Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen has done The Big Island 8C in Fontainbleau. (c) Thomas Caleyron Here is what he said two months ago when he did the 8B+ variation. "One and a half year ago I tried the Island for the first time. Such an intense problem and maybe the best compression boulder in the world. Even I only have been there for 6 or 7 days, it has been on my mind since. Yesterday it went down, but this isn´t the end. The big Island always has been the main goal. It is time to go BIG! The 8C starts two moves lower Bad conditions kept me from going back to the Big Island this trip. But will be back in December for two weeks. ‬"

Everyone seems to think that the shortcut to improvement is through physical indoor training. This is probably wrong unless you are a competition climber. If you want to climb harder grades outdoors, especially do onsights, you will improve faster doing some technical and tactical sessions. The dilemma is of course that it is so easy just to follow a physical endurance or maximum power programme compared to doing some training where you actually have to think and challenge yourself also mentally. Here are some exercises that will help you progress technically and tactically. 1. Rainbow onsight - Combine hard colored routes to create new routes 2. One foot - Challenge easier routes using just your left or right foot 3. Exclude holds - Skip some holds for both your hands and feet, forcing yourself to go out of the comfort zone 4. Speed & Stop - Speed climb the routes but add two 1 minute Stop holds PS The most effective training per minutes invested overall is stretching and fall training but that is so frustrating...

Fanatic climbing reports that Alban Levier has done the 3rd ascent of Orsay roof 8C, Paris South surburb after ten days of work. "It's a very demanding line. All the kind of movements of climbing are involved. You turn your body in all the directions in this roof ! That's why it's wonderful! The whole thing adds an 8A boulder of 12 moves to the classical 8B exit (part 2). So the effort is completely different. It's nice to mix a long and brutal challenge like this. All my thoughts are going to Rémy Bergasse. Without him and his vision, maybe the line would be right now again a project!

David Firnenburg, who did his first 9a, Era Vella, when he was 15 years old has done his seventh and also his hardest route of this grade, Fabela pa la Enmienda. (c) Henning Wang "Yeahhhh man! What a beast. Took me the most time ever to finish a route. If you consider time to evaluate the grade, this one was my hardest route to date. Took me weeks to complete it and I had to go trough so many mental battles. At a certain point I lost hope and wasn't really committing anymore. I doubted if I could really do it. Though I didn't want to gave up and re-set my mind. After topping out the route I realized that psychology in performance climbing is the ability to switch in a productive mode at the right moment to reach an optimum mindset and also body feeling to succeed a certain challenge.

Please comment on this preliminary list and give names we forgot or should be higher ranked. 1. Ashima Shiraishi 2. Janja Garnbret 3. Jongwon Chon 4. Megan Mascarenas 5. Laura Rogora 6. Miho Nonaka 7. Jessica Pilz 8. Anak Verhoeven 9. Nicolas Pelorson 10. Nathaniel Coleman, Giorgia Tesio, Jakob Kronberger, Stefano Carnati, Baptiste Ometz, Stasa Gejo, Loic Zehani, Kai Lightner, Jani Zoraj, Bernhard Röck, Sascha Lehman, Sam Avezou, Yoshiyuki Ogata, Filip Schenk, Ellis Butler-Barker, Giuliano Cameroni, Piotr Schab, Moritz Perwitzschky, Dimitri Vogt, Margo Hayes, Pietro Biagini, Giada Zampa, Matteo Menardi, Maria Ballerini, Kajsa Rosen, Vladislav Schevchenko, Asja Gollo,

Wild Sport and Philoxenia on Kalymnos plan to run marathon competitions next year based on 8a scorecard point system with La Sportiva as the major sponsor. The concept is simple as you just try to do as many routes as possible during one day and you get points based on the 8a scorecard system. The marathon concept is also planned to be introduced to Melloblocco in coperation with the Vertical Life App and 8a. The same system can be used in gyms, where you can try to go for a personal best or be ranked every month or so. There is a possibility that you get points on how many clips you do or undo if you are at toprope. Getting to the last clip on a 7b will give you more points than topping out a 7a. The scorecard point system has been tested out at two Swedish national competitions with great results and no judges or referees were needed. 8a is currently working in corporation with Vertical Life in order to get ready the format, which will be presented to the gyms later. Any gym or event organizer that would like to become a test pilot gym is welcome to contact 8a.

In July 2013, Tito Traversa (12) was on a climbing trip in Orpierre with his Italian club. Tito, who did his first 8b+ when he was 10 years old, borrowed from a friend some quickdraws, which had been wrongly assembled. As he leaned backwards having clipped the anchor, the quickdraws fell apart and the young Italian fell 20 meters to the ground. He died in an hospital. La Stampa reports that a prosecutor will take three people to trial for the death of Tito Traversa: the president of the climbing club, the climbing instructor of the camp and the company producing the strings to the quickdraws.

Mina Markovic, the Lead World Cup winner 2015, who did an 8c+ last month in Misja Pec, reports on Facebook that she has done an 8c+ in Santa Linya. (c) Luka Fonda "After two days of climatization I used good conditions #santalinya and send nice line 'Digital system ext. 1'. Can't wait to try out more!"

Bernd Zangerl is one of the first famous boulderers. He opened many of the early hard core problems in Ticino and especially Magic Woods including two 8C+'s that nowadays are considered 8B+. UKC has made a new interview with the profile of Bernd, currently living and exploring boulders in the Himalaya. In general, the pioneer is very critical towards the modern 2.0 scene and the article finishes in this way: "There is high pressure in the outdoor industry, so there is also high pressure within the sport itself. Nowadays it's more important to wear the right clothes of the right brand with the right colours. You have to visit the "bouldering hot spots“ of the world and share your private moments on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Some athletes spend more time on social media, than on the rocks, because the smart use of various media channels, particularly web 2.0, enables almost everyone to reach a certain reputation by merely spending a few hours per day on the web. This was definitely not the case ten years ago." In the UKC article he is also critical towards grades and how the community deals with them, which he also said in an 8a article in 2011. He has stated that the reason for why his grades were inflated was because the first repeaters just kept confirming his initial FA grades. Here is a greatvideo of the FA of Shantaram 8C/+ outside Trondheim. The picture by © Ray Demski/Red Bull Content Pool is from Die Versorgungslinie, which he did this autumn. No FA grade but Bernd says it is his hardest ever and it was done as a five year long ground up project that took 150 tries. Other quotes from the outspoken great pioneer. - I want to mention that I don't support those "training camps“, where seven year old kids are following a training programme! - With the notion of „personal grading“ the rating has lost its original purpose, anyway. - In the end I (and also Fred Nicole) were indicted for inflation, for using overblown grades. - Depending on who is grading, or more importantly downgrading a problem, we accept the grade without any further discussions. The achievement of 11-year old Ashima Shiraishi climbing 8B boulders seems less important for the community. Why? Is she a special case of climber, because of her age or weight, her finger-size? But Ondra for example also has very specific physical preconditions, clearly differing from the average climber. Adam for sure can downgrade for example “Shantaram”, skipping two crux moves because of his extraordinary ape index. I am interested in their grade suggestions, but which weight should it be attributed to in the public? Is the “brave” repeater the only voice which holds true? For me “Shantaram” is one of the biggest highlights of my climbing career. It's an extraordinary climb and way harder than anything else I did before. (Personal grade: 8C/8C+)