Chris Sharma put up Era Vella in 2010 and he actually did it as his warming up and thought it was a soft 9a. The super nice route very quickly became the most repeated 9a and during 2015 it was repeated seven times. At the same time, some climbers that wanted to stay anonymous said it was 8c+ and we forward this message also saying that the statistics suggested it might be too soft to be 9a. In the 8a forum several climbers did complain that we commented on the grade and we answered that we just want to give as accurate news as possible. During 2015, Jonathan Siegrist and Magnus Midtbö were the first two who officially come forward saying it is not 9a. What is very interesting is since the grade discussion two years ago, Era Vella has only been repeated once in 2016 and once in 2017. In other words, climbing grades are very important when top climbers choose which project to take down. In the 8a data base, all 14 that have star rated it, have given it 3 stars and some have said it is one of the best route ever. The brutal fact is, in other words, that the quality is less important in comparison to how soft or hard graded the route is. Climbers should focus on the beauty of the climbs and "never mind all that (grades)", as Jonathan Siegrist so nicely hint in is blog and leave the grade to the media who want to report as correct news (grades) as possible. On the picture is Magnus Midtbö. It should be mentioned that 8a several times, based on anonymous comments and statistics, has forwarded down grading speculations and as a matter of fact, later the climb or actually whole areas have been down graded; Ticino, Rocklands, Lleida and Kalymnos are examples of this.

Here is a quick draft for Climber of 2017. As all previous years, we give more credit to the ones doing many ascents in different disciplines. Please comment to update the list. 1. Janja Garnbret 2. Adam Ondra 3. Alex Megos 4. Stefano Ghisolfi 5. Alex Puccio 6. Anak Verhoeven 7. Jan Hojer 8. Angela Eiter 9. Margo Hayes 10. Alexey Rubtsov, Tomoa Narasaki, James Webb, Shauna Coxsey, Ashima Shiraishi, Jongwon Chon, Mikaela Kiersch, Jernej Kruder, Jakob Schubert, Romain Desgranges, Laura Rogara, Keita Watabe, Christof Rauch, Akiyo Noguchi, Stasa Gejo, Moho Nonaka, Jain Kim, Nalle Hukkataival, Charles Alber, Kokoro Fujii, Claire Buhrfeind, Domen Skofic, Mina Markovic, Jonathan Siegrist, Jessica Pilz, Julia Chanouride, Molly Thompson-Smith, Keiichiro Korenaga, Chris Sharma, Ryuichi Murai, Alberto Rocasolano, Piotr Schab, Paul Robinson, Jorge Diaz-Rullo, Daisuke Ichimiya, Dai Koyamada, Lara Neumeier, Karoline Sinnhuber, Nina Williams, Katherine Choong, Jorg Verhoeven, Steve McClure, David Graham, Daniel Woods, Anna Stöhr, Sasha Digiulian, Dani Andrada, Nina Caprez, Sean McColl, Melissa Le Neve, Ramon Julian Puigblanque, Giuliano Cameroni, Seb Bouin, Steve McClure, Gabri Moroni, Mathieu Bouyoud, Patxi Usobiaga, David Firnenburg, Toby Saxton, Daniel Fuertes, Ned Feehally

Jonathan Siegrist, one of the top climbers the last ten years who did three 9a+' this year, has signed up to 8a with 270 recorded ascents, including several personal grades. He is also active on Instagram. In the 8a ranking game J-Star is #4 and Rock & Ice has done a 2017 summary interview.

That are several ranking games which do not normally get any attention. Here are some of the high ranked climbing very hard almost under the radar. Gender & Age ranking #5 Bernhard Schwaiger - 75 Boulders #11 Moritz Welt - 01 #2 Chuck Odette - 55 Routes #6 Franz Fackler - 60 #7 Jolly Lamberti - 64 #8 Beppe Castellini - 52 11 Steve Crowe - 57 #17 Anna Enrich - 62 Onsight & Flashes #4 Daniel Moreno #2 Fanny Dong #3 Alex Khazanov #1 Katie Lambert Combined ranking #2 Jorge Diaz-Rullo

Baptiste Dherbilly did the first repeat of Fred Rouhling's Salamandre 9b from 2007 this October. As his personal previous best was 8c+ he could not comment on the 9a+ FA suggestion. "I like the sensation when I climb at my supra max level because I have to be really focus on the present moment and all the other thing about the life are leaving my head. I am just thinking about my movement and my climb. This route was a myth for me because the poster of Fred was my first climbing poster when I began climbing."

Adam Ondra has been some days in Sperlonga outside Rome where he did the FA of La Teoria del Gest 9a. "Climb most of Grandi Gesti, keep left all the way to the Cavalieri Selvaggi anchor. Unfortunately good kneebar before the final crux, which is reachy and all about strange fingerlock." The original and often repeated Grande Gesti he gave a personal 8c+ grade. He was also trying another variation that could be. More great pictures atLivellozero.net

In our database there are now 4.6 million rated ascents that could help you to find the best crags and routes/boulders in the world. Selecting the next destination, you can search the crag list and analyze average stars and onsight rating etc. In the Ticklists, you can select a grade and a sector and make a list of the routes or boulders you would like to try.