Different grading pyramids in routes/boulders

Adam Ondra and Alex Megos are the only ones that have done a 9c. At the same time, only six climbers have done 9b+ and around 25 have done a 9b, if we exclude the boulder routes. Looking at the number of routes, there are 37, 5 and 2 routes, respectively, graded 9b to 9c.

Comparing those route stats with the ones in bouldering, we can see that there is a big difference in the grade pyramids.

Daniel Woods and Nalle Hukkataival are the only ones that have done a 9A that has not been downgraded. The number of boulderers that have done 8C+ are around 30 and when it comes to 8C, we are talking several hundreds. Looking at the specific grades, there are around 150 boulders graded 8C, 15 8C+ and two 9A's.

These stats suggest that for some reason the 8C boulder difficulty grade is much wider compared to the 9b route grade. It just might be that many 8C's should be 8B+ and that some should in fact be 8C+. This is a thought I have discussed with many of the best like Daniel Woods for which most agreed.

Some 20 years ago, when bouldering become popular, the first 8C's were established. It sounds logical that at least a couple of hundreds have reached that level as the number of boulderers has skyrocketed while the training know-how and facilities are at a much higher level. With the same thinking, one could question how close to 9A+ Woods actually have been.

Comparing to routes, sport climbing was much more developed in 2000 and even so, the top-end grade ascents have progressed from 9a+ to 9c, i.e. three grades, at the same time just from 8C to 9A in bouldering.