Based on some 4 000+ votes, we present the results of the opinion poll Who are your female climbing heroes?: 23% Lynn Hill 10% Alex Puccio, Ashima Shiraishi 07% Anna Stöhr, Nina Caprez, Josune Bereziartu 05% Jain Kim, Shauna Coxsey, Sasha Digulian 04% Mina Markovic, Angela Eiter, Juliane Wurm, Janja Garnbret 02% Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, Allizee Dufraisse, Muriel Sarkany Comparing to a similar poll from 2012, Alex Puccio, Ashima Shiraishi, Juliane Wurm and Janja Garnbret are getting higher numbers. Kind of surprising is that many of the highest numbers are given to the boulderers, which is the opposite to the male, where route climbers were most popular. The 23% for Lynn Hill can be compared to the #1 male, Chris Sharma, who got 13%. The names most frequently mentioned among "Others", were Catherine Destivelle and Barbara Zangerl.

VERTICS.Sleeves were chosen by an international jury as ISPO BrandNew Finalist in category Accesories. In the B2B trade fair from 24 to 28 January in Munich the finalists of the BrandNew Awards are in Focus of the sports industry and traders as well as the press'. VERTICS.Sleeves are used in climbing, biking, rowing and motorbike racing sports, and they are allowed at competitions! What is kind of strange is that beside the Vertics sleeves only a chalk bag from Hanchor was among the finalists representing the climbing industry.

Cody Roth has done the 3rd ascent of Rupesh Chhagan's I Me Mine, in central Texas. "Anytime I take down a line at my limit it's hard not to doubt myself. Was it really that hard? It's never the top that I thought it was going to be. Climbing is a beautiful curse." Previously he did some 30 routes 8c and harder out of which two FA's about as hard as I Me Mine. In 2003, Cody was #6 in his World Cup debut but later during seven more events he did never better than #14.

Until 2005, when Dave Graham gave The Story of Two (Grading) Schools 8C, the upper boulder grades outside Fontainebleau were inflated. Many thought Graham's boulder should be given 8C+ to fit the modern grading. Today, Graham's masterpiece is considered to be a soft 8C and as a matter of a fact, gradewise, the hard core bouldering scene has not progressed that much during the last ten years. The reason for this is that during the last few years the inflated grades have been deflated instead. It is time that someone make another statement putting up The Story of the three grading schools giving it 8C+. What has happened lately is that the deflation has had also an impact of 8B+, which is now super wide. As almost nobody dares to put up an 8C+, even if the community gets stronger, also boulders that should be 8C's, are becoming 8B+'s.

Laura Rogora has done two more impressive ascents in La Fortezza; Aia 8c redpoint and Thor onsight, giving it a personal grade of 8a. The Italian onsigthed her first two 8a+'s and redpointed her first two 8c's being 13 years old and she is #2 in the 8a ranking game. Here are some comments from her from last spring: "I have got a trainer and he is very good. He always gives me good advises not just about the sport but also for many aspect of my life. I' m training alone because in Rome there aren't many strong people at the same age as me but I would like have someone to train with." I love to overcome my limit, winning the steady struggle with myself, and whether I do not succeed, I still like to feel the harmony with the rock experiencing each single movement.

ZA: The Trailer from Big Paw Productions on Vimeo.

Domen Škofic has done Seleccio natural 9a in Santa Linya on his 3rd go. Having done this and onsighted Rock fucks, he goes to the 4th place in the ranking game. His first 9a he did when he was 15 years old and since then he has developed in an interesting way. This year the 21-year-old was also #4 in the Lead World Cup and being from Slovenia, he is a part of their success story.

Giorgia Tesio has done her fourth 8A, Flower Power in Ciciu. Last year, being 14 years old, she did her first 8A+, Excalibur sit in Varazze and she is #12 in the female ranking game. Earlier this year, the Italian won the Bouldering European Championship. The picture is from the video from last week, when she did Noi 8b+ in Adonno.