Here is the 9b and 9b+ stats excluding DWS, boulder routes and sit start routes. Adam Ondra has done 12, Chris Sharma six, Fernandez and Andrada one. It is kind of strange that during the last three years only Ondra with eleven and Sharma with three have done a 9b. In 2013, some ten guys did a 9a+ and Ramonet has done six after 2009 which can be compared with Ondra's 27 routes 9a+ and harder. 9b+ Change - Flatanger Ondra -12 9b+ La Dura Dura - Oliana Ondra -13, Sharma 9b+ Vasil Vasil - Sloup Ondra - 13 Chilam Balam - Fernandez -03, Ondra Delincuente Extension - Rodellar, Andrada -08 Jumbo Love - Clark Mtn, Sharma -08 Neanderthal - Santa Linya, Sharma -09 Golpe de Estado - Siurana, Sharma -09, Ondra First Round First Minute - Margalef, Sharma -11, Ondra La Capella - Siurana, Ondra -11 Chaxi Raxi - Oliana, Ondra -11 La Planta del Shiva - V. del Rosario, Ondra -11 Stoking the Fire - Santa Linya, Sharma -13 Fight or Flight - Oliana, Sharma -13, Ondra Iron Curtain - Flatanger, Ondra -13 Move - Flatanger, Ondra -13 Grades are subjective and probably there is at least one 9a+ that will qualify for the 9b list in few years. It should also be noted also that Adam is a full time student in the University and that he finished high school 2012. (c) Vojtech Vrzba

The highlights of the season is often the onsights during your travel. Here are some quick technical and tactical tips that might increase the joy, adrenaline and your score. 1. Route reading: 5 minutes is mandatory and also to present and discuss your strategy with your friend. 2. No Eliminations: Never think, "Is that hold allowed?" 3. Fast: Do not hesitate, take chances and you will get less pumped and you will be able to climb/send more. Every time you get super pump your daily potential performance is reduced. 4. Tick List: Check which routes are onsight friendly and if they have been done by climbers of your size. 5. "One more hold": It is easy to mentally give up if you wasted a lot of energy in the beginning. No thinking approach means just focus on the next sequence. 6. Look Down - Visualize/Rest: Onsight climbing is stressful as your head and eyes are like a submarine periscope. By often looking down you have time to rest, sort the information and memorize the next sequence.

87 839 Lactic Acid and pumped forearms 56 087 Recruitment training 49 712 Short cuts to 8a 38 346 Hangboarding Here you have all the 28 training articles

Mina Leslie-Wujastyk has done Barefoot on Sacred Ground 8A+ in Hueco Tanks. "Low end V12 but such a good problem, especially with the spicy direct top out! Very satisfying and scary at the same time!" During the last three weeks Mina has done nine 7C+ and harder in Hueco Tanks. In total, she has done 37 boulders 8A and harder.

Bouldering is getting more popular and nowadays there are almost no hard core guys who just do routes. This has dramatically increased the number of FA 8A and harder the last years and probably it is anyhow just the beginning. Although we have seen a nice boulder community progress when it comes to grades up to 8C, the progress can best be measured by the quickness of the ascents. It seems we see less long time projecting and instead the boulderes more enjoy doing variety of hard boulders. A further explanation to this is of course all the great videos out there. Another trend is that fewer of the hard FA and repeated boulders, lately, are slightly overhanging challenging the closed crimp. The good reason for this is of course that an 8B vertical is more painful than a steep one. Actually, the trend is doing steep rounded or arete boulders more challenging the open crimp or open hand position like on Meadow Lark Lemmond 8B+ in Red Rocks. Paul Robinson put up the great boulder in 2012 and the last four months we have seen at least eight repeats including Jakob Schubert's on the picture.

IFSC has presented the full 2014 WC Calender including 8 Lead and Boulder Events. The Boulder World Championships will take place in Munich in August, Lead in Gijon in September and Youth in New Caledonia in September (New dates). Further more, Sport Climbing will be showcased at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China in August.

More than 500 crags and sector topos are now possible to down load in the 8A.nu Topo App available both for IPhones and Android. Here is the link to create more Left-to-Right Topos. Try it out, it just takes like 10-15 minutes to sort a crag/sector with 50 climbs. We can also provide you with a special log-in in order to first do some spell checking, merging routes and add more sectors to a crag. Everyone who spend a couple of hours will get an 8A La Sportiva T-shirt.

Adam Ondra is known for resting extremely long in between attempts although he should have a very good blood circulation in his forearms, getting out the lactic acid faster than most. At the same time, you often hear about top climbers who climb and perform seven days in a row especially in bouldering, if your skin is OK. In general, the better trained and the more years you have climbed, the less you need to rest. The simple rule is that you do not need to rest as long as your performance is not dropping. Once the performance goes down you need to rest longer in between attempts or having a rest day. In other words, a boulderer need to rest less compared to a route climber who always fights with lactic acid. Once you have become super pumped you probably have just one or two good attempts left that day and after several burns, a rest day is needed. It is also important to understand, especially for the less experienced, that resting more will reduce the risk of injuries.

Climbers Against Cancer and John Ellison won the "Winners" award of Social awareness at ISPO. In just 12 months, CAC has raised 230 000 Euro out of which 40 000 have already been donated to research facilities in Australia, France and Canada. Here is a new 8a interview with founder John Ellison. "CAC is totally a non profit organisation and every penny raised goes towards the fundraising efforts. No one is paid and no money is used for any of the administration. Anyone who helps with the project does so on a voluntary basis (myself included) and quite often at a cost to themselves.

Adam Ondra has done Chris Sharma's First Round, First Minute 9b in Margalef which took him 9-10 days. "Next is some unfinished business in Finestra (also Margalef) and than we are moving further...close to Oliana," says photographer (c) Vojtech Vrzba." Henning Wang did film the ascent. Interview at PlanetMountain. Like previous years, Adam took three weeks off from climbing during Christmas break and after that he has been training for three weeks and arrived to Margalef 25/1. They will return to Czech Republic 12/2 so another week to go before picking up his University studies. In 2014, Adam will do some Boulder WC's and the whole Lead circuit.