Stefano Ghisolfi, who has done three 9a+'s to date, has made the FA of Lapsus 9b in Andonno which is a link up of Noia 8c+ into Anaconda, 8c, and he comments on Facebook, "Finally after long time and a lot of tries, I sent the hardest project I ever tried. I spent many days on it, falling many times at the last section. Today the conditions were perfect, we came in Andonno just in the afternoon and after a quick warm up I climbed the route on the second go of today. I propose a new grade for me and for Italy, I think this is much harder than Biographie and Demencia. I'd like someone will come to try it soon to confirm the grade, maybe Italian history has been made!" (c) Enrico Veronese In total, there are only eight climbers who have done a 9b. Last year Stefano won one World Cup and this year he has been in Top-10 in all but one event. Next weekend, the Italian will compete in Kranj.

Most of the 650 routes in Railay Beach were developed some 15 years ago when Glenn Smith, Andrew Anderson and Simon Talltorp found and started to develop Gibbon Roof. With 12 * 50 meters, it is the biggest cave in the area, located only some 8 minutes from the last bungalows above Ton Sai. How crazy is that? Until now 13 routes have been developed but there is enough room for some 30 routes out of which one could be 50 meters of roof climbing in a nice setting above sand. Here you will find more info and here is a topo. Picture by Derek Cheng. Beside this great new sector, there are many more crags being evolved around Railay and here is some more info about Railay Beach updates.

Full story with great pictures of the 15-year-old, Matteo Manzoni, who has done an 8A+.

Katharina Saurwein has done two 8A+'s in Grampians; Sleepy Hollow and Cave Bitch. On the great picture by Jon Glassberg she is doing The Outsiders 8A. From Facebook; "I've tried some amazing problems in the last few days, such as 'Sleepy Hollow', 'Nevin Rules' and 'Ammagamma', but I must say the majority of the problems is not as good as I thought. A lot of them don't top out or climb not so good rock. The Grampians are an amazing place though, and the wildlife, crazy sunsets and the views from Mt Stapylton make up for it though!

Jan Vopat has onsighted two 8a's and his first 8a+ in Geyik bayiri, Turkish Airways. By checking his impressive scorecard with 756 ascents, we can see that his focus has moved from toprope, from the age of five, to flash and now onsight. 8a believes that this is the way for kids and that they should be kept away from redpoint as long as possible.

Angy Eiter introduces to us the gorgeous seaside village of Kyparissi, a new world class sport climbing destination. Kyparissi is a small village in one of the last remaining untouched niches of Greece. Surrounded by pristine limestone cliffs, it has waited for a long time before the bolting project was able to be implemented under the supervision of Aris Theodoropoulos. Approximately 130 sport routes of all levels have been equipped in Kyparissi to date. They are distributed across six beautiful crags, with shade both in the morning and in the afternoon. One of these crags, ‘Babala’ (only 30 routes so far), is described by climbers who have tried it as “the best hard sport crag in Greece; something like a Céüse full of steep and futuristic tufa lines on bulletproof orange and blue limestone, with unlimited potential for more hard routes!” More info at Climb Greece (c) Chris Boukoros

Time.com has published a list of the 30 most influential teens in the world, including Ashima Shiraishi. When it comes to athlete performances, Ashima could be said to be the most successful 14-year-old in the world, taking all sports in consideration. Ashima has had the most impressive combined climbing and bouldering ticklist in the world since when she was 12 years old. Last week, she won and did all the boulders at a Brooklyn Boulders event beating all the guys.

What is the easiest bolted route in the world? The 8 meters long 1-2-3 ABC in Symplegades sector on Kalymnos should be a contender for this title. You can also do the top rope variation 4-5-6 DEF 2c to the right. In fact, it is also possible to do a variation to the left which makes it 1b+ :) In the new topo, Symplegades has already been said to be the best family crag on Kalymnos and, including also the new 5b, The double twins, just confirms it. The trend for parents to bring their small kids to the crag is just growing stronger but the ground under the routes is often not so nice for running around and playing hide and seek on Kalymnos. Symplegades, however, does the trick.

The 8a ticklists are based on 3.6 million ascents that will assist you in finding and climbing the best routes in the world. You can also check which routes have the highest onsight statistics or which routes have been done by kids, or have them sorted by grades etc. Have fun at the crag!