After a few years of stagnation of grades reached by the top climbers in a year, a new level has been reached in 2015. In practice, six guys have done a 9b, some 16 guys have done a 9a+ and roughly about 60 guys have done a 9a, which is almost 50% more compared to previous years. When it comes to the performance in Bouldering, especially the of female and juniors, 2015 is the record year for boulders as well as for routes. The only discipline where we did not see any great progress was Onsight Climbing. In order to be among the best Top-10 in the world in 2015, a couple of 8b+ and some 8b's is good enough. This can be compared with Adam Ondra's nine 8c onsights in 2015. On the other hand, he has done 18 8c+ and harder onsights in total.

Ruben Firnenburg, who did his first 9a when he was 16 years old, has done his third one, A Muerte in Siurana. The picture is from a 9a project in Santa Linya. "Have been working on it with Gabri Moroni 3 years ago but felt really hard. In this year's Spain trip it felt much better although this bouldery beast is rather my anti-style. On my second day I came already close to send it falling off the last hard move. Then the day after I somehow couldn't seal the deal and fell three times in a row on the last move. To me it felt like a soft 9a. Maybe it's 8c+/9a. But grades are individual and this route took me a lot of time and effort to complete."

Melanie Sandoz, the World Bouldering Champion from 2012, has done her first 8A+, Frank's wild years in Cresciano and it only took her one hour. In 2013, the French was #3 in the European Bouldering Championship and the amazing thing is that her best World Cup result is #6 even if she has participated in some 30 events.

Jernej Kruder, #2 in the Bouldering World Championships 2014, is on a bolting trip to Dalmatia in Croatia. After a week he has bolted a dozen routes using the high quality 316 marine bolts that are paid for mostly by himself. The photographer, Luka Tambaca, says, "This cave has only one route so far and if he climbs it, it will be the hardest in Croatia. There is so much rock in Dalmatia that in future we can expect more great spots like this." This summer Jernej did some multi-pitches up to 8b+ and later he did three 8B+ Boulders. He was also #3 in the Adidas Rock Master. Three weeks ago, he established a 60+ move 9a+ so clearly, he is a great multi-discipline climbing fanatic.

Over the years, Luka Fonda has been the most published photographer on 8a and this photo of Mina Markovic on La Fabela Pa La Enmienda 9a in Santa Linya is just another stellar one. In total, the climb has 18 ascents now, which makes it one of the most repeated in the world and Mina's ascent was the first female ascent.

Laura Rogora has onsighted Fallo col dito nel buco in Grotti giving it a personal grade of 8a+. During the same day she also did an 8b+. Her two first 8c's she did when she was just 13 years old. In the 8a ranking game, the Italian senior champion is #2.

Climbers Against Cancer was founded in 2012. The charity has raised some 400 000 euro, mainly through CAC T-shirt sales, income from which has been donated to different institutes. From an 8a interview from 2014: "The diagnosis is a terminal one so no cure in sight. I think being positive has played a major part in my dealing with the situation so far and happiness is key. It is true after all that happiness is reciprocal so if I am happy then those around me will be and so on."

A day with John Ellison - founder of Climbing Against Cancer from Polished Project on Vimeo.

Domen Škofic has done Fuck the system 9a in Santa Linya. The big knee drop moves were captured by Luka Fonda.

Domen Škofic comes with amazing news on Facebook, "Special day for our crew today!!! Both @miiiinam (Mina Markovic) and @janja_garnbret made history today by doing a 9a (Fabela pa la enmienda) and 8c flash! (Rollito Sharma extension) Congrats girls, you're outstanding and a huge inspiration!" Mina won the Lead World Cup this year and Janja (16) was #7 but she participated in only three events, making the podium in all of them. In the European Championships she was #2. All of them come from Slovenia, which is one of the leading Climbing nations although it has just about two million residents. In the 8a Climber of the year list, Mina is #2, Domen #8 and Janja #12. More info to come. (c) Luka Fonda