Luca Bana has done Supercrackinette (9a+) in St Léger. ”What a day, perfect flow. Less than 10 tries in 5 sessions. Best way to start the new year.” (c) Viola Tengattini

Can you tell us a little more about this send?
I started trying the route on 27th december during my very first day in St Léger. After 4 sessions and half, on my 9th attempt I sticked the move to the one finger pocket and I just kept going until the top, finding myself in front of the chains. Magic send and perfect flow. Welcome 2024 ;)

Gabriele Moroni, who has already done 22 routes 9a to 9a+, has sent Stefano Ghisolfi’s Erebor (9b) in Arco. The Italian is a former successful competition climber who took the bronze in the Euro Boulder Championship in 2004, at age 16. He stopped competing in 2018 after he had won his first Boulder World Cup. In 2023, he made his comeback and his best result was #25. (c) Enrico Veronese

Can you tell us more about Erebor?
It has been a long process! I briefly tried it once or twice after I did Trofeo dell’Adriatico at the start of 2022 and found out if I ever wanted to invest my time on a 9b, Erebor could be the right one. Pretty much my style and not too far from home.

During the fall of 2022 I started working more seriously together with Stefano Carnati and Luca Bana. We spent several weekends trying hard and sharing betas and we all made fast progress. I actually started falling at the redpoint crux so I thought I was close. It was around December. Then I went to Siurana for a couple of weeks.

I finally got back on Erebor at the end of January and it took me a few sessions to get back to where I was in December. I fell at the redpoint crux another few times till one day I hurt my knee on the route and it was game over for the season.

This fall I wished I could start trying it earlier but it was very warm till November. I trained a lot and since the beginning I felt really strong on the route and after a few session I already matched my old highpoint. It took me another handful of days for the send but I felt this season the route went pretty fast!

What are your 2024 plans? I don’t have many plans for 2024. Like in 2023 I will try my best to fit and combine everything I do. My jobs, training and the outside projects! So let’s see what happens. No more comps 😜

Jan Štipek, who won six European IFSC competitions in 2023, has onsigthed 12 routes 8a and beyond including El ball del triceps (8b).

Can you tell us more about your outdoor climbing this autumn?
Since I grew up in the crags on the Elbe sandstone, I couldn’t possibly forget about climbing outside and this year I managed to send a couple of good routes like Pain makes me stronger, every day (8c+) in Frankenjura. (This route seemed easier than 8c+). Then I climbed Ninja želva (8c) in Mišja Peč. After these trips, I got the chance to go to Margalef with Jindřich Hudeček and Richard Litochleb.

I managed to get a lot of good onsights. I sent 8x 8a onsight, 2x 8a+ onsight, and then and Alzeimer brothers (8b+) on my second attempt. I also managed to improve my onsight grade with El ball del triceps (8b).

It was a great trip and I definitely plan to go back there with the routes Pal norte (8c+) and Wild Publico (9a) in mind.

Any specific plans for 2024?
I would definitely like to climb Underground (9a), Sanjski par extension (9a) and the two just mentioned routes in Margalef as well as Temná hmota (8B) boulder, but I’m not much of a projecting type, I prefer onsights. I also have big plans for comps cause I will be able to climb comps for adults.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo, who last year did his first two 9b+', has sent Catxasa (9a+) in Santa Linya. The Spaniard has done more than 70 routes 9a and beyond and he is #2 in the 8a ranking game after Adam Ondra. (c) Javi Pec

"Starting the year in the best way possible! I needed 5 days of work on the route and I felt like 9a+ but it’s definitely different how I did the crux with kneebar than how the other ascensionist did this crux, I decided to note us 9a/+."

Sierra Blair has done Trust (8A+) at Oak Flats, video. The 29-year-old is a former competition climber who 23 times has been Top-30 in the World Cup, out of 29 events. (c) Queen Creek Bouldering

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
On my first session I did all but one move (the finishing sequence in the headwall). In the second session, I figured out how to clear the head wall and had each move down but couldn’t link them. And in the third session, everything just clicked. Very excited to send this boulder and for whatever project comes next!

8a has published a “Climber of the Year” list for the past 22 years. We base it upon the best information and reporting available, and we give extra credit to multi-disciplin climbers performing in both competitions and on the rock. We also take FAs, trad, multi-pitches, and DWS into consideration. Please feel free to add names or suggest changes to this very subjective list.

1. Jakob Schubert - AUT
2. Janja Garnbret - SLO
3. Adam Ondra - CZE
4. Sebastien Bouin
5. Sorato Anraku - JPN

6. William Bosi - GBR
7. Brooke Raboutou - USA
8. Michaela Kiersch - USA
9. Jessica Pilz - AUT
10. Anak Verhoeven - BEL

11. Alex Megos - GER
12. Katie Lamb - USA
13. Colin Duffy - USA
14. Natalia Grossman - USA
15. Tomoa Narasaki - JPN
16. Drew Ruana - USA
17. Jorge diaz-rullo - ESP
18. Laura Rogora - ITA
19. Barbara Zangerl - AUT
20. Jonathan Siegrist - USA

21. Jesse Grupper - USA
22. Tanguy Merard - FRA
23. Jules Marchaland - FRA
24. Yannick Flohé -GER
25. Mejdi Schalck - FRA
26. Stefano Ghisolfi - ITA
27. Lee Dohyun - KOR
28. Staša Gejo - SRB
29. Ai Mori - JPN
30. Toby Roberts - GBR, Paige Claassen - USA, Manon HILY - FRA, Ben Burkhalter - USA, Pietro Vidi - ITA, Jana Svecova - CZE, Austin Purdy - USA, Connor Herson - USA, Hannes Van Duysen - BEL, ainhize belar barrutia - ESP, Eva Hammelmüller - AUT, Allison Vest - USA, Camilla Moroni - ITA, Alex Puccio - USA, Marine Thevenet, Shawn Raboutou - USA, Amandine Loury - FRA, Chris Sharma - USA, Simon Lorenzi - BEL, Aidan Roberts - GBR, Yoshiyuki Ogata - JPN Loic Zehani - FRA, Michael Piccolruaz - ITA, Solveig Korherr- - GER Martina Demmel - GER, Tasei Homma - JPN, Miho Nonaka -JPN, Oriane Bertone - FRA, Simon Lorenzi - BEL, Siara Fabbri - USA, Jonathan Flor - ESP, Molly Thompson-Smith - GBR, Nolwen Berthier - FRA, Carlo Traversi, Siara Fabbri, Sebastien Berthe - BEL

James Pearson made the FA of Bon Voyage in Annot in in February. He did not grade but compared it to 9a sport routes. (c) Raphaël Fourau

”This route took me longer than any other route or boulder I’ve ever tried. Both in terms of days actively trying it and time preparing myself for it (~ 20 days over 2 years and 10 redpoints). I spent more actual redpoint attempts on this than on Tribe, and all of my other 9a sport routes. I had to train specifically on a fingerboard to be able to do the moves and link the intense, fingery crux section. Around the same time I made the first ascent, I climbed a couple of 9a's in a similar length and style. These took me around 4 sessions and 4 to 5 redpoints."(c) Raphaël Fourau

Now, he has made a statement where he suggest E12, meaning that it is the hardest graded trad route in the world using the British grading system which also includes how dangerous the route is. The only other E12 suggested was made by James some 15 years ago but which was later downgraded to E9. We asked him if he also could elaborate on a grade for Bon Voyage using the French system?

The short answer is I don’t know because I don’t feel capable to grade that precisely in French sports grades at that level. From my own experience on my hardest routes, I’ve got at least 1 grade of error in both directions, depending on whether the style suits me, if the conditions are good/bad etc etc, and this is one of the reasons I haven’t given it a simple sport grade. After having enjoyed showing some other climbers the route, seeing them struggle with certain sections, but also find alternative methods that might be easier than what I did, it confirmed even more that climbing is so subjective. I've seen people I consider to be far stronger than I struggle on the same move for a month, and others skip holds that I couldn’t have fathomed not using. I can now say that Bon Voyage is definitely “morpho", but not only in the way I originally expected (arm span between pockets). The pockets (especially those in the crux) are very small, and your finger size (and strength) plays a huge role in how comfortable you might find each move. If your fingers fit, you can hold the hold quite deeply, as a side pull, which gets you a lot closer to the next hold. If they don’t, you have to crimp the hold with your tip, which is harder and much worse on the skin. A hypothetical climber with strong, small fingers who climbs a lot in places with shallow pockets will undoubtably find the route easier than somebody with big sausages who climbs mainly on slopers and edges! That’s very much stating the obvious, but is something I feel we often forget - grading seems like it often follows the lowest opinion (could be a harsh view on grades, or a climber who really suits the route) rather than grading for the “average/all round” climber.

Is it fair to speculate that Bon Voyage is at least 9a R?
Regarding your grade calculations, If you put those numbers into eGrader, 9a with 2.5 d points makes hard E12, For it to be E11, it would have to be 8c (assuming the D point stays the same), as 8c+ D2.5 would be easy E12. I feel more confident assessing the potential danger of a route, because (and I know this might sound bizarre) I find it less subjective. Grading the physical/ technical difficulty of a climb relies on so many exterior factors. Body morphology is one very important thing, but also the climber's own style, as well as their strengths and weaknesses all play, a huge role in how easy or hard a particular climb, at a particular grade might feel. Assessing the danger of a route also has a lot of factors, but these are less dependent on the actual climber, provided the climber is able to see the difference between a situation that is dangerous and a situation that is just scary. I know there are a lot of climbers out there who are unable to climb even a few metres above a good bolt because of the psychological element, and the way things feel can have a huge impact on the way we perform. I think I'm personally pretty able to remove the emotional attachment that we have to danger and look at things fairly objectively. If a fall is big, but not dangerous, it doesn’t matter to me if the runout is 2m, 5m, or even 10m, I actually quite like taking really big falls (Rhapsody is an amazing route for this), but as soon as things become dangerous (and there are obviously many levels of danger, from potentially twisting an ankle, all the way up to certain death), I force myself to climb in a more controlled way due to the potential consequences, and at some point I can no longer justify taking the risk.

Jernej Kruder, who won the Boulder World Cup in 2018, has done Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja Peč. “I would like to expose something here: I spent many tries on this one, because my endurance is pretty bad, but I chose not to use kneepads since I respect the first ascent. Using kneepads would help me rest just before the crux. This would make grading equal to Konec Mira (8c/c+). Kneepad would also make me rest after the crux, where I was mostly falling. This would make the route even easier. So people, if you decide to disrespect the first ascentionist with using kneepads, then at least be true with yourself by not calling it 9a!”

Can you elaborate a bit more?
We live in society where we only think about sending. I'm not completely against kneepads, but some things went too far. We all want to speed up the process of sending, and that's where all the greed comes out. Some people have too much work, some are too short, some are just simply too weak, but they still want to grab something that's above their limits. How can you say I can't do the moves in FRFM and still call it the 9b with the kneepad? Obviously you can't do the moves. Now call it 9a or face the fact you can't climb on such level.

Second story: you're against kneepads, but your trip is about to end and your project is wet. There's an option to use a kneepad to avoid the crux and you don't want to wait for another year to come back. So you're gonna use it anyway, because you can't face the fact of coming back next year. Oops I dabbed...I don't have time to try it again, I'll just call [claim it]

Another story. A guy climbs 9a with a kneepad and says, oh, but it still feels 9a to me! Hmm, so I'll just go around the globe, start choosing the 9a's that are obviously not 9a with a kneepads, and I'm gonna collect 10 9a's in a year. Sounds great for my sponsors! No one really cares anymore if I've done it with knee pads... I'm Jernej Kruder and everyone will believe me and give me kudos for that. Unacceptable! I can stay true to myself and I won't be sad if I need to leave my project far away from my home, even if I'm never coming back. At least I gave it all at the time I had and if I want to finish it, training is my only "cheating" way of doing it.

What could be the solution and what is the responsibility for the media?
It's quite impossible since this truth would hurt too many climbers.

The 34-year-old has previously done ten routes 9a to 9a+, including the DWS Es Pontas. He has been an active IFSC competition climber for almost 20 years. Last year, he was #6 in the European Championship which he won in 2020. The Slovenian is known for not training indoors but instead mainly preparing for the comps outdoors also by doing multi-pitches.

Jules Marchaland, who was #10 and #11 in two World Cups this summer, has done Chocholocco in Carros. Some 18 months ago, the 22-year-old broke his left little toe and he has since been climbing with the toe sticking out of his shoe.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and having done three 9a's in a week?
I did Chocholocco in two sessions, including one in October. The resting hold was so wet and I couldn't put chalk after so I did the last crux with a wet hand 😅. After a big fight, I could clip the chain 😉. Three 9a's in 8 days (not a real week haha) but yes I'm very happy. I don’t think I’m necessarily in excellent shape, but I think I’m very successful. I put a lot of effort into the routes and I manage to chain them together quickly, it’s pretty boring haha.

What is the status of your toe?
My toe, same haha… no progress but with more time I'm sure one day it will be ok! I tried a Tenaya and the pain was really less powerful.

What are your plans and ambitions for 2024?
I really want to do a final in a World Cup and continue to progress to do hard routes outside. Do some 8c onsights and a 9b redpoint…haha.