Tom Randall wrote an interesting article in the latest issue of Rock & Ice - World's Hardest Cracks. Out of the Top-10 listed, Tom has done the FA of four and Sonnie Trotter of two. The most interesting story in the article is this about Beth Rodden's Meltdown 8c+ put at a pedestal much higher than any other trad route in the world. It took Beth five months to do it but in reality she never gave it a grade. At the time, Beth was married to Tommy Caldwell and they both said it was harder than any trad climbs that they had done. Beth did previously the Optimist 8c. Old interview in Climbing and here is one from Crux Crush. "After a few hours of working the moves, both Pete (Whittaker) and I walked away having done only 10 percent and scratching our heads over how the crux was even possible". Taking into consideration that when the best trad climbers in the world, such as Sonnie Trotter and Nicolas Favresse, go sport climbing, they often perform two grades harder doing 9a's, Meltdown might be equivalent to a 9a or 9a+ sport route, and possibly the hardest female ascent ever? (c) Corey Rich

Based on official Google statistics, 8a has increased by some 6% in both the number of visitors and unique visitors in November compared to last year. Yesterday, we had over 10 500 unique visitors, which is the highest number since last spring. All the major banner sponsors will continue supporting 8a also in 2016 and Prana has also signed up, including 350 8a Prana T-shirts. The picture shows the planned new design that we are about to finalize. We are looking for more guys that can help us spell check the database and the news, etc. Just send an email to [email protected]

Pirmin Bertle in Indias hardest Boulder - Bacteria, 8B+, at 4000m from Pirmin Bertle on Vimeo.

Mina Markovic, the winner of the Lead World Cup 2015 (video), reports on Facbook that she did Histerija 8c+ in Misja Pec in her third go. (c) Luka Fonda
Two days before that, she did Corrida 8c. "It is really nice that after season I can spend days outdoor together with strong climbers and just enjoy on the rock. No expectations, just climbing, sharing good vibes and meeting nice people!"