EPIC TV has published a video with the headline - Why did Ondra downgrade his own route?

Ondra's comments in his scorecard: "I thought it would be 9b+, but unfortunately after only a few days of work it cannot be 9b+."

TCG stands for Time Comparison Grading, which means that a grade is applied mainly based on how much time and effort was invested. In other words, if Ondra had needed another five days to send it, he would have likely suggested 9b+ for it. More details about TCG.

Maël Musson has done Une arquée pour le criquet (8c) in Rocher des Brumes. In total, it took the 16-year-old three sessions, including some 15 odd tries, to send it.

"It was equipped by the famous local climber Yann Ghesquier. It's a magnificent overhang of about 30m which is divided into 2 parts of about 15m each. The first part is rather intensive (about 8b) and consists of 2 cruxes with very demanding heel hooks. After a short rest, there is a second easier section (about 8a/+) but is still very tough and not to be underestimated."

Could you tell us a little more about your climbing background?
My parents were both climbers, so I started climbing at a very young age. I only really started to climb seriously at around 8/9 years old. I did my first routes in the 8th grade around 11 or 12 years old then my first 8C at 14 years old during the summer of 2020.

Sebastien BOUIN reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Myr 9a+ near Montpellier. He bolted it last year and it finishes in a 9a he did last year. This is the eight 9a+ FA by Seb and non of them have been repeated up until now.

Janja Garnbret reports with an Insta video that she has done the first female ascent of Bügeleisen 8B+. Last year she became the Olympic Champion in superior style and she was also the female athlete of the year in Slovenia. In total, she has won 31 World Cups and 6 World Championships meaning she is the best female competition climber in history, and she's only 22-years-old. Over the years, she has not climbed that much outdoors but whenever she does she sets new female standards.

Yuji Hirayama, one of the true climbing legends, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Peaceful Mountain 9a in Mt Futago. The line starts with an old 8a followed by an 8A+ boulder and a 7b+ top out. (c) Yui Takahashi / Allopsidae LLC

Since 1986, when Yuji did Le Specialist 8b+, the now 52-year-old has been on the cutting edge. In 1991, he won his first World Cup and in 1998, as well as in 2000, he won overall. After his competition career, he made the FA of Flat Mountain 9a/+ in 2003 and the next year he onsighted White Zombie 8c. A few years later he did Cobra Crack 8c trad and the FA of an MP in Borneo including one 9a pitch. In his resume, being one of the best multi-discipline climbers in history, he has also made boulders up to 8B+, DWS up to 8b+, several big walls including also several times have had the Speed record up on El Cap. Since 2010, he runs Climb Park Base Camp which over the years have organized several competitions. He has also been active in the Japanese Federation and helping out IFSC getting climbing into the Olympics. Just over a year ago, he made the FA of Hanabi 8c+ also in Mt Futago.

William Bosi has done three 8B's in one day out of which, one was a flash, 4X+1 (8B) in Bowderstone. (c) Elle Duffield

How did you prepare for the flash and what kind of beta did you have?
I had one video which was of the first ascent, so I knew the sequence but couldn’t really tell the feet. Therefore to prepare for the flash I spent about twenty minutes looking from start to end for feet and exactly where the holds are. I also knew I would be too small for the knee bar used by the first ascent, so I spent most of the time looking for other foot options for that move. Then I warmed up and sent Filp Opera 8B before getting on it.

What are your 2022 comp and outdoor plans?
I decided to take a break from competition this year to climb outside more, so I’ve been focused just on training over the last couple months. Hopefully heading out to mainland Europe soon!

Alex Ventajas has done Biologico (9a) in Narango. "Incredible moves in an incredible place. Six days of projecting." (c) Andrea Ferrari

"This route caught my attention since the first time I went to Narango. I saw a friend trying it and it seemed a really powerful and esthetic route. When I came back to this amazing sector a couple of months ago I decided to put my hands on it. I started by sending the 8c that shares the upper part with “Biologico” and then I started to try the 9a.

The route is quite short, with an easy start, followed by the boulder sequence that gives the grade of the route: some very small crimps in an overhanging wall and then a dynamic move, where great coordination is essential. After a rest there is a second boulder problem and finally some endurance climbing to reach the top.

I think it’s a very futuristic route, because the hardest part is very short, but very demanding and the first boulder sequence reminds me a boulder of the present-day competitions! Furthermore, it’s the first time I actually noticed, in a sport climbing route, that size can make a little difference: the method used by other climbers weren’t good for me, because I was too short to reach some crimps with the good foothold in the first boulder and I needed to use some very bad intermediate holds in the second one too.

Finally, I managed to find my own way to the top and I really enjoyed the process. After three days trying it I felt close, but for a few more days I kept missing the hold after the dynamic move. Last Saturday, the day when I was supposed to rest because my hands where skinned, I actually felt like it was going to be the right day to send it. At 4 p.m., after a day spent belaying, I had the strange feeling that I was warmed up. So I decided to give the route a try, and it was the perfect attempt! I send the route after 7 days of attempts (and few days more for freeing the 8c “Bibita Biologica”) "
The 22-year-old did his first 9a some nine months ago and in total, he has now done five and one 9a+. As a matter of a fact, during 2018 and 2019 his max grade was 8c. His climbing has taken a leap since he moved to Italy where his girlfriend lives.

"Unfortunately I didn’t have the possibility to try new hard routes (in Spain). That’s because I had already done almost every route in the climbing sectors I could reach from my home, I didn’t have a car and I didn’t have the possibility to travel. That wasn’t a good period for me, I couldn’t improve and I couldn’t try something motivating. Since I moved to Italy things have changed, I have thousands of new routes around and I have progressively regained shape and motivation."

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.