Alex Megos Pasito a Pasito, 9a, Valle de los Condores, Chile © Nicolas Gantz Alex Megos has made the first ascent of Pasito a Pasito, 9a, in Chile's Valle de los Condores. This is the first 9a in Chile and a contender for the hardest on the continent. Last year Pirmin Bertle proposed the same grade for Azul es el cielo de los ciegos at Piedra Parada in Patagonia, Argentina.

Now, normally this wouldn't really qualify as news as this is what Alex Megos does more or less every day. It's been a while though and this was actually the first 9a this year for Alex.

In mid February, after a week of hand stand training in Barcelona with Chris Sharma and Rustam Gelmanov, Alex had to get cortison shots to get his finger to heal. Since, he has gradually dared climbing harder, and after victories at both CWIF in Sheffield and Master de Boulder in Santiago de Chile, he says:

...it felt like I was climbing again for the first time without constantly thinking about my finger! It's still not great yet but getting there!

On a side note: someone should give Alex a wildcard to the European Bouldering Championship this year.

German federation: Are you listening?

Alexander Megos is sponsored by: Cafe Kraft, DMM, Patagonia, Red Bull and Tenaya