Alex Beale has put together the most comprehensive 8C stats that are out there. Daniel Woods is #1 with 22 8c's and Dai Koyamada is #2 with 19. "To me, the data suggests that Daniel Woods and Dai Koyamada are neck and neck for the title of best boulderer ever. Just looking at the number of hard FAs and hard ascents, an argument could be made for either of them. What’s more, each has a potential 8C+/V16 under their belt (albeit both unrepeated)."

Alexander Megos had really good days with outstanding sends in Margalef at the end of November, but he left some unfinished business. Such was the route which ended up being his first 9b, 'First Round First Minute', which he sent on his next trip to the area, the very last day of 2015. That plus what he fired-off the next two days (a 9a+, the FA of a 9a and the FA of an 8c+) made my head boil with questions when I saw him climbing... Read the interview here. Pic© Ignacio Sandoval Burón.

Fanatic climbing reports that Alban Levier has made the FA of La Force giving the 30-mover a 9a although he did not use a rope. It is a direct and slightly harder version of an 8C he repeated before Christmas. It should be noted that some think 8C converts rather to 9a+ and bear in mind that it must be considered a hard 8C. Last year, the 21-year-old won one Boulder World Cup.

Thilo Jeldrik Schröter, who just turned 20, has been a successful boulderer for many years including being #4 in a Youth Euro Championship. Now he has been in Siurana for some weeks and it actually turns out that he has a great talent for routes as he just increased his personal best from 8b to 8c+, respectively, a possible 9a - Jungle Speed. (c) Tina Johnsen Hafsaas "I worked the route for five days. The route is built up with a boulder in the beginning that could be something like 8A+, leading you into a rest. From there it's about 8a+ technical face climbing to the top, which for me was the redpoint crux as I fell there three times before nailing. Not many people that are able to do the start fall in the top, so I guess a route is never over before it's over for a boulderer, even though the individual moves feel easy."

Eduard Marin confirms that he is in his best shape ever by doing Seleccion Anal 9a+ in Santa Linya. The Spaniard did his first 9a and 9a+ in 2008 but then it took seven years to do his second 9a+ and also Chilam Balam 9b just two months ago. The best possible explanation for him stepping one level up is the super intense training regime he started together with Dani Andrada and Paxti Usobiaga this autumn that were also captured in videos. In 2003, Edu became the Youth World Champion and in 2006 he won one Lead WC and just missed the final once out of seven events. He is also famous for doing hard Big Wall climbing together with his father.

Lluc Macià, and Alberto Gines have done Falconeti 8b+ in Montsant. Eleven year old, Lluc (in the picture) is the son of the famous trainer, David Macia. "I love that my father is my coach too, so he can give me advice to outside training. We train with organic method, short time and at a very high intensity." For Alberto, 13, it was his third 8b+ and here is a video interview with him. Overall, it actually seems the Spanish youngsters are the best in the world on rock now.

Most of us give up and say "take" or jump down instead of trying the hard moves that feel insecure. If you could get rid of this guy in your ear whispering "impossible" you would immediately climb 2 - 4 grades harder. With some mental training you would also experience climbing as Ondra and Sharma and climb harder as well as get more adrenaline. 1. Start by asking a good friend if he/she could help you with some mental training. 2. This training partner should have a more convincing voice compared to your inner whispering guy saying, "give up". 3. Ask your partner to create hard flash Bouldering circuits, which you will do with their fingertips on your back. The training mode is that you are a robot that DOES NOT THINK. You just execute the moves your partner tells you to do sometimes with support on your back. Once the first "impossible" move has been done the adrenaline will kick in and you will experience climbing like Ondra and Sharma. By actively doing some mental training like this, your inner negative voice will go to sleep and you will climb harder and have more fun...

G.Chaziris has visited Kyparissi and written a very positive article. - Kyparissi is really, REALLY amazing. The place is secluded and beautiful, the surrounding nature is spectacular and as scenic as it gets, and the rock is top notch. In addition the locals (and most importantly the local authorities) are friendly disposed towards climbing. Everything looks great.

Jakob Schubert reports on Facebook with a great picture by © Elias Holzknecht/ WOODSLAVE productions, "LA PLANTA DE SHIVA! After the biggest fight of my life I managed to clip the anchor of this amazing 9b in Villanueva del Rosario. 2nd Ascent after Adam Ondra. Super happy and proud to have send this one, my hardest route so far. Time for fiesta!" Jakob has been the best male lead competition climber in the world since 2010 and in 2011 he won seven events straight. He also won overall in 2014 and last year he was #3. The Austrian is the fourth climber after Ondra, Sharma and Andrada to have done two 9b's. Here is a new Podcast. "The process was actually rather special and I learned a lot about trying something that hard. The first few days on the route were pretty frustrating and I felt like I'm not strong enough for this route. I think it's the hardest route I have ever tried and because the rock is so special on the 9b part it's very difficult to find the right beta and can take a lot of time. I kind of gave up on the route and climbed some easier ones for some days, but since it didn't get out of my head, I returned with more motivation and a better mindset and suddenly made a lot of progress. The send was epic, I almost fell at the second to last move and fought super hard to reach the last hold. Really happy and proud of this one. 2016 I will only do the Lead season (+BWC in Innsbruck) mostly because I want to have more time to climb outside until spring. I will fly to Hueco for 3 weeks beginning of February and after we have a 10 day training camp with the national team in Fontainebleau and in Andalusia. After that I'm not sure about my plans yet, but I really want to go back to Flatanger since it's such an amazing place and I would really love to try 'Move'.