Adam Ondra reports on Insta that he has flashed Jerry Moffatt’s The Ace (8B) at the Stanage. "🌦 I have just come back from an intense week in Sheffield in the UK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 A lot of exciting stuff was filmed, and you can look forward to quite a few exciting videos! 🤜🤛" (c) Petr Chodura

This should be the first flash of The Ace, which is a sit start to THE JOKER (8A), and Ondra's 12th flash 8B or 8B+. "Freak moment! Executed just perfectly! Thanks for the beta Will and Leon for beta, and extra psyche by the legend himself Jerry and Magnus!"

Florian Wientjes, who last week did Dreamtime 8B+/C, reports on Insta that he has done From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico. (c) XaverQuintus.net

Could you tell us more about the ascent?
I start trying it 4 years ago and since session one, I fell on this hard mantle. In isolation, the mantle worked pretty well but from the bottom always something went wrong Like cold fingers, no friction, small mistakes or hesitation. I spent around three sessions per season on it but this season I changed my beta for the mantle using a heel hook instead of just standing. It makes it a bit more physical but way safer. Usually, I always prefer standing before a heel hook so I am glad that I tried it and it worked out :)

During the last few years, we have seen plenty of advancement when it comes to redpointing ability globally. In just the last three years, we saw close to 150 9a+ ascents which can be compared to only ten 9a+ ascents per year, last decade.

Ten years ago, Alex Megos onsighted Estado critico (9a) but since then only a dozen 8c's have been onsighted if we exclude Adam Ondra, who has onsighted 47 routes 8c to 9a since 2013. Global female climbing has been following a similar trend. 9a redpoints have become much more frequent but 8b, or harder, onsights are very rare.

When the 8a logbook was introduced in 2000, we wanted to motivate climbers to onsight routes, and in the scorecard you score almost three grades higher for an onsight compared to a redpoint. Our feeling has always been that onsighting, albeit not always perfectly fluid and sometimes as nerve-wracking as taking a penalty spot kick, is fundamental to enjoying climbing and a critical part of the climbing experience. The benefits of onsight climbing, especially for younger climbers, have been stated here and elsewhere so often that there's no need to go back over them. At this point, it could perhaps even be argued that younger climbers are keeping onsighting alive since onsight ability still determines who wins a lead comp. Although, even among this group, it seems like there's a trend of focusing on onsight climbing in the gym and allocating significantly more time spent at the crag to redpointing.

Another factor to consider is that, in our digital world, video is killing the onsight star. With film of so many climbs at one's fingertips, onsighting is becoming more difficult to claim and relies even more heavily on one's honesty. Yet, even if we take the digital revolution into account, flash climbing hasn't filled the gap. In the 8a database, there are only two 8c+ flashes since Ondra flashed Supercrackinette (9a+) in 2018.

In order to keep the spirit of, let's call it, first try climbing alive, we're wondering if we should re-evaluate and give even more incentive to onsighting and flashing? We look forward to your thoughts.

Sebastien Bouin had a record breaking 2022, doing the FA of DNA (9c), Suprême Jumbo Love 9b+, Nordic Marathon 9b/+ and he also repeated Change 9b+. (c) Clarisse Bompard

What were your most emotional climbing moments in 2022?
For sure DNA was something really important to me. Clipping the anchor was something unbelievable. Not only for the performance. But I was able to go ahead. I was stuck for such a long time in DNA. Then, I would say the Norway trip was amazing. Doing Nordic Marathon, and Change (9b+) on the last day was something special too. And then, the US trip was the icing on the cake. Doing Suprême Jumbo Love in the last few days was unreal. It's definitely not happening often in life.

What about onsighting? What was your hardest onsight in 2022?
Haha 😆, not that much, my best onsights were some warm-up routes actually, some 8b's. I didn't try any hard onsight during 2022.

How do you train in between all your trips?
When I come back home between trips, I mix crag during the day and train in the gym during the evening (two sessions). It's around a month or two. But this year it was really short period of training between the trips.

Your FAs are by many considered very hard grades. What is your take on grade inflation?
It's hard to make everything coherent. I would say, it should be coherent first in a crag. Then in a region, then in a country. I try to keep coherence in the hard routes I am doing, taking care of different parameters: Time, Climbing style, Comparison with other routes, Feeling, Conditions and Shape

What are your 2023 plans and ambitions? Have you found any new crags to explore?
I am actually in Portugal trying to find the hardest route possible. Then will go a bit in Spain, Céüse, Norway and Italy. Big travels will come in 2024.

Javier Meng did his first 8A+' at age 27. Now 13 years later he has done 129 boulders 8A+ and harder. His sixth and latest 8B+ he did last year and he is #1 in the 40+ ranking game. In total, he has done 800 FAs in between 7A and harder.

Could you tell us about your climbing background?
I started climbing almost 25 years ago. Sport climbing at first, also some classic climbing but soon I specialized in bouldering. In all these years the motivation, the desire to go climbing, to look for new areas, to open new blocks and to continue improving has remained intact. The main change is that now I have more obligations and less time, which means that I have to make the most of the time I can train or go to the rock. Currently, I am a weekend climber. Hopefully, during the week I can go to train for a couple of days, and it's the weekend when I can go out on rock. I am lucky to keep the same desire to go climbing as the first day.

Which are the new areas you can recommend where you have put up the most FAs and where you see the biggest potential?
The last years, the place where I have spent the most time climbing and opening new boulders is the Valle del Miera, in Cantabria (a.k.a. lierganes). It is a limestone area that I have close to home and that allows me to make short-term visits. There are over a hundred blocks of 8th grade (8b+ máx.) and there are still very hard projects to climb. Currently, I am projecting Negro oscuro.

How many sessions have you put in and how hard could it be?
5-6 at the moment. I did it without the sit-start moves, and it's around 8A+. But the three moves from the sit are impossible for the moment 🤣 At least 8B, 8B+ or even 8C.

Why do you think you're in such good shape at age 40? What do you attribute it to?
I think I climb better now. Probably I don't have the same power, but I think I am more technical and climb more efficiently. I actually started to try really hard problems just recently.

How many hours a week do you train and climb and how do you train?
2 hours each day, 4 hours/per week. Only Moonboard sessions. No campus, no series, no clock. I do not do a scientific or planned training. I don't like training. The session must be like an outdoor day, warming up and then trying hard problems.

Yuka Kubayashi reports on Insta that she has onsighted Dynamitaki (8b) in Manikia, putting up 20 quickdraws.

Yuka is a former successful competition climber who was Top-13 in the World Cup 51 times in between 2004 and 2016. Three times she made the podium.

Loic Zehani, who previously has sent 60 routes 8c+/9a and harder, has possibly done the first repeat of Perpetuisima (9a) in Sant Llorenç del Munt. "One of the first routes of this level in Spain by Dani Andrada in 1997. A quick approach, then a nice jump to a good hold. Another hard move to catch a good hold with a sloppe underling. After that, you have a nice bouldery section with a pocket and a big move to a very good hold. For finish in the classic Cadena perpetua (8c). Nice line. Dani graded this 8c+/9a but I think it depends on your height. Happy to climb again after some sessions in "Neanderthal" which is more and more wet."

In the picture, the 21-year-old does possibly the FA of L'ordre dels factors + el món del revés (9a) in Sant Miquel del Fai. "Long traverse left to right (48 mouves, more or less 8B+ traverse) + El mon al revés (8b). Very nice moves and big physical effort. Thanks, Matteo and Javi for the info at the crag. Very steep crag 💪💪💪."

Clément Lechaptois, who did his first 8C+ last October, has repeated Dave Graham's From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C) in Chironico. (c) Rainer Eder

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I've tried the boulder quite a lot 2 seasons ago when Giul (Cameron) was trying Ephyra but I struggled with the mantle. Came back one day in november with no expectations but it felt way better and managed it. It was the last day of a mini trip. Came back saturday, conditions were good, climbed the mantle again and went for a burn from the start. Everything felt good and climbed the entire boulder !

What is your next plan and ambition?
Psyched on Alphane at the moment!

How was the first sessions?
Oooof, I actually started to try when it was still a project with Shawn & the crew. The last sessions have been quite promising tho.

Angelika Rainer, 3 time Ice World Champion, reports on Insta that she has done Solitary Souls (8c+) in Arco. Alfredo Webber did the FA of the 35m tall and 20m overhanging route in 2019 and last year Adam Ondra onsighted it (video), commenting, "unique line, unique to climb!". (c) Marco Servalli

Since I stopped competing in the Ice climbing World Cup a few years ago, I decided to mainly focus on rock climbing and try to see where I can push myself in this climbing discipline. Since last year I’m coached by the former World Cup winner Patxi Usubiaga Lacunza. I have always loved to train hard and to follow a training plan and working with Patxi gives me a huge motivation. Usually, I train or climb outdoors 6 days a week and I switch between the two of them based on the weather, current projects and other daily tasks.

I tried Solitary Souls for the first time last March and was able to do all the moves but as the wall is South facing I thought that it was more of a Winter project and so I came back to it in November. In the end, it only took me 10 days of tries which I think are not much when reaching a new grade, so I guess I can say that the style of the route definitely suits me as I have always been more the endurance type of climber. When I look for a project I don’t only look at the grade, but much more important is the beauty of the line and its surrounding. I love to look at the panorama while I shake out and take a deep breath. It helps me get relaxed at that moment and being in a wonderful place makes the process of trying a hard route even more enjoyable. This route is indeed an amazing line and the view above Arco, Riva and lake Garda is unique, so I would say it’s a 5-star rating."