super nice video and in his scorecard with a comment "for me 8c+/9a". Now Dani Andrada writes on his Instagram, adding a great picture of Javi Pec that he has also repeated it. "I think it is a hard 8c+ or 8c+/9a." Personal grades are good and it is really great that we have had four different opinions to make the foundation for the consensus grades. The question now is: How should La Bongada be reported in topos and media headlines? I think Fuertes did it in a perfect way but as we now know also Dani's opinion, we have chosen to give the video the 9a (8c+) headline in order to show that there exist different opinions. Sure we could have given it 8c+/9a it in the headline but this indicates an accurate grade which is the total opposite of the two first ascentionists' minds, normal 8c and normal 9a. To sum up, the more climbers and media use and report personal grades, the less important grades become.

Two months ago, Rock & Ice reported, "Kevin Lopata sends Misti, an 8c traverse (~V12)=8A+ in the forest of Fontainebleau, France. The traverse was established by Arnaud Ceintre in May 2009 and has only seen a handful of ascents since." This month Markus Jung did the line, video, and gave it a personal 8A grade in his scorecard. We reported 8B (8A) in the headline for Misti. Fanatic Climbing has presented a comment from Kevin Lopata in regards to how the media has been reporting this line, which in Bleau data base is categorized as an 8C traverse. “For me “Misti is a boulder, not a traverse, it could not be under 8B+, so I didn't find 8C ridiculous. We were 5 repetitors who agreed with the proposed grade of 8C. Markus is a crimp master, has an extensive Frankenjura experience and to be honest it is completely normal for him to find "Misti" easy because it is spot on his style, a short resistance sequence and very crimpy ! In Font history, there is no difference between boulder and traverse gradings." It should be noted that Markus used a different sequence involving a knee bar and less moves compared to the FA-ionist and Lopata (189 cm tall) climbed.

Perhaps almost half of the world's first 8B and harder Boulders have been or are subject to being downgraded. In general, Magic Wood sticks out and in fact, for two former 8B+'s there: Unendliche Geschichte Part 1 and High Spirit, also 8A has been suggested, i.e. three grades lower compared to the FA. Here is the brutal list with some of the classics that have actually been downgraded at least two steps or where such personal gradings have been put forward. 8C+ Anam Cara, Silvretta 8C+ Memento, Silvretta 8C/+ Entlinge, Murgtal 8C Banshousha, Ogawayama 8B+ Mooiste Meisie, Rocklands 8B+ Madiba, Rocklands 8B Super Nova, Magic Wood 8B Massive Attack, Magic Wood 8B Sofa Surfer, Magic Wood It should be noted that in order to try to present correct news 8a started to question some grades especially from Magic Wood some 15 years ago, as we could see that most of people who went there made their personal best. 8a used to be criticized for this but today everyone agrees with the downgradings and in many cases the community has actually been taking it further, as the above list illustrates. These brutal downgrades are also the reason why 8a do not think grades are so accurate and therefore slash grades should be used more often, which already works in Fontainebleau.

Domen Škofic reports from the IRCC Air Bag comp in his hometown Radovljica, which he won together with Janja Garnbret by, soloing a 9-meter-long routes faster than the others in the final. They had three attempts on 8b respectively 8a routes which ended by letting go and falling onto a giant airbag. In total, 247 competitors from seven countries competed. The number #4 in the Lead World Cup 2016, says he totally agree with Adam Ondra when it comes to his negative opinion regarding the Combined format in the Olympics. So what about making it a new Olympic or Lead WC format? "I definitely think it could be an Olympic format and it would easily go also for the Lead World Cup. It would be much more fun and the moves could get even harder and more spectacular. For now I see only positive sides. The airbag can be bigger and smoother and we could also climb up to 20 m if necessary but anyway lead should not be higher than 18 m as it gets boring."

Ryuichi Murai has repeated two Dai Koyamada's Boulders in Shinobara. Most impressive was his 30 min ascent of Uma, to which he gave a personal grade of 8B+.

Last route, last climber, his last try. Baptiste Ometz managed to stick the dyno and secure the overall victory for Blockfeld Winterthur. Then he continued making the first top. What an amazing ending of a superb Deep Water Solo show in Wuppertal. The winning team from Switzerland: Baptiste Ometz, Benjamin Blaser, Jara Späte, Kevin Heiniger, Mathias Seiler, Natalie Bärtschi, Nils Favre, Noe Wetter, Noemi Langenkamp, Samuel Ometz.

Magnus Midtbø, #4 in the World Championship in 2011, has done his fourth 9a+, Seleccion Anal in Santa Linya. (c) Henning Wang "Perfect timing only a couple days before leaving. A crucial hold broke just a few hours before I sent. Makes it a little bit harder with a new sequence down low. Feel like I have lots of energy right now, so I'm trying to put it to good use. My plan is to skip the first comps and climb outside in Norway instead. I will focus more on the World Championship in Paris this year and do one or two World Cups as training for it. This was my second trip working Selecction A. I probably fell 10-15 times on the crux, but luckily never in the last part. My plan now is to go through Stokin the fire (9b) and see if that could be a project for next season. Have watched Edu Marin working it and it looks really good!"

Daniel Woods, who did the FA of an 8C+ Boulder last year, comes with good news on Facebook that he has done his fourth 9a+. "Sent Papichulo (9a+) last night. This is the most resistant route I have climbed on. 50 meters limited rests, perfect rock, sketchy slab outro... Has everything. Props to Chris Sharma for having the vision and establishing it. Photo Matty Hong" The day before he sent Víctimas Pérez 9a in Margalef which is another resistant testpiece. Not bad for the one who has done some 25 boulders 8C or harder.

In 2009, I started saying that it is disadvantageous to start last in the Boulder finals, as the guys who had won the semifinal ended on average 2.8 in the final and that in world champions the results were almost upside-down. One possible explanation for this is that it is harder mentally to sit and wait hearing the others top out and then come out an execute, which was also what some of the top guys told me. Furthermore, you could assume that the biggest mental pressure occurs in the world championship. Here is the full data based on all World Cups and World Champions since 2007. The second column relates just to the ten results during the World Championships, which confirms my initial thoughts. Rank in semi-final -> Average Rank in all Finals/World Champions 1 -> 2.9 / 2.9 2 -> 3.3 / 3.6 3 -> 3.4 / 4.3 4 -> 3.7 / 3.7 5 -> 3.9 / 4.0 6 -> 3.9 / 2.6 During the World Championships, the guys starting first in the final, as they had the worst result in the semifinal, have the best results in the final. If we believe that the ones winning the semi have much higher chances for winning the final, compared to being #6 in the semifinal, we could say that it is unfauvorable to start last in the final. If we say that all the six semifinalists should have equal chances of winning the finals, we can say that in general, not talking about the world championships in particular, it is best to start last in the final. During the World Championships, the guys starting first in the final, as they had the worst result in the semifinal, have the best results in the final. Here are the stats for Anna Stöhr, the best female boulderer competitor in the history, suggesting that for her it is advantageous to quailify last to the final and therefore to start first. Interesting is also that she won her two world championships when she started first in the final, after being #6 in the semi. #1 or #2 in 25 semifinals = 36% victories #3 or #4 in 13 semifinals = 54% victories #5 or #6 in 12 semifinals = 75% victories What is also interesting to see is that until 2012, Anna Stöhr won only 17% of competitions where she started last but later, getting more experience to handle the pressure, she won 55%. Also Akiyo Noguchi, the second best female boulderer of the last ten years, shows similar stats. In other words, when they were not so experienced they could almost only win when they started first or second in the final but when they did win the semi and had to start last in the final, they seldom won in the beginning of their careers.