Adam Ondra has done the first repeat of Stefano Ghisolfi's The Lonely Mountain (9b) in San Paolo. "A little harder than Erebor, actually the first part is shorter, but involves one really hard crux. Hard to grade, but probably doesn't brake the 9b+ barrier. Tried one day after Erebor and this trip two days."

In total, the 28-year-old has now done 24 routes 9b to 9c which can be compared with nine for Stefano Ghisolfi and seven for Alex Megos, Jakob Schubert and Chris Sharma who are runner-ups on that list. Note that grades are subjective meaning the above figures are just estimations.

Ryuichi Murai takes down Floatin (8C+) in Mizugaki with a unique sequence. Hardcore bouldering does not get much harder and cooler than this. The 27-year-old has now repeated 14 8C's and put up three 8C+.

Adam Ondra has answered a question in the forum related to his comments of his latest 9b FA, where he said it is an 8C+ boulder followed by an 8b route.

"I believe that 8C boulder means 9a+ route and 8C+ boulder means 9b route. In case of Kout Pikle 9a+, you climb an 8C boulder and then you still need climb sustaines short power endurance section of 8c. But if you are lead climber and you make it through an 8C boulder, you cannot be ultra pumped and 8c on its own is not too bad for a 9b lead climber. Interestingly, I think that if the 8c topout was 7a topout, the route would be still 9a+. Maybe soft 9a+, but still 9a+. With 8c topout, it is hard 9a+ or maybe 9a+/b. In my case, I was fighting like hell in the upper 8c part while sending, and I had fallen once in the upper section before (arriving there in the end of the day, very tired), but I do not think that many people will fall in the upper part (if anyone will ever bother trying this funky routes).

For pure boulderer with no endurance, 8c part could actually be the obvious crux, but sport climbing routes are given sport climbing grades... In case of Taurus, it is 8C+ boulder and the topout of 8b doesn't add or change any difficulty. It might be mentally unnerving (I slipped once there), but that's all. And 8C+ translates to 9b route in my opinion. I would like to conclude that adding extensions or lower starts does not necessarily change the grades, as the the grades are suprisingly wide. And I guess that it is quite difficult to understand for many climbers and ignoring this fact is often causing confusion in grading."

The grade discrepancy diagram from 2012 follows Ondra's opinion although possibly an 8A boulder of 2021 is possibly more 8b/+ at the same time as a 6C boulder is equally hard to do as a 7a+ route.

Sergei Topishko, who previously just have done one 8B+, has done Off the Wagon Sit (8C+) in Valle Bavona. (c) Fedir Samoilov

Sergeii has been a very active competition climber during the last twenty years and in 2015, he was #4 in a Boulder WC. However, during the last six WCs since 2019, he has not made semi.

Please describe the process taking down your first 8C+?
Well, it started this April when I first tried to do the stand start. I did it super fast and left the sit start to my last day of that trip. Sadly conditions were not the best on that day to make the cross move, so I was sure that I am gonna do it for sure the next time. And, better late than never it happened on my 2nd sesh today, just after a quick warm up from the first try.

How can you explain the great progress at age 33?
It’s hard to say about the progress this year. This boulder fit me a lot and I am trying to spend more time outdoors during the last few years. Maybe I just became stronger… Age is just a number, when you have no injuries you can climb.

What is next?
I tried La Rustica today after sending Wagon and made the crux move to the pocket for few times, so I think I will put it together this trip. Dreamtime is also nice one, I think I will do it, and Poison the well (I tried this one in spring it was not so bad actually and I think I am ready for it now). I still have a lot of time in Ticino, till 13th Jan

What are your 2022 plans?
I will take part in European Champ for sure and some of the world cups, or maybe better clime some more 8C/+. You never know what’s better. I like comps too, but when you just compete and don’t climb outdoor, it’s not about climbing you know

Adam Ondra has made the FA of Taurus (9b) in Moravský kras and there is a video on his Insta. "HARD. Very bouldery route, first 9 moves are definitely 8C+ boulder problem, then 8b topout where I fell once due to numb fingers. Super glad to finish it off before the season was over."

More comments on his Insta where says that he has probably never spent so long time solving a boulder problem as he did at the start of Taurus. Interesting is that the crag closes 1/1 due to bird nesting. Adam also says that there are several harder lines at the crag which he will check out in 2022. In spite of having focused on the Olympics, in the end, he is yet again #1 in the 8a ranking game.

Allison Vest, who the last two months has done three 8B's, has done in Red Rock (NV). "Two sessions to send this thing. Painful and punchy. Took me a while to figure out which beta was going to work for me. Foot first to the finish!" (c) Sean Faulker

In the 8a female ranking game, Allison is #2. Interesting is that just 15 months ago, she had just done one 8A. The main reason for this great development is that the 26-year-old has stopped focusing on comps and have had more time being outdoors.

The ones training and climbing the most are also likely to be the best. It is, in the long run, almost impossible to take any shortcuts just by following the best training scheme out there. Following a strict program is often productive in the beginning but it can also reduce motivation and thus reduce the hours of training. One reason for this is that you get addicted to measuring your strength at any time given.

One possible way to boost motivation is to train in as many different ways as possible. Different challenges are easy to find on the internet and with some friends, you can easily gather 50 different exercises including stretching, technical and physical challenges. Then just do the exercises you feel are the most fun and hopefully, this will mean you will spend more hours training and you will progress faster. The risk of injuries will also most likely be reduced as your training will be more varied.

Specific new ways of training could be trying all your climbs in the gym, when you have run out of new ones, using only the left or the right foot. Other options could be mixing colours or adding or skipping holds on existing routes and boulders etc. You could challenge yourself by weights, doing a handstand, doing a difficult yoga position, onsight route reading and then make a topo or doing tricks on the rings, the pull up bar etc.

Here is a preliminary list - Climber of 2021. Please forward your thoughts.

1. Janja Garnbret SLO
2. Jakob Schubert AUT
3. Natalia Grossman USA
4. Adam Ondra CZE
5. Alex Megos GER
6. Laura Rogora ITA
7. Alberto Gines Lopez ESP
8. Brooke Raboutou USA
9. Sean Bailey USA
10. Stefano Ghisolfi ITA

11. Martina Demmel GER
12. Daniel Woods USA: Highest-ranked non-competition climber
13. Oriane Bertone FRA
14. Jorge Diaz-Rullo ESP
15. Alexsey Rubtsov RUS
16. Tomoa Narasaki JPN
17. Stasa Gejo SRB
18. Colin Duffy USA
19. Miho Nonaka JPN
20. Seo Chaehyun KOR
21. Nathaniel Coleman USA
22. Matt Fultz USA
23. Jessica Pilz AUT
24. Martin Stranik CZE
25. Katie Lamb USA
26. Alex Garriga ESP
27. Vita Lukan SLO
28. William Bosi GBR
29. Akiyo Noguchi JPN
30. Jonathan Siegrist USA, Kokoro Fujii JPN, Solveig Korherr GER, Camilla Moroni ITA, Jan Hojer GER, Julia Chanourdie FRA, Seb Bouin FRA, James Webb USA, Barbara Zangerl AUT, , Moritz Welt GER, Drew Ruana USA, Alex Puccio USA, Isabelle Faus USA, Karoline Sinnhuber AUT, Dani Andrada, Anak Verhoven BEL, Jernej Kruder SLO, Ryuichi Murai JPN

Solveig Korherr has done in Photos. Video on her Insta. She took it down in just two hours although her previous best was 7C+. The 23-year-old has been on a long road trip in Canada and the USA since October where she has visited numerous crags including trying trad climbing in Indian Creek and climbing up to 8c+ in RRG. (c) Jon Shen

Could you please say something about your trip and your interest trying different disciplines?
I have mainly been sport climbing over the last few years. I completed two of my big dream routes and I felt ready to try something new. We spent two weeks in Indian Creek where I learnt to better crack climb. It was an excellent spot to improve crack specific techniques since the rock forces you to learn to jam and use crack techniques. Right now, I am quite motivated to explore my limits in bouldering. We are in Red Rocks, Las Vegas. This area is great for combining many different disciplines. The variety is great for my motivation because, in the past, I often felt burnt out after long periods of hard sport climbing. This next year in 2022, I am very psyched to integrate more bouldering and trad climbing in the future.

Lena Marie Müller is currently doing a PhD at the University of Innsbruck about the effects of climate change on mountain ecosystems. In 2020, she became the first German woman to climb an 8b+ trad (E9/E10) by repeating the route “Prinzip Hoffnung”, which she mostly reached from Innsbruck by train. (c) Paul Lewandowski

What can the climbing community do to reduce their carbon footprint?
The carbon footprint for everyone, as well as us climbers, is composed of what we eat, our mobility, how we live (heating our house, electricity), and what we consume. So, to reduce our footprint we can address all those aspects. For example, we can change our diet to regional and organic products and consume little meat and dairy products. Further, we can change our mobility by reducing the time spent in the car/plane but instead use public transport and the bike. In our home, we can switch to sustainable, clean energy. Further, we can change the consumption to sustainable products and simply consume less. Another aspect is how we invest our money, here we can change to a greener bank.

Besides the changes we can implement in our personal lives, I think it is inevitable that we put pressure on politicians by collectively going to the streets and demanding climate action. Because ultimately, climate protection is a question of political will. Every one of us can join the climate movement and stand up for climate protection. On top of that, I think it’s important to spread awareness about our climate crisis. The more people know about the climate crisis, the more personal change will take place, and the more people we are to put pressure on politicians by striking and voting.

Do you know how to measure like one flight to Kalymnos compared to travelling to the crag, what is worse?
Roughly speaking, the same emissions are produced if one person flies to Kalymnos or the same person drives more than a hundred times to a crag which is 30km away. Hence, flying does have a huge impact. To put these emissions from travelling for climbing into perspective, I would like to introduce the concept of the “climate-friendly carbon footprint”. This footprint is in accordance with the Paris Agreement in 2015 with the target to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century. While we must acknowledge that is difficult to achieve this climate-friendly footprint, either flying to Kalymnos once a year or travelling to climbing by car for a year basically depletes the carbon available from our annual climate-friendly footprint. Hence, we have no emissions left for other carbon generating aspects in our lives (as mentioned above) if we want to live sustainably.

So basically, the thing we should tell the community, in regards to the climbing activity, is to travel less, especially by plane, commute and climb more locally.
Regarding our sport, I agree that emissions are mainly caused by how we travel for climbing, and what/how much we consume for it.

I guess everyone must decide this on her/his own. But it would make a big impact if we as a climbing community would step away from that much travel. That’s why we introduced the “ecopoint” – a term that describes climbing by public transport or bike. By giving this concept a name and reality, we hope to enhance sustainable climbing in the face of the climate crisis. More in her Insta

In the end, we must acknowledge that we live in a world where our actions affect people on the other side of the world or those who will be living at the end of the century. We are living from the CO2 budget of other people (to come). I think we must ask ourselves, how far we want to take our freedom. Being a climber often means we have a lot of freedom. The freedom of time, the freedom of resources, the freedom of doing something we love. So instead of defending this ecological exploitation under the guise of freedom - why not use some of our time and resources to reconsider how we can live more sustainably and be part of demanding political change?

Because the good news is, we still have the chance to stay below 1.5°C of global heating if we act now and we also have the means to achieve a brighter climate reality.