Daniel Woods, who has won one World Cup and nine US Bouldering Nationals, has written down some interesting thoughts regarding competition climbing. His thoughts go along with the opinions and suggestions from 8a. The scoring could be based on several bonus holds, i.e. in the middle of the two extreames, scoring all holds like in the US and just one bonus like in IFSC. (c) Greg Mionske for USA Climbing "Over the last decade, I have competed at ABS nationals, WC events, international invitational events and the key thing that has always changed is the format/scoring. This might be the most important aspect of a competition especially for the audience. Our main goal as competitors is to go out and see if we can overcome the test in which the route setters present to us (simple to understand for us). The goal of the audience is to be involved and understand what each of us are doing so their attention span is being maintained. If the audience is confused, they become bored and disconnected (also simple to understand). There is no such thing as a perfect way to score a comp. There is such a thing as scoring a comp that is simple and easy for the audience to understand. If the competitors are left confused back in ISO and have no idea what the standings are, then how is the audience supposed to be able to follow as well? With past experience from other events and scoring systems (IFSC and the top then point per hold format) it is at least easier for us to get a sense of how we stand in the event. This allows us to develop a strategy for each boulder. The audience can even tally up what is going on. The new way of scoring things in which the US has developed confuses me to say the least. It puts more pressure on just a single boulder rather than an average of all 4. You do not know your overall placement until the comp is over which in my opinion the audience should know the winner and podium as soon as the final climber finishes. Were not here to do math problems and make things complicated... were here to climb and inspire people to watch us climb and go back having the feeling that they also want to climb or compete one day. The only credit that I give to the new scoring system is how precise it can be... a flaw to this though is that it "determines" the hardest boulder based off of percentages which in the end outweighs overall mean. I want to see competition climbing become successful and for people to feel like they had a good show. The percentage of people that asked me what the podium was, or how we are scored, or just plain out what the fuck is going on left me thinking that the comp had already failed. If we have to watch a 12 min video to understand the scoring then what happens when a non climber asks us what is going on and we as professionals reply back with a shrug and a face of confusion... not really going to sell competition climbing to that person haha. I recently did a comp in January called Di'namik and they used a two zone scoring format which I really liked. 1st zone was 5 points, 2nd 10, top 25. By doing this you can set a hard section down low and up high. The audience can tally up who is doing what but to be honest every finals comp should have a running scoreboard. Make it even more basic so the drunken audience does not have to even question what is going on haha. Even to step things up, place the point value next to the zone so the audience looks at that random piece of tape and immediately knows what it means. Point is simple is better than complex... The only thing that should be complex is what the route setters want to throw out at us. I thought the problems at ABS finals were on point and awesome testing power, balance, and coordination... big up to the route setters and to Nathaniel and Megan for being on point. In order for competition climbing to become popular to the masses we need 2 key components: Simplicity and Consistency DW

Last year, Nathaniel Coleman and Megan Mascarenas did make the biggest breakthrough at the Bouldering competition scene and they started 2016 up in the best way by winning the US Nationals. Among the male, five guys topped out three out of four boulders and they were separated depending on how they were ranked on each boulder. This means that US Nationals' scoring is not the same as at the IFSC comps. Among the female, Megan and Alex Puccio were kind of superior and in the final, Alex had better a ranking score but Megan topped one more boulder. Video replay 1. Nathaniel Coleman - Megan Mascarenas 2. Jimmy Webb - Alex Puccio 3. Carlo Traversi - Claire Blurfeind Complete results Alex and Daniel Woods, who was #4, had previously won nine Nationals straight. The Bouldering WC starts in Switzerland on the 15th of April.

There exist 100+ boulders graded 8C and harder, out of which just a few are in Fontainebleau. In 2005, the hardest Boulder in Font was 8B at the same time as some were already doing 8C+'s around the globe. For example Antoine Vandeputte had an 8A+ Font personal best when he did Tonino 78 8C+ in 2005. Around 2004, 8a started to question the hard core grades outside Font and in the beginning we were heavily criticized for it. In 2005, Dave Graham opened The Story of Two (Grading) Worlds as an 8C and this, together with downgrading suggestions from 8a, stopped the grade inflation. In fact, most hard core grades outside Font have later been downgraded. The strangest thing is that in Fontainebleau, the locals seem to have the opposite grading mentality. We asked the question to Pierre Délas – Font local who is running the new Fanatic Climbing page. Here is his answer, and his picture of Paul Robinson doing the classical Kheops that has been upgraded from 7C+ to 8B: “In Font, there is a sort of downgrading game. When a new hard problem is opened it's a sort of challenge to repeat it quickly and to suggest a downgrade, because on the one hand it’s very technical, and new and easier betas are often found. Also on the other hand, it's a sort of challenge to test the grading credibility of the one who has proposed this new boulder, because there’s a tradition of being careful with the grading here. Now it's more quiet but at the end of the 90’s and in the beginning of the 2000's when all the hard classics of the forest were put up, it was like a jungle or war with different clans and some epic stories! So in Font we are now used to propose solid grades, because there is a sort of tradition and one to be taken serious by the community. Have a look at 7C+ test pieces like Proueptologue or Deforestation for example…Some boulders like “Realist” opened as 8B+ now downgraded at 7C+/8A… Most of the active climbers who are opening new problems in Font are now very prudent. On the other side, it’s important to be homogenous in the area and some boulders have been upgraded with 1-2-3 grades to fit the modern standard. The best example is Kheops, a standard 8B opened by Laurent Avare with the 7C+ grade. That’s maybe why the Font bouldering grade is so famous all around the world and we are proud of this! For finishing I would say that bouldering in Font is so specific with bad friction, compression on slopers. Very physical and technical at the same time. Smooth, sensitive with some tricky balance to feel. That’s why it’s magical ! Grading and climbing here are unique! Remember Jacky Godoffe’s sentence: Font is the climbing move laboratory !”

Charles Albert, who always climbs barefoot, has done the FA of Marc LeMenestrel's original unrepeated L'Alchimiste left exit, after some holds were chopped about ten years ago. Nalle Hukkataival and Alban Levier have done it with a slightly different right exit, calling it an 8C. The 18-year-old barefoot climber thinks the left version is an 8B+. "Mowgli" stopped using shoes three years ago and says the biggest problem is that you have to rest more in order for the toe skin to recover. Previously, he had done one 8C traverse.

Fanatic Climbing has made an interview with Charles Albert, who did an 8C yesterday, giving it a personal grade of 8B+. The interesting fact is that the 18-year-old seldom trains indoor and the only training he does beside Bouldering is stretching. (c) Neil Hart "Yesterday I was climbing alone without pads and luckily I met Kevin Thibaut and Mounir (strong but low profile Font locals) who were trying it. I joined them and I managed to send it on my first real session trying the left version. Regarding the grade, I would say for me it’s not harder than “Gecko assis”, the 8B+ I did barefoot last year… I also tried the sit start of “Alchimiste” which adds an easy but beautiful move but doesn’t change the difficulty. I have not done the sit-start version but will come back and try sending the whole thing because it makes the line even more beautiful !"

"One more time so happy ! Today I sent le Surplomb de la Mée sit start 8b+"
This means that the 21-year-old has done three 8B+'s and three 8C's in just two months. Posted by Alban Levier on Friday, January 29, 2016

Fanatic Climbing has made an interview with Alban Levier, who won one Boulder WC in 2015 and who has been one of the most productive boulderers in the world in the last few months. - I’ve been training for the next comp season for the last 4 months (it starts in April). I think my training is paying off. I feel good, so I’m profiting from it! I´m physically on form so I´m just trying not to fix any mental limits on myself. So I´ve simply said I´ll try some hard lines which have received few repeats, and it’s all going right!

A petite belayer makes the falls softer but with a 33% weight difference it starts to get dangerous. In the gyms, the smaller climber can often attach some 15 kilograms to their harness but in reality it is not practical and it can be a big problem outdoors. With all the new kids in our sport, the weight difference problem is increasing. At ISPO 2016 Edelrid presented an OHM balancing weight differences, which won the IPSO award. The OHM works like an assisted braking resistor that you place in the first bolt. The friction is increased and helps the lighter climber not to be pulled high from the ground or thrown against the wall. One potential downside is, however, that when your partner is high up with a lot of rope drag it will be harder to give a dynamic fall unless you have a friend removing the OHM.

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Michael Füchsle had climbed since the late 80s and used to do FAs up to 8a+ in the early 90s. After Intestinal breakthrough 2005 with a full-body paralysis Michael has begun to climb again in 2012. The 49-year-old is 90% severely disabled and has next to a colostomy (stoma ILEO) strong polyneurophathy in legs and arms as well as several anal fistulas. Last year Michael participated in two International Para Climb events where he could occupy the 5th place respectively, and did some Boulders up to 7B in Austria and England. In 2016, he is going to compete in the World Championships in Paris and possibly go for an 8a, training some 10 hours a week.