The Sullivan brothers, Keegan (12), Killian (10), and Lochlann (8) have been on a family trip to Hueco Tanks. We asked their father Brandon if he could sum up their nine days trip where the brothers did 150 boulders, including the day when all of them did a 7C+ and Keegan did Barefoot on Sacred Ground 8A+. Interestingly, the parents had never climbed when they put up a small wall in their basement eight years ago.

"This trip to Hueco Tanks was an absolute gift. We were treated to perfect weather, old friends, new friends, and world class boulders. It was our third trip to Hueco with the first two coming in 2018 and 2019. The weeklong trip was filled with many memories, but one day clearly stands out. On December 23rd, we met Steve Marek (friend and Blue Lizard Climbing guide) at the park’s gate. After a few radio calls, we headed into the backcountry for East Mountain. That morning, Keegan warmed up and began projecting Eckstein V10/7C+. The problem is a horizontal traverse across crimps and slopers. It requires compression which is difficult to maintain while switching from toe hooks, heel hooks, and presses. Once the traverse is complete, climbers move up a stiff wall on crimps. The finishing moves are pumpy, heartbreaking, and forced Keegan to the pads three times. On his send go, he climbed the traverse flawlessly, employed new beta for the finish, and smiled enthusiastically at the top. This was Keegan’s 17th V10/7C+, having sent his first when he was just eight years old.

From there, we packed up our pads and moved to East Spur where the boys ticked beautiful climbs and classics like Stinkfoot, Jigsaw, This Is Your Brain on Drugs, and Ministry of Truth. Killian was most excited to work Stubby of the Bush Veldt V10/7C+. Keegan had sent it on a prior trip and we knew the style suited Killian. The boulder is short, but powerful, and has interesting holds – like small, misshapen peanuts. We had a video of Keegan’s send and Killian was able to replicate the beta. After a handful of attempts, Killian executed the crux and stood on top of the boulder – his first V10/7C+.

Keegan and Killian moved to other climbs near Stubby, while Lochlann got inspired to try the stout boulder. Projecting with Heidi, he worked the moves individually, then began making links. Once the boulder was complete in two overlapping sections, he returned to the start holds and began his redpoint attempts. After 90 minutes of projecting, he let out as a scream as he stuck the crux sloper. A moment later, he had joined Killian and sent his first V10/7C+. While celebrating Lochlann’s send, we realized that all three boys had climbed V10/7C+ that day. Neither Heidi nor I, would have dreamed of such an accomplishment eight years ago while expecting Lochlann. No one in our family climbed, but we built a small wall in the basement for fun. That wall catalyzed our love for climbing and travel. Eight years later, the boys are collectively sending V10/7C+.

So what else happened on our trip? On December 21st, Keegan and Killian sent the uber classic, See Spot Run V6/7A. The highball climb is infamous for its sketchy upper slab, poor spotting, and broken ankles. After sending the beautiful problem on his second go, Keegan investigated its lower and more challenging start, Barefoot on Sacred Ground V12/8A+. For Keegan, the crux was setting a right heel to access the undercling, before jumping to the hueco. He had achieved the move in isolation, but was not able to execute the sequence from the start. Instead, he chose to skip the undercling and deadpoint to a taller crimp. This move was higher percentage and eventually unlocked the boulder. After only two hours of projecting, Keegan had landed the crux from the start holds, and linked into See Spot Run for the top. Not only was this Keegan’s first V12/8A+, it was a blast to share beta, psych, and sends with fellow young crusher, Bayes Wilder.

The boys teamed up for over 150 problems during our week in Hueco Tanks. They excel at balancing hard projects with classics and fun stuff. Keegan has developed an affinity for highballs, and Killian brings binoculars to identify birds between climbs. Lochlann loves absurd lowballs, and chases tough lines and classics like his sends of This Is Your Brain on Drugs V9/7C, Hector in a Blender, Sign of the Cross, Nobody Here Gets Out Alive, and the Vulgarian. What is their secret weapon? They have invincible skin even after a week of climbing ten hours a day. That plus youth and psych will take climbers quite far.

I consider our family to be very fortunate. First, my wife and I both work in education which provides several extended work breaks throughout the year. Second, we stumbled upon climbing when our children were young. The combination has provided opportunities to travel to gorgeous crags across North America. Steve Marek describes Hueco Tanks as “The Greatest Place on Earth.” After our trips there, I’m unlikely to disagree."

Matjaz Zorko has done Halupca 1979 (9a) in Osp - Banje in Babna. "I started climbing Halupca in April 2021. I had one month for trying it before the cave got flooded. Even though I got quite close to sending, I couldn’t do it. Summer was too hot so in autumn I got back to it. After I did a couple of tries in autumn the water flooded the cave again. I switched to another project in Paklenica, so I had to focus more on endurance. I thought that was it for Halupca this season but luckily the cave dried again in the middle of December. It is crazy and physical roof climbing, so I had to get some power back. Even though December was really humid and foggy in Osp, I got a really good chance for sending on Sunday because the conditions were good. So jiiiiiihaaaaa I did my first 9a😊".

This is a pretty tough one comparing the climbers who through the FAs and onsights have pushed sport climbing the most during the last 40+ years. Please comment to make changes in the draft Top-10.

1. Adam Ondra: First 9b+ and 9c in history. Numerous records in onsight, flash and as a youngster
2. Wolfgang Güllich: First 8b, 8b+, 8c and 9a in the history
3. Chris Sharma: High-quality cutting edge FAs including DWS
4. Alex Megos: First 9a onsight and numerous FA up to 9b+
5. Alex Huber: Sandbagger! First 9a+ and driving force during the 90-ies

6. Dani Andrada: Making Leida the hardcore epicentre in the world
7. Ben Moon: First 8c+/9a and still going 50+
8. Markus Bock: Did put up most of the Frankenjura 9a's during the '00s
9. Fred Rouhling: Numerous hardcore FA in the '90s. 10. Joel Kinder, Ramon Julian Puigblanque, Patrick Edlinger, Jerry Moffatt, Jibe Tribout, Yuji Hirayama, Patxi Usobiaga, Steve McClure, Tommy Caldwell

Although Laura Rogora focused on competitions and the Olympics in 2021, she managed to redpoint five routes 9a to 9b, onsight one 8b+ and bouldered five 8A and harder. In the 8a Climber of 2021, the 20-year-old Italian is #5. (c) Overchalked

Which were your best moments in 2021?
My best moments were: The Chamonix world cup where I got first place. In finals, I climbed really well, fast and precise and I topped the final route! The other was the ascent of Erebor 9b. On the first day, I tried it I couldn't do more than a few moves without falling. I couldn't imagine doing the route so fast.

How was your Olympic experience?
The competition was bad for me. I didn't expect to have so much pressure. Anyway, the experience was cool.
For the first time climbing was among many other sports so we can meet and interact with other athletes. The days before the competition I had no pressure but during the competition, I started feeling it. I climbed bad in bouldering, making a lot of useless attempts.

Lucy Mitchell has done Le fight du beau gosse intégrale (8c) in Luberon. (c) Eddie Cooper "It’s a tricky one to judge as it’s an extension. I had done the 8b part on a Halloween trip in a day. And then this week it took me 3 days and maybe 4/5 goes up it to try the top and link it… Iv got another 2 on the go so I can’t quite remember. I didn’t expect to do any that quick so I have just been getting on what’s free so haven’t kept too much of a count! Big surprise to do it!! Such a lovely route!"

Alexey Pinchuk has, like last year, put together a great 9a+ and harder analysis. As can be seen in the diagram, there has been steady progress for ten straight years which is interesting as you might think that Covid and the Olympics should have slowed down the progress the last two years. In 2020 and 2021, 44 respectively 50 climbers did 9a+ or harder which can be compared to the previous max 33 in 2018. Just nine years ago, only nine climbers did 9a+ and harder.

Here are the total number of climbers that have done the highest grades. (In brackets the 2021 numbers.)
9c : 1 (0 in 2021)
9b+ : 6 (2)
9b : 36 (14)
9a+ : 136 (49)

Here is the breakdown over the country with most routes 9a+ and harder. The total is 210.
Spain 78
France 39
Italy 18
USA 16
Germany and Norway 11

This can be compared with how many from each country that have done 9a+ or harder
USA 26
Spain 21
France 15
Italy and Germany 14
Austria and Great Britain 6

Climbing grades are subjective. How much harder one grade is something climbers have debated and suggested since the beginning of the grading scales. The bottom line is that it is the FAs that have added the upper grade to the scale, on different crags, who have decided how wide one grade is. On the other side, in many cases, the community have later said the FA was wrong, by upgrading or downgrading old routes.

From a practical mathematical point of view, it seems that a factor of six multiplying the number of routes and boulders for a lower grade, is one way of describing the width of a grade. Here are some rough estimations of how many climbs that exist of the highest five grades from 9c (routes) to 9A (boulders).

9c:1, 9b+:6, 9b:36, 9a+:130, 9a:700
9A:2, 8C+:10, 8C:60, 8B+:360, 8B:2000
(Note that these are just estimations. Grades vary and some climbs are just variations.)

Another way to analyse the width of a grade is to use Time Comparison Grading. The diagram suggests that if a climber could do an 8b on the 3rd go, the next climb that was done after two days of projecting could still be 8b. Basically, the TCG curve indicates how much more time and effort are needed to step up one grade no matter if we are talking a 7a or a 9c route. Obviously, the plotted curve is just a community theoretical average meaning that for most individuals it does not apply perfectly. In practice, there are many considerations like conditions, style and luck that play a major role in each ascent.

In any case, by comparing route and boulder scales, we can, in fact, assume that the width of the boulder grades are a bit more narrow up to 7C and then after 8B, they get wider again. Here is a recent article trying to explain this?

It should be underlined that I welcome suggestions on how to better describe how wide a grade is. The TCG and Factor analysis is basically just ideas on how to approach the subject.

Yannick Flohé, #3 in the Boulder World Championship in 2019, has done Off the wagon Low 8C+ in Valle Bavona. (c) Stefan Schmieg

"Took me three sessions for the stand start in 2020 and two more for the Low this trip. The trick was to have a rest day that helped a lot 😅 I think it must be said that the crimp you jump to got slightly better because a tiny bit of the crystal broke. The big move didn’t feel easier compared to last year but the campus move is much easier now due to more space for the thumb. I don't think it changes the grade because the crux is still to link the first move into the jump to the crimp. And there’s probably no boulder out there that suits my style better than this one so I can’t tell if it’s soft for the grade or I’m just strong. I will try to climb another 8C+ to compare the grades 😌."

Last year, Yannick participated in nine Lead and Boulder World Cups and his worst result was #23. In the World Championship, he was #9 in Boulder and #15 in Lead and in Combined he won!

What are your 2022 plans?
I’ll try to climb some hard boulders in Ticino and Bleau and maybe I’ll focus a little bit more on lead for the next comp season. Maybe I’ll skip some boulder WC's to prepare for the Lead comps. But I’m not sure. I’ll decide after the first boulder WCs.

Edu Marin is one of the best multi-discipline climbers in the world. This summer he will for the second time try to repeat the Huber brothers, Eternal flame which is a 650m 7c+ that tops out on the summit of the 6 286m Trango Tower. Included in the team is Edu's father, Novato, who now is 70-years-old. Nine years ago, he sent an 8b+ and here is a very nice mini-doc. Currently, Novato is climbing 7c's but that is due to a bad mountain bike accident this summer which made it impossible for him to climb for six weeks.