UKC reports that William Bosi has done the seventh ascent of Ben Moon's Hubble from 1990. Moon suggested 8c+ and although none of the repeaters have suggested an upgrade some have made this speculation. Interesting is that UKC does not mention this but just state that Hubble is a 9a, meaning it being the first route of this grade in the world.

Dave Graham, one of the best guys out there for the last 15 years, comes on FB with the amazing news that he has done his first 8C+. In fact, this is the world's first confirmed 8C+! (c) Cameron Maier/Bearcam "WOW!!! Elated to make the 2nd ascent of @dawoods89 new rig Creature From the Black Lagoon yesterday up in Upper Chaos!!! After around 16 days of effort since the spring, I managed to figure out the incredibly subtle change to my sequence which opened the gateway for the send!! After so many days of regression and frustrating conditions, late night pondering, hundreds of failed ideas, the solution had been in front of me the entire time. A crazy arm-torque turned stand-up yoga-type movement was the enabling addition in my sequence, allowing me to engage the undercling I battled with for so long properly, and achieve the body position I needed to keep it moving forward." Continue reading the exciting mini novel which finishes with these words: "This climb suits me, but still pushed me farther than anything I have ever done that is graded 8C. Time will tell, but 8C+ seems completely logical. Photos and video coming soon up at @island_io"

Andy Raether, who did his first 8c+ FA out of eight 13 years ago, has done his first 9a, The Eggporkalypse in Mt Potosi. " I've been working it on and off for 6 years. I sent Reverse Polarity 14b (8c) 9 times before I sent the whole thing. When you combine the whole thing it is a 14b into an ok rest and then another 14b. It is by a magnitude the most amount of work I have put into any project. I spent a year and a half specifically working on increasing my finger strength to be able to do it as well."

Paul Robinson has done his 16th 8C, Topaz in RMNP, of which Dave Graham did the FA just two weeks ago and which has been done also Daniel Woods. "It has been crazy lately! We have been finding and developing so many new boulders in Colorado. All of which are really good quality! I am really excited about the new lines and also trying to repeat some of the old ones. Having an entire fall in Colorado has allowed me to train a bit in the gym and climb outside a lot! I am super psyched to have climbed topaz and look forward to some more."

Dave Graham, son 15 yılın en iyi tırmanıcılarından FB ve ilk 8C+ kısakaya çıkışını yaptı. Aslına bakarsanız bu dünyanın ilk doğrulanmış 8C+'sı. (c) Cameron Maier/Bearcam "WOW!!! @dawoods89'un yeni rotası Creature From the Black Lagoon'u ikinci çıkışını yaptıktan sonra dün Upper Chaos daydım!!! Bahardan bu yana 16 günlük uğraşın ardından, inanılmaz ince bir ayarla rotayı algılayabildim ki bu hana çıkışın yolunu açtı! Gerilimli ve sinir bozucu şartlar altındaki bir çok günden sonra, gece yarısı kurgularım, yüzlerce çuvallayan çözüm sonrasında anladım ki aslında çözüm en başından beri gözümün önündeymiş. Çılgın bir kol bükme acayip yoga hareketi tüm bölümü birleştirmemi sağladı, ne zamandır didindiğim alt tutuşu birleştirmeme izin verdi ve ilerlemek için ihtacım olan vücut pozisyonunu elde etmemi sağladı." Continue reading Ve son olarak: "Bu tırmanış bana uydu ve beni daha önce çıktığım tüm 8C lerden daha çok zorladı. Zaman gösterecek, ama 8C+ bana tamamen mantıklı göründü. Fotoğraf ve videolar yakında @island_io"

It is great that Nalle Hukkataival did not go for a slash grade and instead marked himself one grade above everyone. The first 8Cs were suggested some 15 years ago and even if at least a dozen 8c+s have been put forward, original 8C+s have never been confirmed, instead all have been down graded. In fact, Nalle Hukkataival has always been said to be one of the guys who keep the grades very hard and that you should use the lower grade when in doubt. It is interesting that he actually changed his mind since his grade article in 2010 which was part of the reason why we shifted from grade inflation to deflation. "Last June I did the first ascent of Livin' Large in South Africa. It is by far the hardest boulder I've climbed so far, a lot harder than any 8C that I have climbed in the past. Does that mean that it is 8C+? Maybe, just maybe. Does that mean that I should grade it 8C+? I don't think so. Why do we always have to shoot high first and then wait for the downgrade. Why is it never the other way around? I graded it 8C because I feel certain that it is at least 8C. If other people feel like it's harder, they can upgrade it. Why do people always choose the egotistical approach to these things instead of "playing it safe"? Although Hukkataival has never given an 8C+ grade for any of his Boulders, he suggested 9A for his Burden of Dreams. This must mean that he has taken into account the amount of time this project has taken and how much stronger he thinks he is now compared to last year. Furthermore, he must feel that the Boulder is very much his style. Possibly, some guys will try Burden of Dreams and think it is just one grade harder compared to some sandbagged 8Cs. Possibly they could use Hukkataival's 9A as the new standard and upgrade some of the 8Cs that deserve it. It is also interesting that Hukkataivals's 9A is much shorter then most of the 8C and 8C+ problems in the world, which are often more endurance based.

Alex Megos has done yet another 9a+ in Frankenjura, Markus Bock's "Becoming", meaning that he has done all the Top-5 hardest. He reports on Instagram that the route seems manufactured. "Well built that thing but the Sika doesn't seem of good quality, it crumbles..." Please explain some more what you mean by "Well built"? I wanted to say that the route is "well built" (sarcasm) cause normally you don't build routes outside. And then I wanted to point out that it's not even well done because the Sika crumbles. It's built like a route in the gym almost. Just that they didn't use colored holds... Pick a stone from the ground and glue it onto the blank wall where there was nothing before. I don't want to say exactly how many holds are chipped or glued. But it's definitely a few. At least a hand full in that route and then a few more in the route to the right of it and a few more to the route to the right of that.

Alex Puccio, who during the last two years has badly injured herself twice in Boulder World Cups (being forced to undergo a knee and a back surgery, respectively), is back on track with an 8A flash of Skull in Joe's Valley. "I'm just psyched to be getting back outside!!! Didn't expect to flash it. Worth taking the shoes off to cross the river. " In 2014, Alex got the silver in the World Championship, and since then, in spite of the bad injuries, she has done 12 Boulders 8B and harder. Here you can find her story: The Comeback Queen. (c) Joel Zerr