The latest report from Railay is that there will be no hotel complex at Tonsai. No construction has been started yet but there might be bungalows just like on the Railay side. This goes in hand with what we have reported before based on info from Björn "Dr 8a" Alber. Picture by Sumphon Suebhait (King of Railay) - The biggest advantage with a bungalow village at Tonsai is of course that there will be clean water which also the cheaper accommodation and restaurant further up will benefit from. For now, the Tonsai beach is not the nicest place as there are no facilities such as restaurants that would take care of the area, beside Freedom bar. In other words, let us hope they start building bungalows and restaurants.

Bouldering competitions are exciting but it is hard for the spectators to follow and understand the results, e.g. 2t5 2b13. In fact, even the IFSC commentators often make mistakes when they try to say which conditions apply before the last boulder, actually fooling the audience. It is simple to start scoring by points and if climbing is going to be an Olympic sport, IFSC should see to it. The dilemma is of course that the judges have to count and present their results like they always have and then calculate it and show the results also with points. This would make it much more simple for the television commentators, during the Olympics - they would present and analyze the result during and after the event, instead of having just some confusing information, example of which you can see in the picture. One further benefit with an added point system is that you could start using two bonus holds, which will just increase the excitement for both the climbers and the spectators. There is a possibility to calculate the results so, let us say, all eight bonuses on the first try would actually beat no bonuses and just one top on the 15th go. (Examples of different scoring will be presented as a comment). The article goes hand in hand with what Danel Woods wrote in a comment discussing the problems with the scoring system used in the US Nationals.

Felipe Camargo, one of the guys who has put Brazil on the climbing map, has done the third ascent of Chris Sharma's Catalan Witness The Fitness 8C. (c) Marcos Costa "Super happy! The boulder is awesome and I didn't expect to do it in just four days. I've been training a lot of roof climbing! I'm making a movie about only roof climbs! So this year I will be going around trying some hard roofs around the world! The wheel of life, Andrada's Corazon de ensueño in China and In search of time lost in Magic Woods! But first, it dries, is my project in Rodellar! A link into Los Inconformistas which is like an 8c into the 9a! But if it doesn't dry I might just climb in Margalef and Oliana."

In general terms, all finger techniques are equally good. However, different techniques suite different climbers, holds, angles and rock. Most climbers have a dominating finger position and this position is therefore trained frequently, meanwhile the abandoned techniques are getting weaker. A balanced gripping repertoire is the key factor for any top-climber Learn how to get much stronger in an hour.

Mina Markovic is back in Spain and reports on Facebook with a great picture of Luka Fonda that she has done Dogma 8b+ in Siurana on her first try. Some would call this an onsight, what do you think? As it share an easy juggy start with Kalea Borroka, which I already flashed before, I did it on RP and I can't call it an 'onsight'. But it dosn't matter as it was definitely one of the unforgettable ascents.

Daniel Jung reports on Facebook that he has done Xaxid Hostel 9a and Histerija 8c+ in Misja Pec, "just before the holds got too wet. Not so sure about the grades of the routes I send, maybe they are soft or I trained to much." Daniel has previously done eight 9a's and La Rambla 9a+ beside putting up many routes including trad.

IFSC has put together a press release from their Plenary Assembly in Tehran where Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Sport Climbing in Iran were the main topics. Interestingly, Marco Scolaris said that it might not be just a Combined event as previously suggested. - We cannot say anything about the format at this point as the decision has not been taken yet. We believe that Sport Climbing has all the assets: new, fresh, young". Most climbers, including Chris Sharma, have been critical towards the Lead, Bouldering and Speed combined format with just one set of medals.

Last week, 8a received a new All Time High both when it comes to Sessions (124 844) and Unique Visitors (38 540). Thank you very much and thanks to the team helping out in different ways. We are always looking for more climbers that would like to help, write to [email protected] if you are interested. At the moment we have 61 000 members who have recorded 3.8 million ascents that will guide you to the best crags and climbs in the world. We hope to present the new scorecard pages' design in a few weeks.

Alex Puccio is about to take female Bouldering to a new level. She has done Nagual 8B in Hueco Tanks in just one hour. "Super psyched! 2nd try from the start. Took about an hour or less. These crimps are so sharp, but really cool movement! Another fun day!!! :)" This was also her third 8B in just four days and in the ranking game she is #19. In total, Alex has done 16 Boulders 8B and harder and in fact all of them the last 18 months. Maybe it is time to start challenging 8C?

Log-in and find your "friends'" scorecard and click: "Add to My Friends - Stay updated on all ascents from this Scorecard/Log-book" In the same way you can go to a specific crag and click: " Add to My Updates >= All" You can also choose more specifically if you want only 8a ascents and more etc.