What's commonly regarded as the first 8c+ trad climb in the world, Meltdown, was put up by Beth Rodden in 2008. It has only been repeated once, by Carlo Traversi in 2018, who confirmed the grade. The potential second 8c+ trad climb, Recovery Drink, was put up by Nico Favresse, in 2013, and has been repeated twice. Blackbeard's Tears, by Ethan Pringle, in 2016, is the potential third 8c+ trad climb, if we exclude a few others that are considered eliminants or otherwise contrived.

Tribe, by Jacopo Larcher in 2019, was not graded although he said it was his hardest ever climb, and he has done five 9a's and La Rambla, 9a+.

One of the eliminant/contrived contenders is Rhapsody, climbed by Dave MacLeod in 2006. It has been repeated four times and downgrades have been suggested. The first piece was pre-placed by Macleod, but the first repeater, Sonnie Trotter, said this placement and the other gear placements didn't alter the physical difficulty of this particular line. Two years later, MacLeod did the FA of Echo Wall saying it was harder than Rhapsody but he did not grade it. Rounding off the 8c+ contenders, Tom Randall has done Pura Pura and Bernd Zangerl Island in the Sun, but these lines are boulder problems that climb into gear protected finishes.

Beside these above mentioned 8c+ or harder trad climbs, there's another dozen 8c trad lines and roughly 30 8b+ trad routes that have been done clean, i.e. placing gear on lead. 99boulders.com has the most updated (2019) list of all the hardest trad climbs. It is worth noting that placing gear more often than not, adds to the difficulty and can also result in handholds and footholds being blocked. At the beginning of the sport climbing era, placing quickdraws on lead was also the norm, and an onsight could only be claimed if you had hung your own quickdraws.

Eva Hammelmüller has onsighted Freed by the devil (8b) in . Including three 8b onsights over the last 12 months, the 21-year-old is #2 in the female onsight ranking game. "The route is very technical and there was hardly any chalk on the holds, so I didn‘t expect to onsight it - I just started climbing and everything worked out perfectly!" (c) Richard Felderer - Vibram

The IFSC test competition for the new Combined Olympic format took place at Sharma Barcelona, with Alberto Gínes López and Iziar Martinez winning with 170.1 and 199.8 points respectively. The runner ups, Javier Cano and Monsech Gasca scored 101.1 and 113.6 points. Complete results (c) Jan Virt

The way it played out, Alberto and Javier had already secured the two first spots before they even climbed in the Lead portion, as they were superior in Bouldering and none of the other six finalists scored high in Lead. When it came time for Iziar to set off on the Lead route, she had already secured third place and there was little excitement as she only had to equal the score of the lowest result in the Lead final in order to secure the gold.

When it comes to the Top-20 qualification, the Top-6 females in Bouldering would have made it to the Top-8 final without participating in the Lead qualification. Furthermore, all but one result in the 11-20 Combined male rankings were decided by the results in Lead.

Alex Puccio reports on Insta with a video that she has done Hailstorm 8B (+) in Ogden and it was basically on her first session. In total, the 31-yar-old has now done almost 250 boulders 8A and harder which is most in the world among the females.

"We went up to the boulder the day before and I only tried the first few moves of the stand start “Firestorm” for a very short time because the entire top of the boulder was wet from the snow melting on the top. Maybe we climbed for like 30 min or so before the water came all the way down the boulder onto the lower holds. So we left.

We went back the next day and I was able to send the stand really quickly and then Michaela sent the sit. I didn’t have any intentions of really trying the sit but with some encouragement from them, I got on it, at least to see how some of the moves felt. I thought maybe I can come back to it. After a little work on it, and all of Michaela’s beta, I found myself climbing into the stand which already knew the moves and then climbed it to the top. For grading it, looks like some think V14 and some think V13, I honestly don’t know. Michaela sprayed me down with all her beta that she had to figure out for herself and it suited me really well!"

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Carlo Traversi has done Magic Line (8c+) in Yosemite (CA). Ron Kauk did the "pinkpoint" (gear preplaced) FA in 1996, suggesting 8c. The first repeat was done by his son Lonnie in 2016. Two years later, he did the clean FA placing the gear on lead and upgrading it to 8c+. There are only three other 8c+ trad routes (excluding some contrived ones) in the world and a potential 9a (Tribe). With Meltdown, Traversi is the only one having done two. He has also done several 8C boulders and last year he repeated his first 9b.

Can you tell us a little bit about the process of taking down Magic Line?
It took some days to get beta and gear sorted. Fell once at the top, rested a week, then went back and climbed it. It was about 6 sessions this year, although I’d tried it some days in 2017 and a few days over the past few years.

What about the protection? Is it totally safe?
It’s pretty safe as far as hard trad goes. I never pulled a piece and never got close to hitting the ground.

What is next?
Headed to Switzerland next week to rage on the blocs.

Which discipline do you like the most?
I just love rock climbing in all its forms. Each discipline is special in its own way. Bouldering is the purest fun. Haven’t done much DWS. I’ve done a ton of multi-pitch climbing but haven’t really pushed my limit there. Definitely planning a Mallorca (DWS) trip for this year.

How do you keep warm during cold conditions?
To warm my hands up I would usually grab a nearby piece of rock on the ground until my hands started to go numb and then let go and the blood would slowly start flowing in. Then I would jump on the climb. I think it’s called “cold induced vasodilation”. Usually, once I do this my hands stay warm for a long time.

Michaela Kirsch, who did her first 9a last autumn, reports on Insta that she has done two 8A+; Power slave and Hungry Hungry Hippos, as well as her hardest yet, Hailstorm 8B (+) in Ogden. Previously, the doctorate in hand therapy has done at least a handful of 8A+ and harder as well as some eight 8c+ routes over the years. (c) Alex Puccio

"I had previously done the stand start a couple years ago and decided to try Hailstorm, which is the lower start. I was there when Drew Ruana completed the FA and was inspired to return. I spent nearly 15+ sessions trying the stand and low start moves. It’s exciting to see progress in my bouldering and it’s not often that I’m able to break through into another grade so I’m feeling proud!"

How much have you been able to climb/train lately?
I’m finishing the last portion of my doctorate and have a little more flexibility with my climbing, although I’ve been focusing on sport climbing more! About 3-5 times every week. I’ve also been going on a few shorter trips, Red Rock included.

When will you graduate and what is your plan after that?
It’s finished in April and then I’m going to Europe! Only focusing on climbing for the near future.