Some ten years ago, several men - notably Dani Andrada, Patxi Usobiaga and Chris Sharma - broke through to the next grading level establishing several 9a's and 9a+'s in Santa Linya. As of 2016, however, it seems that progress has become stagnant with Chris Sharma's two 9b FAs representing the highest attainable level. Women, in the mean time, have caught up, in 2010 Angela Eiter did the first female 8c in Santa Linya. Quickly thereafter other women have followed suit with ten other females having completed climbs ranging from 8c to 9a(+) over the last two years. Complete stats. In this great picture captured by Luka Fonda, Janja Garnbret (16) flashes La Fabelita 8c. If the trend continues, it is only a matter of time before women are on par with men in Santa Linya. While impossible to know for certain, one of the reasons behind such phenomenal progress for women may lie in the nature of the climbing in the cave where technical skill and endurance are of vital importance. That, and the fact that these ten women - and the many who will follow - are testaments of climbing strength and power.

OFF THE WAGON 8B+ from lucarinaldi on Vimeo.

Last year, Nathaniel Coleman and Megan Mascarenas did make the biggest breakthrough at the Bouldering competition scene and they started 2016 up in the best way by winning the US Nationals. Among the male, five guys topped out three out of four boulders and they were separated depending on how they were ranked on each boulder. This means that US Nationals' scoring is not the same as at the IFSC comps. Among the female, Megan and Alex Puccio were kind of superior and in the final, Alex had better a ranking score but Megan topped one more boulder. Video replay 1. Nathaniel Coleman - Megan Mascarenas 2. Jimmy Webb - Alex Puccio 3. Carlo Traversi - Claire Blurfeind Complete results Alex and Daniel Woods, who was #4, had previously won nine Nationals straight. The Bouldering WC starts in Switzerland on the 15th of April.

Ticino Boulder + Ninja Skills from Giuliano Cameroni on Vimeo.

Charles Albert, who always climbs barefoot, has done the FA of Marc LeMenestrel's original unrepeated L'Alchimiste left exit, after some holds were chopped about ten years ago. Nalle Hukkataival and Alban Levier have done it with a slightly different right exit, calling it an 8C. The 18-year-old barefoot climber thinks the left version is an 8B+. "Mowgli" stopped using shoes three years ago and says the biggest problem is that you have to rest more in order for the toe skin to recover. Previously, he had done one 8C traverse.

Fanatic Climbing has made an interview with Charles Albert, who did an 8C yesterday, giving it a personal grade of 8B+. The interesting fact is that the 18-year-old seldom trains indoor and the only training he does beside Bouldering is stretching. (c) Neil Hart "Yesterday I was climbing alone without pads and luckily I met Kevin Thibaut and Mounir (strong but low profile Font locals) who were trying it. I joined them and I managed to send it on my first real session trying the left version. Regarding the grade, I would say for me it’s not harder than “Gecko assis”, the 8B+ I did barefoot last year… I also tried the sit start of “Alchimiste” which adds an easy but beautiful move but doesn’t change the difficulty. I have not done the sit-start version but will come back and try sending the whole thing because it makes the line even more beautiful !"

Fanatic Climbing has made an interview with Alban Levier, who won one Boulder WC in 2015 and who has been one of the most productive boulderers in the world in the last few months. - I’ve been training for the next comp season for the last 4 months (it starts in April). I think my training is paying off. I feel good, so I’m profiting from it! I´m physically on form so I´m just trying not to fix any mental limits on myself. So I´ve simply said I´ll try some hard lines which have received few repeats, and it’s all going right!