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.