We are living in a society that is more structured than ever. Climbing has become a mainstream sport and coaching, courses, competitions and trainers are the new norms for the climbing kids. Adults can get training advice from YouTubers and On-Line programs. Only some 20 years ago, this did not exist, and there were practically no coloured indoor routes, "Moon-boards", beta videos, campus and hang boards etc.

Climbing was much more about creativity and finding your own solutions and there were almost no kids climbing. Chris Sharma came along and although setting new standards, the older generation thought he could improve if he could just start using his feet better. At the same time, I had also started coaching Said Belhaj but you could actually say that I was more of an observer. None of these guys, including Adam Ondra and Alex Megos, followed any structured programs in order to get fast progress. Instead, climbing was mainly just about creating and doing your own challenges.

Around 1996 I witnessed a totally crazy example of this. Said Belhaj (15) tried to onsight a 7b route in Västervik with several hardcore guys watching him. He gets to a chipped pocket with his right hand, and apart from another drilled pocket one meter diagonally to the right, it is totally blank. Said understands that he is totally caught and that the only solution is down climbing, which does not interest him a bit. Instead, he chalks up and makes an extreme dyno hitting the blank wall leaving a tick mark. The climbers just shake their heads and asked me what was he thinking. My answer was something like:

- I think he thought climbing on a chipped route is not that interesting. Instead, he created a new challenge that also goes in line with that you should never give up. You should always end a try with an upward move instead of saying "take", in order to get as much adrenaline as possible.

I think it is very important for all junior coaches and adults following a structured plan that "out of the box" thinking and technique should be promoted. "The best climber is the one having most fun" is a saying and getting the adrenaline in the system is directly connected to having fun. Most probably, this is connected to why Sharma, Ondra and Megos became the best in the world and also why guys like Dani "a muerte" Andrada still keep pushing.

An easy way to find the softest grades is to search the most repeated of each grade. One good example of this is found on Escalade9 which started listing all 9a routes in the world. During the last couple of years, many of them have been downgraded and thus their list now includes 963 routes and variations 8c+/9a to 9c. Interestingly, eight of the eleven most popular routes are now considered 8c+/9a, and a couple of them should probably be considered 8c+. Noteworthy is also that all of them but Action Directe are found in Spain or Italy.

When it comes to Action Directe, the first 9a in the world established in 1991, in comparison to the other most popular listed 8c+/9a routes, I bet it is in practice at least one grade harder. It should, however, be mentioned that one reason for the suggested downgrades is the use of kneepads. One good example of how the community, besides the quality, is also selecting routes based on how soft it is, is Era Vella. Already in 2018, 8a stated that it oficially should be graded 8c+. The reasons for that were, besides the popularity, personal messages to me from climbers who did not want to go public. Some guys called it 8c+, and Jonathan Siegrist compared it with an 8c route he had done. During the last 2.5 years, it has probably only been repeated twice, while in the 2.5 years prior to the downgrade debate it was done 17 times. Another reason for the lack of interest in the superb Chris Sharma route could be rumours about a route that has become harder due to a broken hold.

Adam Ondra has since he was a teenager frequently been giving personal grades. Lately, also Alex Megos and Jakob Schubert have done the same and Stefano Ghisolfi has actually updated the grade of a dozen of his hardest climbs. It seems that we are in the stage that several of the most popular routes of each grade could be contenders for being downgraded. So, it just might be wise to skip focusing on setting a personal grade best by choosing the most popular routes as they might just get downgraded anyhow :)

Remember that the boulder scale was adjusted in 2005 when Dave Graham put up The Story of Two (Grading) World's as an 8C. Some thought this was the wrong way to go but today it is, in fact, also due to kneepads and new sequences considered a soft 8C and some have actually started to call it 8B+. In any case, Graham’s statement changed the boulder grading all over the world with countless of downgrading. It just might be that we are about getting into a similar era in route climbing.

Alex Johnson has done Ching (8A+) in Little Cottonwood and here is her Insta selfie video. "Oof, so many sessions, stoked to finally put ‘er down. Last left hand seems to have crumbled recently, definitely a tad harder now."

The 32-year-old did her first Youth World Championship in 2003 and then in her World Cup debut in 2008 in Vail, she won. In 2019, after a three-year break, she did most of the World Cups trying to qualify for the Olympics and she was three times Top-13 in Bouldering. Alex did her first 8A+ at age 18 and actually, the last year has been her best ever for the 175 cm with two 8B's. (c) Bree Robles

How come you think you have raised your level during the last year?
I think all the training I was doing for competitions and world cups in 2019-2020 (even tho that season was canceled) just lead to my overall fitness increasing so much that my baseline is higher, so now when I start a new training cycle I can just build even more.

Being in Utah also allows me to climb outside so much year round, we have Little Cottonwood granite, and Vegas and Joe’s are so close. Having a home crag like Little Cottonwood so close makes it so easy to have projects.

Amandine Loury, who previously has done seven 8c and harder routes, has done Tumult' Asie (8A+) in La Capelle. Interesting is that she pretty much started bouldering in 2021 and has already done four 8A's and harder. (c) Jeunet

” For Tumulte Asie I had to find new beta because I was too small for doing the «original» mouvement. At the first session I did all the mouvement. At the second I had more tries of the sections. From the third session, I began to try the boulder to send it. I did a very good run and I was so surprising that I have put myself under pressure and I fell at the last difficult mouv but which was not the more difficult of the boulder. Two days after I came back in La Capelle, I was fine, but weather was too humid and humid rock hurts my finger skin.

So I rested two days and when I returned the conditions were very good to send the boulder. There was a lot of wind and the temperatures were cold. Almost too much... but despite it I did good runs but without success. I began to lose hope. But at the end of the day, I did a new run and with the very good cheering of my friends, I send Tumulte Asie, my first 8a+ bouldering and certainly the first feminin ascent of this boulder.”

How come you started bouldering just in 2021?
It is mostly because of winter conditions which makes it too cold for me to climb routes. I think that bouldering is a very good option to training for hard routes. Better than a climbing gym. So when the weather is favorable I go outside. At this start of the year also because of my work as I do not have a lot of time climbing routes. Bouldering sessions are shorter, so it’s better for me in my current life.

What about that "Objectif 👉 9a" you have posted on Insta?
I have started to try Supercrakinette 9a+ in Saint Léger du Ventoux. But I don’t like trying only one route for several months. So I try other routes according to my motivation.

Victor Guillermin reports on Insta that he has done Estado critico (9a) in Siurana. The 16-year-old has previoulsy done two 8c+ and in 2020 he was #2 in a Euro Youth Cup.

"2021 was definitively a good year because I managed to climb "Le Bronx" (the first french 8c+) after weeks of work and now "Estado Critico"! To send this route, it was quite fast, because it suits me a lot, a long and pumpy route... So the first day, I checked the moves and after three days struggling on the upper part, I finally climbed this crazy line in my 9th try. It was an indescribable feeling to top it! And now 2022 begin with a lot of projects... and training ; )".

Katie Lamb has done in Buttermilks. "Directly out the bulge,,, great line. Finally caught a warm enough day in this arctic winter lol. Always good to top out a peabody."

Adam Ondra is back in Siurana where he has onsighted Tres tristes triceps (8b) and Palindrom (8c). "Cool line, even though a little morpho. Could be 8b+ if you are tall? Clipping the draws and being tired after King Capella."

In total, the Czech has now onsighted 89 routes 8c and harder but without all his personal grades, it would have been more than 100. This can be compared with the runner up in this list, Piotr Schab with eleven 8c onsights. What possibly makes Adam even more unique is that he has done 800 onsights 8a to 9a. On his latest Insta there is a video where he talks us through onsighting Referendum, which is a sandbagged vertical 8b. No chalk, no quickdraws in place and it was even a bit dirty as it probably had not been tried for many years. In any case, it was the first-ever recorded ascent of the more than 30-year-old route. (c) Petr Chodura

Oriane Bertone, who did her first 8A+, out of 19, at age 12, has done Karma (8A+) in Fontainebleau. "This time it was dry and cold in Font ! I felt it quite easy in these good conditions. I was surprised to sent it on my first try of this session. I am so happy to send this amazing and iconic line of the forest."

Last year the 16-year-old was #3 in the Boulder World Cup including having been runner-up in her two first World Cup. In the previous junior comps she has won pretty much every event she has entered including both disciplines in the World as well as in the Euro Championship in 2019.

"Low percentage moves" are something athletes use to describe moves that often challenge your coordination. They are tricky and sometimes feel slippery or involve a dynamic move to a shallow one or two-finger pocket. In competition climbing, the route setter often set low percentage coordination moves in order to split the field. Often, a certain body position is needed both in the start of the move and in the finish. However, the exact body position could differ for climbers of the same length. Alternatively, it is about standing on a micro and you cannot explain why the foot sometimes pops. In the end, you can even say that low percentage moves are somewhat connected with being lucky like in a lottery.

Obviously, a pumpy 40 meter route that finishes with some low percentage moves is very hard to do also mentally. Even boulders that finish with just one low percentage move could create frustration. It does not matter how much stronger you get working the problem - instead, it might feel like a lottery. Although Action Directe is known to be about pure finger strength, it is also about low percentage moves. You need to have the exact body position starting the dynamic moves and to exactly squeeze in the fingers exactly as you land the moves, in combination with precise footwork. Some climbers have said that they felt really close but anyhow just kept falling.

Action Directe was the first climb that was graded 9a and in total there exist almost 1 000 9a to 9c now. Although AD being an ultra classic that everyone wants to do, it has only been repeated three times during the last three years. This means that we basically can call it a very hard 9a and, in fact, there are probably some 9a+' out there which most climbers would consider an easier task to do as they do not include any low percentage moves.