Many have said we cannot climb much harder. We have reached the physical human limit and actually there was some stagnation going on some years ago. However, 2015 was a record year when it comes to achieved grades for the community; especially for the youngsters and the female. Interesting is that this trend has continued during 2016 but it relates mainly to doing longer routes and boulders. If the trend continues, male doing 9a endurance routes will soon stop creating headlines. It might be that in 2020, ten guys including Ashima Shiraishi will do 9b and Climbing will be recognized as the most gender-equal sport in the world. At the same time, the first 9A boulder and several 8C+'s will be done including also female ascents. When it comes to grades and ages, there might be several showing the same standard as Adam Ondra and Ashima Shiraishi. In a longer run, there will be loads of 50+ doing 9a's and 8B+'s. The future looks bright :)

Black Stars of Fontainebleau. from David Mason on Vimeo.

Black Stars of Fontainebleau. from David Mason on Vimeo.

About a month and a half ago Iban Larrion added a new boulder-route in a smaller grotto aside the Baltzola cave, Mikelon, for which he suggested 8B+/C (remember that in 2012 and at the same spot he also made the FA of 'Airian', suggesting 8C for it). At that time we talked with him in this interview, where we also asked him about his long standing project with a rope in the same area, Iñi Ameriketan 9a+, which he was finally able to send about 2,5 weeks ago after trying it for 6 years. Pic© Estibaliz Díaz. Iban is the fourth to clip the chains of what was born as a 100% natural route (so far just a crimp broke and was glued back on the same spot) bolted by Iñigo Basterra in 1995 which first ascent was claimed by Rikar Otegi in 2002 saying it was a 9a. One year later it was bagged by Patxi Usobiaga agreeing with such difficulty proposal. Second repetition didn't happen till 2014 with an Adam Ondra well used to revise a good number of routes downward but registering this one with a 9a+ in his scorecard with the following comment: "Harder than 'Il Domani', even though easier beta than Patxi and Rikar used has been found. 2 days, sent in humidity." Iban confirmed us that Ondra used his method and coincide with him on his grading, even if "an intermediate in the crux section broke off, but this didn't mean that plus." We, in the Spanish 8a.nu site, have asked him some few more questions that you can read in this new interview.

The number of climbers is increasing dramatically. Here is some knowledge that could help beginners to learn how to act and understand the sport. Click on he picture! Access & Human Waste Safety and Belaying technic Practice & Ethics Grading in theory & Reality

samuel arroyo has helped us out with an article about Calcena #1 in the 8a ascent trend ranking in Spain. With just 20 inhabitants in the province of Zaragoza this town is experiencing a big change. "The first ascents date back to the 70s when climbers from Zaragoza city opened the first routes of classic cut, using cracks and dihedral to conquer their needles. Three decades after a group of climbers from the area, started to reequip these routes and opened new ones with a sportier character, but it has been just a couple of years ago when Calcena has become a landmark in sports climbing in the north-est of spain. Thanks to new bolting techniques their walls have filled with incredible lines to currently reach 400 routes of all levels, good bolting and good rock quality are its hallmarks, the most of the crags are vertical slabs but we can also find overhanging walls where our forearms will blow up. The possibilities of the area are endless and with great potential, however, we can not forget the environment and therefore in the last months local climbers are grouped with the association Escalada Sostenible. You can get all the info and topos in the Calenca hostel Thanks to the wall's orientation is possible to climb all year around, the climbing area is located at 836 m. above sea level, enabling rock climb even on the hottest days. Calenca video overview.

Ash Head from Dave Sutcliffe on Vimeo.