Routes:

Adam Ondra has of course been busy recently, with repeats of two hard routes in the Frankenjura: Planets Collide (F8c+) and Matador (F9a). Matador was first climbed by Markus Bock, and Adam suggested a downgrade; "in my opinion more 8c+ than 9a, but others should feel free to say more about grade".

Bock himself has just climbed another new F9a in the Frankenjura, naming it Life's Blood For The Downtrodden.

Dave Graham has been keeping his hand in with an ascent of Kryptonite, (F9a) in The Fortress in Colorado and an onsight of Gropius (F8b) at Rifle, Colorado.

You can see Emily Harrington climbing Gropius in this video (Warning Beta Alert!):

Jon Cardwell has ticked Kinematrix (F9a) in the Gorges du Loup. Mathieu Bouyoud (aged 18) has onsighted his first F8b+ with a stylish ascent of Leon in Les Concluses, France. This is the same route that seventeen year old Charlotte Durif onsighted back in March this year.

Big news and big numbers from Patxi Usobiaga. Patxi has just onsighted Janus (F8b+) at Nassereith, ten minutes after onsighting Fortuna (F8b), bringing his hard onsight tally of routes at F8b+ and above to 13.

The world cup results from Imst are now available (Full Results) - with David Lama (18 years old) from Austria winning the male category and Mina Markovic from Slovenia taking the title in the female category. The competition format had changed this year, with the qualification routes being 'flashed' - meaning that competitors get to watch each other climb and don't have to spend hours in isolation. Consequently the turn out for the competition was the highest for a number of years. The finals were climbed in the usual 'onsight' style.

Bouldering:

Finnish power-house Nalle Hukkataival has climbed New Base Line (Font 8b+) in Magic Wood. New Base Line has seen quite a bit of attention recently and a quick ascent from Tyler Landman back in July. You can watch a video of Tyler on the problem on the Moon Website.

Climbing with Tyler Landman, who has been travelling around Europe ticking an endless list of hard problems, is Brit Liam Desroy, who has recently broken the Font 8b grade with an ascent of The Riverbed at Magic Wood. Tyler also dispatched the problem.

Paul Robinson has had a great run of form, climbing 11 problems graded Font 8a+ in a week of climbing in Switzerland.

For more Euro news see the 8a.nu news page. To keep tabs on Tyler Landman and the other Moon athletes check the MoonBlog.

We're always interested to hear any climbing news - sport, bouldering and trad. Heard of an ascent? Let Us Know