NEWS

9a by Stefan Bednar
26 October 2015

9a by Stefan Bednar

Stefan Bednar has done his second 9a in Misja Pec, Martin Krpan. "cooolba ! :) again many thanks for support and music during ascent to : ClimbIstria.com, where we got the picture.

25 October 2015

The 9a+ list

Adam Ondra: 30 Chris Sharma: 18 Ramon Julian: 12 Sachi Amma: 10 Alex Megos: 7 Dani Andrada: 6 Enzo Oddo: 4 Seb Blouin, Iker Pou, Jakob Schubert, Stefano Ghisolfi, Steve MC, Ethan Pringle, Dave Graham & Dani Woods: 3

8A flash by Megan Mascarenas (17)
Megan Mascarenas has done her second 8A flash, Chill Style in Elevenmile Canyon, and she is #3 in the 8a ranking game. Last month, the 17-year-old won the Adidas Rock Star and of the two World Cups she has done in 2015, she won one and was third in the other. In other words, there is no other male or female who has better competition statistics. (c) Eddie Fowke

8b+ trad FA by Alex Huber (47)
Alex Huber, who has made cutting edge ascents in all climbing styles during the last 25 years, has done the FA of Il Capitano 8b+ trad in Sardina. The 47-year-old is also known for his hard FA grades and for having strong opinions about grade inflation. Here is his own story with great pics of Il Capitano, where he was actually belayed from a boat.

60 000 members!
23 October 2015

60 000 members!

The 8a scorecard was introduced in 2000 and it was immediately a great success. Today, we received our 60 000th member. Currently some 100 new members sign up every week. In total in the database there are now 3.6 million ascents that will help you to find the best crags and climbs around the globe. Our highest priority is now the redesign and we hope to present the new design for the scorecard within some weeks.

22 October 2015

The 9a and above list

1 - Adam Ondra (101) 2 - Ramonet (40) 3 - Alex Megos (38) 4 - Chris Sharma (30) 5 - Dani Andrada (28) 6 - Sachi Amma (20) 7 - Seb Bouin (18) 8 - Markus Bock (16) 10 - Patxi Usogiaba; Enzo Oddo (15), 12 - Gaby Moroni (14), 13 - Matthieu Bouyoud; Dave Graham; Cรฉdric Lachat (13), 16 - Jonathan Siegrist; Dani Woods (12), 20 - Magnus Mitboe; Lukasz Dudek; Stefano Ghisolfi; Steve McClure (11), 23 - Iker Pou; Edu Marin; Domen Skofic (10) "Rai" has published on the forum this list based on this statistics. It should be mentioned that especially Adam Ondra has given a personal 8c+ grade to many 9a's, meaning that his total number is at least 110 if topo guides had been used as a reference.

82-year-old leads 6a on Kalymnos
Robert Ryan from the USA started climbing some 40 years ago and he is now on a climbing trip to Kalymnos for the fifth time. Today, he led a 6a meaning that he is almost on pair with his hardest grade ever. - I am climbing like two, three days a week and actually back in my gym there is a guy 89 years old also pushing hard. You know, I started in the Gunks known for the hard grades so I have not really climbed harder than 6a before.

Alex Puccio is about to take female bouldering to the next level
Alex Puccio has done Free Range (aka Cage Free Assis) 8B in Boulder Canyon meaning she has done four 8B's and flashed one 8A during the last four weeks. "Didn't think that was going to happen so quick. Tried it a couple tries when I sent the stand a while back. Then went back today and after figuring out all the moves with Isabelle (Faus) it took a few tries from the beginning. Psyched to tick this one off the list. Isabelle will take it down soon!" Last year, Alex was #2 in the Boulder World Championships. Only four months ago she needed a knee surgery for a torn ACL and now it seems she is taking female bouldering to the next level making 8a news with pictures from Chris Motta every other day.

Alex Megos reports on Facebook, "First day back in the โ€ช#โ€Žredrivergorgeโ€ฌ after 3 years! FINALLY did "Southern Smoke Direct" 5.14d (9a) today after failing on it 3 years ago. As well did a project(?!) to the left of "50 Words for Pump" which I would say is as well around 5.14d (9a).

The best climbing destination had its best climbing year ever
For many years Kalymnos has been the most popular climbing destination in the world especially known for high quality routes, low prices, friendly locals but infamous for queues at the popular sectors. During 2015, the queues have disappeared due to all the new sectors (2 700 routes in the new topo compared to 1 700 before) in combination with less climbers. The fact that Ryan Air has reduced the number of flights and general uncertainties because of the Greek crisis and refugees passing from Turkey are believed to be the reasons for lower number of climbers. Few times, the climbing rescue team (no severe climbing accidents this year) has assisted stranded refugees that had been just dropped on the cliffs. When it comes to the business, the locals have had to deal with some money restrictions but in general, there is more of everything for even lower prices. This means more and often cheaper; supermarkets, studios, restaurants, yoga, training courses, taxi, buses and climbing shops. One guy has also started a resoling service, which also buys and sells used gear. The only drawback is that the scooter rentals are only allowed to those having driving licenses with AM. The best 2016 news is that Ryan Air and more airlines said they would increase the number of flights to Kos and Aegean and might increase their direct 80-seat to Kalymnos to four afternoons every week.