Adam Ondra has onsighted two 8b+ in Grotte de l'ours; Bleu and Les Massey Ferguson. "World's first 8b+ onsight by Elie Chevieux in 1995! I do not think it had been onsighted again." Two days later he opened 2021 by onsighted D1 in Blavet. "Clipping the draws. Felt pretty soft to me, but I don't my level at the moment."

Ondra is the superior best redpoint climber in the year but what is not so well known is that he is much more dominant in onsight. In total, the 27-year-old has onsighted 88 routes 8c and harder including three 9a's. The runner up in this list is Alex Megos with some ten 8c and harder onsights. It should be noted that Adam actually was the first to onsight a 9a but this did not make it to the history books as he downgraded is it as he also has done with several other hard insights.

Noteworthy is also that as a matter of a fact, the general onsight level of the best climbers has gone down the last years, especially for the male. Jorge Diaz-Rullo is #2 in the 8a annual onsight ranking game and he has onsighted his first two 8c's in 2020.

Nicolai Užnik, who won a Bouldering Euro Youth Cup in 2019, has done the FA of Witchcraft 8C in Villach and he has a video on Insta.

"Actually this boulder has been a project for many years but after nobody could find a way to climb it, it was kind of forgotten. At the beginning of this year, a friend of mine told me about this line and asked me if I wanted to try it, so I started working on it. After a few sessions, I got quite close for the first time but then a key hold broke off which made the second and third move even harder. Since then I struggled to even do those two single moves and a few days ago when I finally sent it, it was actually also the first time I even stuck the single moves after the hold broke off. I wasn‘t sure if it was possible for me to climb it, so I really surprised myself when I did. I never worked so long on a boulder before, which makes this whole process even more special for me."

Fanatic Climbing reports that Cedric Lachat has done his eight 9a+, Super Crackinette in St Léger. He projected it for some 14 days which includes broking his pulley some years ago. During the December the 36-year-old has worked it intensively. (c) Hugo Vincent

Noteworthy is that Cedric was one of the best lead competition climbers in the world in between 2001 to 2013. He has won one European Championship as well as two World Cups. The best result in a World Championship is #3. Furthermore, he has done many of the world's hardest multi-pitches. In other words, Cedric should be considered as one of the best climbers in the world during the last 20 years.

Nathan Williams, who have just done two 8B+' has done Sleepwalker in Red Rocks. Jimmy Webb FA video. Later also Daniel Woods, Nalle Hukkataival and Drew Ruana have repeated it making it the second most repeated 8C+ in the world, after Creature of the black lagoon with seven ascents. (c) Alton Richardsson

"This boulder just suited me very well, and with every session, I felt stronger and stronger on the underclings. 10 sessions this season and around 5 or 6 last season. I think I fell going to the sloper from the bottom almost 30 times before I stuck it on point."

Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman, both born in 2001, had an amzing 2020 doing 72 boulders 8A to 8B+. In the 8a ranking game, only Alex Puccio was ahead of them in the Top-50 boulders.

Ella Adamovska, who was third in the Combined Euro Championship in December, reports on Insta that she has done a quick ascent of Pal Norte 8c+ in Margalef. (c) Jakub Konecny

"I chose this route mainly because I really liked it visually, it’s an amazing line! Moreover, last winter I sent Pal este which shares the first 3/4 of the route, then at the end of the trip, I tried the moves in Pal Norte once but it felt too hard. Together with Pal este last year it took me about 15 tries (9 in Pal Este and 6 this year). I must admit these kinds of routes (overhanging, based on endurance with small sharp pockets) really suit me.

Even though the conditions are much better than the last winter, there’s definitely not so many people in Margalef, probably due to the covid situation. As the situation is getting worse in Czech, it’s possible I will stay till the half of January since I’m currently studying at the University remotely."