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.

Adam Ondra has joined up czech rope producers - TENDON. "Follow your Quest" is a challenge they started last year to motivate fanatic climbers to overcome their limits. "Describe the process of realization and let us share your experience." Follow your Quest video. The winner will fly to Flatanger and climb with Adam Ondra for one day. He will give advises for your climbing project or you can just chill out with other great climbers in a beautiful Norwegian landscape.

Alban Levier, the winner of one World Cup last year, who just did the FA of a 9a boulder route and two 8B+'s, has done the 3rd ascent of L'alchimiste 8C in Fontainebleau. The FA was done some 20 years ago by Marc Le Ménestrel as an 8B but some ten years ago someone broke several holds with a hammer. Nalle Hukkataival made the post chopping FA last autumn. Alban thinks it is an 8C and said that according to Bleau.info Nalle had suggested 8C/+, which made the Finn comment on Facebook. "I never proposed a grade for L'Alchimiste for the reason that I spent a long time trying it and then climbed it very quickly after discovering the easier way. Trying it with the wrong the method for weeks skewed my perspective so I chose to leave the grading to future repetitors. Well done!!"

8a has visited ISPO 2016. From what we have seen there we can predict it is possible that in the future customized climbing shoes will be available on a larger scale. While testing and buying Saltic shoes in a shop you can select up to four different mid-soles as well as the preferable thickness of the rubber. Saltic will then hand-make your shoe and send it to your shop, where you will get it within two weeks. If they had just presented this innovation, they would have probably won the ISPO gold award. La Sportiva representatives said they had been doing it in this way for several years with their athletes and that they had been thinking of doing it on a larger scale. In general, to get the same stiffness as a result, smaller shoes should have less thick mid-soles compared to bigger ones, i.e. the demands for stiffness varies between a 40 kg and an 80 kg heavy climber. It could also be of interest to have much thicker rubber in your indoor training shoes than in the ones you use outdoors.

Cathy Wagner, who started climbing in 1986 and had her most productive year in 2015, has started this year up really nice with six routes 8a and 8a+. Last weekend the 50-year-old did two 8a's in her second go in Gorges du Loup. During the last 12 months, the grand lady has done 60 routes 8a to 8b and in total she has done 527 of them. Maybe it is time to step up to 8b+ before turning 51!

Based on some 3 000 unique votes from the poll "Best Climbing Shoes 2016?", La Sportiva keeps their extreme dominance and Tenaya increases from 3 to 5%. In the first poll we did in 2009, La Sportiva had 47%, Five Ten 31% and Evolv 8%. In 2010, Scarpa did get 7% and and Boreal 3%. (in brackets, the result from the 2015 poll). 47% - La Sportiva (47%) 15% - Five Ten (15%) 15% - Scarpa (13%) 9% - Boreal (10%) 5% - Tenaya (3%) 3% - Evolv (4%) 2% - Mad Rock (3%) 4% - Other (Ocun and Red Chili mentioned most often)

BBC has made an interview with Ashima Shiraishi, where, among other things, she says her goal is to break records held by her male counterparts. The 14-year-old claims to be the only female to have done a 9a+ (Direct open your mind R1 in Santa Linya) and the youngest person to have reached that grade. It should be noticed that the route was originally a 9a until some holds broke and it was speculated that it might be a 9a+. Later Edu Marin repeated it saying it is still a 9a. The first woman to claim having done a 9a+ route was Josune Bereziartu (route: Bimbaluna), which has been subject of being downgraded.

Here are some of the amazing "world records" held by Ashima Shiraishi, most of which are actually also records for boys. Basing on her combined Route and Boulder tick list, she has been the best female rock climber in the world since she was 12 years old. Bear in mind that all her records have been done fast as she has very limited time for climbing outdoors, living and going to school in New York. Imagine how many 8C's and 9a+'s she could do if she was a professional climber! The picture from her Instagram, where she says her goal is to compete in the Olympics. Ashima's achievements: 9 years old: 8A, Chbalanke 10 years old: 8B, Crown of Aragorn 11 years old: 8A flash, Black Demon 8b+ flash, Omaha Beach 8c+ redpoint, Lucifer 13 years old: 8B+ Golden Shadow 9a Open Your Mind Direct R1