Christof Rauch, who has done 98 boulders 8A and harder in the last year (probably most in the world), has done two more 8B+'s in Magic Wood: Ill Thrill and The Never Ending Story, "Maybe the problem which took me the most time! Fell much more than 50 times on the first move of the second part. Once I got that first move I did it. Superhappy now!!! Amazing line and awesome moves, no more words needed!" Is there anybody else who has done more than 100 boulders 8A and harder in one year? It should be mentioned that the Austrian often gives personal grades. In 2014, James Webb did 146 boulders 8A and harder which probably is All time high.

Nico Pelorson, #2 in the Youth World Championship this year, has done his second 9a FA in St Pancrasse, La 9ème centenaire. - It is a perfect route, totally natural that was bolted by Quentin Chastagnier There are two sections. The first is really hard and short (drop-knee, heal-hooks above the head...) This section is about 8B boulder I think. Then, you have done the harder part but there is again an 8b crimpy which finishes with an horrible slab. It took my seven sessions for redpointing it.

CTeam.si comes with the amazing news that Janja Garnbret has done Miza za šest 8c+ at Kotecnik, which is a link up of an 8b and 8b+ that she has done before. The 16-year-old has competed in the Lead WC twice in 2015 and both times she was #2. She has also won the Youth World Championship in both bouldering and lead this year. The next weekend, she is competing in front of her home crowd in Kranj and what a sweet story it could be if she handled the pressure and won. (c) Luka Fonda

Staša Gejo started to make headlines in 2010 when she did her first 8b being 12 years old. Although she has been won European Youth Cups every year since 2012, she has just had her competition breakthrough this year by winning both the European and World Youth Championships in Bouldering as well as being #5 in the last WC in Munich. Climbing Family has done a nice interview with great pics from Eddie Fowke.

Marco Zanone, #7 in the 8a Combined ranking game, talks about what he likes the most.

Stefano Ghisolfi, who just did the FA of Lapsus 9b in Adonno and who is competing in the WC in Kranj this weekend, tells us how he trains. "I didn't train specifically for the route, the best training was trying it a lot and of course I train endurance for world cup so it is connected." His trainer is Roberto Bagnoli. Stefano's training is divided in four phases and what is interesting, he goes 100 % in the last session, two days before the competition. - In January, I begin with power, with a lot of bouldering and few moves on the wall and a system board. Then I do more moves in the second phase, not endurance but power endurance. Later, I use to do circuits from 30 to 60 move until one month before the first comp. In these periods I train 5-6 days per week and some days I have double session. During competition season I do from 3 to 5 sessions per week. More specific and similar to the competition format and moves. During this I use to climb outdoors and doing circuits indoors. I normally have just one rest day before a comp and during the day before I do three-four 30 moves maximum circuits or routes with 30 minutes rest in between. (c) Enrico Veronese

Jorg Verhoeven, one of the leading multi discipline climbers in the world, who won the Lead World Cup in 2008, reports on Facebook, "YEAH!! I climbed the Wheel of Life, one of my all time dream problems! After working the 60+ moves into perfection I gave it one good go a day and ended up on top on day 5. I took the full experience topping out at the highest point and thus adding a little spice to the end. I can't agree to a route grade, since it doesn't gain much height, nor needs rope or draws, and comparing it to other (only slightly) similar boulders it seems 8C would be fitting. Don't get me wrong, but similar to freeclimbing the Nose, I almost feel a little sad it's over..." (c) Jon Glassberg The FA was done in 2004 by Dai Koyamada, who gave it 8C+ grade but what Jorg did was a harder direct finish that James Kassay did the FA of, giving this harder variation also 8C+. Altogether, it has seen some ten repeats that also have been graded up to a 9a+ route grade.

"Discover the world’s most spectacular climbing routes in breathtaking 360°-panoramas." Until now, Mammut has uploaded seven big walls including El Capitan. It is like real climbing and turning your head to have a view on the great landscape or up- or downwards.

Adam Ondra has prepared for the last WC in Kranj by doing Modified 9a+ in Frankenjura and making the FA of C.R.S. 9b in Mollans. Screenshot from Bernardo Gimenez "What a moment! Extremely satisfying ascent, nice to feel the progression on the real rock. This route bolted from Seb Bouin is just ultimate power endurance testpiece, combining desperately physical overhang with extremely thin holds on the very top. Last try, last day, 3 days in total and 1 try two years ago. Never did the "real" 9b so fast, not even close:-) This cliff (close to St Leger) is the future, ranked number 2 after Flatanger for me in terms of 9b's and more...and it is not secret spot any more..." In total, this was Adam's 13th 9b which can be compared to the runner-up Chris Sharma with 8 routes of this grade. Then there are seven climbers who have done one.

Boreal has updated the Kintaro model, which was developed from the first version — about which we had previously written a few years ago — and has a few novelties we’d like to share with you having tried them for a period of six months. Here in this review you can read what we've found about this nice 4 x 4 of a climbing shoe.