Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson came to the Philippines with the idea of making a Sea Kayak/Deep Water Solo Expedition. They had dreams of living simply, paddling along the coast and between the islands, and climbing where they wanted. As the first half of their project comes to an end, they can confirm that this “dream” is possible but might not be the most practical way to do things here… About the rock: spectacular, and although a lot of it is unbelievably sharp there is also a lot of compact overhanging white and grey walls, often covered in pockets and stalactites. Read more on their website (c) Francisco Taranto Jr.

Here are the results for which 1+ month injuries are most common in comparison with an identical poll in 2009. 39 % Fingers (42 % in 2009) 19 % Shoulder (17) 16 % Elbow (14) 10 % Knees (9) 06 % Foot/Toes (7) 05 % Arm muscle (6) 04 % Other - ankle most mentioned (4)

The webmaster has improved the map and here you can add lodging (Camping, Guest Houses and Youth Hostels etc) which will be shown on our map with some 3 000 crags.

Nicolas Durand informs that the ECO refugio in Abella de La Conca, near Terradets and Oliana, are "after 3 and a half years of planning, financing, purchasing and renovating we are finally opening our doors to guests on March 1st 2014." You have 100 routes within 15 min walk and you can walk to 200 and the aim is to open 100 more in 2014. 50 % are below 7a and here is the Tick List and a Left-to-Right topo will be sorted soon. They have pick up service from Barcelona airport, 2.5 h, which cost a maximum of Euro 200 for 4 person. They can also drive you to other nearby crags at a low rate. "It's important to remember that we are a non for profit organisation which aims to develop sustainable outdoor activities and ecological preservation in Abella de La Conca so all money is reinvested in new routes, local ecological project.

Jerome De Boeck has had a nice week around Lleida where he has onsighted three 8b's and three 8a+' beside flashing Super Vixens 8b+ in Margalef.

During the last year, the number of 8B+ and 8C boulders that have been recorded in the 8a data base are 131 and 30. In comparison, the two highest recorded routes grades 9b and 9b+ have 3 and 1 ascent. Until some ten years ago, we had grade inflation and several super soft 8C and 8C+' were sat up and repeated quickly. They have all been down graded 1 - 2 grades and the major reason for this was the Dave Graham's The Story of 2 (grading) Worlds 8C from 2005. Lately, it seems the grade pendulum have struck to hard creating an 8C+ grade deflation actually hindering further community progress. The only three 8C+ boulder suggestions, during the last three years, have come from Adam Ondra, including his personal upgrade on Gioia. Having talked to potential 8C+ boulderers like; Woods, Graham, Robinson and Traversi, they all agree that it is time to do some 8C+ upgradings. Let us hope Hukkataival can get the ball rolling by giving Gioia 8C+. "Gioia is definitely one of the most difficult boulders in the world. It’s certainly harder than most 8C’s out there. The real question is, is it a full grade harder? If we decide to consider it 8C+, then there are also a couple other contenders for 8C+ in my opinion.

By searching the highest star rating of the popular routes up to 6a in the world, we can see that all the Top-4 are trad routes found in the Bohuslän, Sweden. The #1 in the world is Villskudd followed by Prismaster, Mallorol and Bergkirstis Polska which are located in four different crags, creating the Bohuslän classics. The granite in the area is world class and it has actually been shipped all over the world. By checking the Tick List of Bohuslän, we can also see that there are several harder trad routes that score high on the quality star rating. Beside trad routes, there are some high class sport crags including two new family crags and Granitgrottan with routes up to 8c+ (FA Ondra), as well as bouldering in the area. Bohuslän is located one hour north of Göteborg and two hours south of Norway. (c) Hampus Ivert

The problems with doing dead hangs is that the hard core climber can hang 10 seconds on so small edges that it is painful and destroys the skin. One option is of course carrying weights but that is not so convenient. An alternative could be swinging dead hangs, on campus boards, meaning that you start hanging with your feet as long away from the edge as possible. Once you let go, you get a hard pendulum swing to handle, increasing the load on your fingers. Tackling the swing will also mean that you challenge different angles of your crimp position, body and arm muscles as well as train technically. Start by recruit your maximum finger strength by doing several one second dead hangs which can be combined with some campus moves. Experiment on how much swing you can take to be able to hang for 10 seconds. For the very advanced climbers like Hannes Puman on the picture, European Youth Champion in 2013, you can push to increase every swing. To make it even more advanced you should try to finish of by doing one move or just dyno as high as possible. Rest for one minute which should be increased to two minutes if you do more than 10 sessions. Once you feel you get weaker you should stop the exercise.

Here is a list of the best rated popular boulders up to 6A and actually, all but one in Sweden, are found in USA. Search the Tick List in order to find the best climbs in the world. Stars (Ascents) 2.7 (20) Jedi Mind Tricks 6A - Bishop (c) John Rockway 2.5 (35) Slashface 6A - Joshua Tree 2.3 (21) The Maiden 5A - Hueco Tanks 2.3 (20) White Flight 6A - Tramway 2.2 (36) Once upon a time 6A - Yosemite 2.2 (35) Hershey's symphony 5A - Hueco Tanks 2.2 (32) Fettot har vita jeans 6A - Hönö SWEDEN 2.2 (22) Nobody gets out of here alive 5C - Hueco Tanks 2.1 (76) White Rastafarian 6A - Joshua Tree 2.1 (54) Indian Ladder 5C - Mt Evan 2.1 (34) Lidija's Mouth 6A - Bishop 2.1 (30) The Pork Chop 6A - Red Rocks 2.1 (21) Emerald City 5A - Tramway

Chris Zehani who did his first 8a in 1995, and now has done 1 700 up to 9a, has done the FA of Love long Distance 8c+ in Cevennes. It is a 35m long and 80 moves link up bolted by Jean-Marc Oberli. Chris has previously put up like 20 routes 8c+ and harder.