Escalade9 list 507 climbers that have done 841 routes 8c+/9a or harder. Originally, only 9a's were listed but later, due to many of the most popular were subject of being down graded also 8c+/9a were included.

39 ascents Era Vella 8c+/9a
39 ascents Estado Critico 8c+/9a
30 ascents Underground 8c+/9a

Out of the 18 most repeated ones, eleven are now being subject of being downgraded. It should be mentioned that La Rambla is included twice. First as Alex Huber's FA from 1994 originally given 8c+ but now 9a due to grade inflation. Secondly as the Ramonet's 9a+ extension. Action Direct, the probably most famous 9a route in the world, although put up as 8c+/9a by Wolfgang Güllich in 1991, has 27 ascents listed. However, during the last 3.5 years, it has only been repeated three or four times at the same time as other listed routes have been repeated multiple times only in 2020. Furthermore, almost everyone doing AD have done it after many months or even years of projecting at the same time many other "9a's" have been done after just a few sessions. In other word's, it seems like Action Direct is harder to repeat than most other 9a's which once again confirms the grade inflation. The big dilemma now, as has been mentioned here on 8a before, is how to deal with this, also from the media position? The two only options are either to upgrade AD or to downgrade many more 9a's if we want the grading system should, in a more correct way, reflect the 9a difficulty.

In practice, the number one reason for the current grade inflation, could be said to be driven by knee pads. I guess, many former 9a's are actually not that hard once you can find good resting positions or find new easier beta with due to a knee pad taking most of the load. Ïn the picture, "The Down Grader".

Jernej Kruder, Boulder World Cup winner overall in 2018, has made the FA of Ellipsis Mix; 7b+, 7a+, 8a, 8b+ and 7c in Bila Pec. The 200-meter line was put up ground up together with Gašper Pintar and David Debeljak in 2018, using mainly trad gear and also some 40 bolts and pitons. All anchors bolted and the 30 meter hardest pitch was protected with two big cams and six bolts. "Opening it up, they were doing the "alpine" parts. I was the guy with the drill and skyhook." (c) Mark Grmek and Luka Fonda

Fun fact: The day before the multi-pitch FA, he made a 9a in Slovenia. The next day included 2.5 hours driving to Italy and one hour walk before starting to climb. Ten days ago, he won a DWS event in Ljubjana based on a no-feet format he invented. Last weekend the 29-year-old was #2 in the Slovenia Boulder Nationals although the whole summer he has spent only three, rainy days, in the gym. His possible next plan is to go for Jacopo Larcher's potential 9a trad climb, Tribe. The long term plan is to make it to Tokyo during the Euro Combined Championship in Moscow in December! (If that event is cancelled he will make it anyway due to his result in the 2019 Combined World Championship.) Including also three 9a+', out of which one DWS, and four 8C boulders, the Slovenian was recently listed as #2, after Adam Ondra, as the best all round climber in the world.

Antoine Kauffmann reports on Insta that he has done his first 9a+, No pain no game in Rodellar. The name of the route pretty well describes the process as he in fact has torn his pulley five times during the last five years, when he did his first and only 9a. (c) Sébastien Berthe

"I tore the first one in 2015 but I did not stop climbing so it became chronic and it lasted for two years. After this, I learned from my past errors and I threatened the new ones way better most of them lasted for 3 months which is more normal. I think it happened because a kept training when I was injured (doing musculation, pulls up, etc) and when I was able to climb again I put to much force too quickly. For the moment it goes better but I climb most of the time open-handed because I feel that my fingers are still strong but fragile. (No pain no gain was a super route for this because I crimp only two holds in all the route).

I started trying the route at the beginning of July. I choose this route because it’s super powerful and overhanging and it suits me really well. I tore my pulley a few months ago so I needed a project with some « good holds ». It felt possible so I started the process: training hard and working the route as much as possible. After two weeks trying the route, I felt not strong enough, I needed more stamina so I returned to Belgium for 7/8 hard training days. The training paid and I started to feel way better in the route. I kept improving in route but had to try it a lot (40-50 tries?). Finally, I could clip the anchor in what could be my biggest fight ever.

Next, I want to train hard for "The story of two world's" and Off the wagon. I will be in Ticino this winter and I want to improve in bouldering before setting the bar higher and I’m dreaming about 9b, especially in Flatanger."

Tim Reuser, who was #11 in the Lead World Championships last year, has had a great progress in 2020, peaking with a recent trip to Fionnay. His 4-days ticklist includes; two 8A+ flashes; Permanent Midnight (pictured) and Scarred for life high, his first 8C, Foundations Edge and two 8B+' Scarred for Life and Pied de biche, the latter suggesting an 8B personal grade. Until 2019, the 26-year-old had just done one boulder harder than 8A+!

"It took me three days to do Foundation Edge but I already prepared for it for over a month, watching videos, visualizing the moves in my head, etc. So when I arrived I was surprised by how “good” the holds felt as in was expecting them to be way worse. That gave me a lot of confidence. Later that day I also flashed Permanent midnight. The day after I sent Scarred for life in the morning and Pied the bieche at the end of the day.

During the first day, in between trying his 8C project he did his first 8A+ flash. "Feeling strong, I went for a flash on Scarred for life high. I could feel all the holds from the ground so I knew what to expect. The flash go was a success. After this, I worked in the first half of Foundation’s edge. I was surprised how good the holds felt but when I did the drop knee move I was totally stuck. I tried this move for a few hours but realized this wasn’t gonna work out. That evening I rehearsed the moves in my head and came up with a different solution which I tried the next day which actually worked."

How can you explain your recent peak performance and what is your next plan?
I have been training quite a lot since the gyms are open again in the Netherlands. I recently discovered training on the moonboard. The typical small and awkward to grab holds were really something I needed to work on. I’m typically an indoor climber and used to climb on perfect ergonomically shaped holds. The Moonboard holds are the total opposite and resemble outdoor climbing way better in my opinion. This made my transition from indoor to outdoor more smooth. My goal is to do some more outdoor bouldering trips this year. And next year I want to focus more on routes again.

Fanatic Climbing reports that Pierre Le Cerf has done PuntX in Gorges du Loup suggesting an upgrade to 9a+ due to three broken holds. The 20-year-old, who previously has done three 9a’s, needed some 15 sessions to take it down. (c) Océane Pastor

Rishat Khaibullin was the biggest sensation in the Combined World Championship last year, getting the bronze after finishing seventh in Speed event and then winning it in Combined. Interestingly, the 24-year-old is not a Speed specialist and as he says he find it, "awfully boring", he had just trained it once a week but nevertheless improved from 6.85 to 5.83 in the Speed WCs during 2019.

Since a couple of years, the Kazakhstani lives in Czech Republic and since the last year in Brno where he often trains win Adam Ondra. In Briancon he was #11 after having been #5 in the qualification which can be compared to #44 in his best performance during the last two years World Cups.

With the multiplication scoring in Tokyo, this means there is actually a realistic chance that he could copy his bronze also during in the Olympics. He just needs to win Speed, beating three specialists, and to be ranked #5 out of eight in either Lead or Boulder. Another possibility is that if he is second in the Speed qualification, he could still make it to the Top-8 final by being around #12 in Lead or Boulder.

As a matter of a fact, one realistic option for the three Speed specialists that have qualified to Tokyo to get a medal, is to win the Speed qualification and hope that also Rishat makes it to the final. Then scoring 1 - 7 - 8 = 56 in the final could be good enough to get a medal if Khaibullin is runner-up in the Speed final. In other words, in such case, the Speed final will likely be the sub six seconds race who likely will get the bronze.

In any case, let us hope that Khaibullin makes it to the final as he has much better chances to score a decent result in both Boulder and Lead, in comparison to three Speed specialists. It should also be said that with the recent 5.8 personal best by Tomoa Narasaki, the three Speed specialist as well as Khaibullin, none of the three Speed specialist or Khaibullin might qualify to the final. On the other hand, if they make it to the final, their bronze possibility have improved if Narasaki wins by scoring something like scores like 1 - 2 - 3. Overall, it is very good for the Olympics that Khaibullin has improved in Lead and Boulder as well as Narasaki has improved in Speed.

Dani Fuertes has done P con fin mas hulk extension 9a in Rodellar, which was open by Dani Andrada in 2007. The 39-year-old did his first out of a dozen 9a in 2009. (c) Marta del Prado

"The route begins with Proa, an 8A sit start boulder. It is quite tense... crimps and a lot of core. You climb like this doing fin de Ali to a kneebar where you must get the rope to begin Hulk extension, the classic 8c in Rodellar."

Martina Demmel, who was #24 in Briancon, has during the last three weeks onsighted 15 routes 7c to 8b and the 18-year old is #1 in the onsight ranking game last month, including also the male. This is the first time in the 8a history a female is ranked ahead of all male! Interestingly, she is also ahead of all male when it comes to the Top-100 onsights the last year, as well as in the Top-100 routes the last month!. Only in 2020, she has onsighted 82 routes 7c and harder and in total, she has done 131 routes 8a and harder including nine 8c's, all of them done within a couple of sessions. (c) Christian Seitz

8b: Radote jolie pépère, "Things like this only will happen when you don't expect them at all! Just wanted to boulder up once to warm up for an onsight in the left one but directly found myself clipping the chains of this exposed king line as well:)) two bouldery sections separated by a big rest; couldn't see anything while coming around on this edge in the 2nd crux as the sun was still in the wall..."
8a+: Beauté de chine in Tournoux, Encore in Céüse
8a: Bouse de douze in Céüse and Cost of Freedom in Tournoux

"So in general I don't wanna spent the whole trip trying only a few hard routes I rather wanna get an insight to the place by climbing as many different routes as possible mostly the classics or those who simply look impressive. By climbing lots of different styles I'm slowly getting more comfortable in reading which saves a lot of power and tries as I may find the almost perfect solution for my small size pretty fast. Furthermore, the main reason why I really enjoy onsight climbing because I can decide much more intuitively, be more in the moment without thinking about anything else and to not know what's ahead of you makes this kinda challenge pretty attractive for me. On the other side, I'm psyched to see where my redpoint limit is as well but this isn't what motivates me at the moment maybe in a few weeks, months who knows;) still a lot to learn on keeping up the motivation in a longterm project🔥😊 I don't have any plan or strict routine during the day at all just deciding the routes how I feel or where the others wanna climb which keeps the expectations pretty low😉"