Alex Puccio has done Sitting Moon in Horsetooth giving it a personal grade of 8A. "I think this Boulder fit my body and style perfectly! All the others loged 8A+ on here, but I think it was my style. Definitely didn't have to try as hard in this climb as all other 8A+'s I have done. Fun day out with friends and the pup!!! :) Last year Alex was #2 in the World Championship but this year she got injured during the warming up in the Vail WC in June, which made her go through a surgery. Alex proves that sometimes you come back stronger after an injury due to getting a long recovery break. (c) Joel Zerr

Klätterdomen in Göteborg started with auto-belays some five years ago already and now they have seven of them. The biggest change is that they can let many more beginners try out climbing and organise many more kids birthday parties. You just have to clip the kid in next to yourself and then you can train next to your kid as long as you want. Making it easier to introduce climbing to children in early age will in a couple of years mean there will be many more kids coming to the crags looking for super easy routes. In Kalymnos, they are preparing for a kids invasion by bolting routes down to 2a.

The IFSC Provisional Calendar for 2016 has been presented and it seems the Boulder eight WC's, compared to five in 2015, involve more travelling than ever. Also for the Lead, eight events are planned and seven out of the eight will be held in Europe. Complete calendar 2016. Bouldering 16 April Switzerland 23 April Japan 30 April China 13 May India 20 May Austria 04 June Canada 09 June USA 12 August Germany 14 - 18 September World Championship Paris Lead 02 July Canada 10 July France 22 July France 31 July Switzerland 19 August Austria 26 August Italy 24 September Great Britain 08 October China 12 November Slovenia

Jernej Kruder, who was #2 in the Bouldering World Championship in 2014, reports on Instagram with a great picture by Luka Tambaca that he has set a new personal best on his 25th birthday, "By far the hardest thing I ever sent. I won't consider it as a boulder, cause it's a 60+ moves long beast, so I just propose my personal grade as 9a+ route. For those who don't consider it as a route, you should call it a hard 8C boulder problem. Even though there are some small limitations it's still an astonishing line that I'm very proud of. Short description: 7C+ boulder problem into 13 long moves on quite good holds in almost a roof and straight to an 8A boulder problem in just two very difficult moves. After that you just need to be a bit focus for the last 7B+ boulder or you could say 8a route.

Adam Ondra is back on the track after an intensive competition year where he won in Lead and was #3 in Boulder. Yesterday he did the FA of Cizí agent 9a in Moravský kras, which actually was his 43rd 9a and harder FA. "Crazy humid morning, but I crimped hard enough. Super specific route on micro holds in the vertical wall."

Christof Rauch has done his tenth 8B+ in 2015, Traumschiff in Zillertal, which is kind of amazing as this year he also did his very first problem of this grade. "One of the best and hardest boulders in the valley. Amazing riverslopers and one really sharp crimp. Took me 4 sessions to complete." The 21-year-old is #2 in the world ranking game but when it comes to having done most 8A's and harder he is superior with almost 100 of them. Based on his trend diagram, showing extreme progress the Austrian has had in the last few years, there is a possibility that in a couple of years he could set new bouldering world standards.

The progression in the number of climbers sending a 9a+ sport route in a given year had been stagnant through 2014. Annually, approximately 10 individuals were able to reach this level. However, the total number never grew. This is in contrast to the 9a grade which has continuously been on the rise year to year. The good news is that this number has doubled for 2015 relatively to previous years. On the other hand, we have seen a stagnation in 8C boulder ascents. It just might be that sport climbing is once again becoming the preference for top climbers?