Zach Galla, who previously has done two 8C's, has done Grand Illusion (8C+) in Little Cottonwood Canyon (UT). The 25 moves roof climbing was put up by Nathaniel Coleman and also 9a+/b has been suggested for it, as it takes two minutes to climb. (c) Sean Faulker

How many sessions did it take and what made the trick in the end?
I stopped counting the sessions early on to not increase the pressure on myself. I think it was around 13 though? maybe more. It was a tough battle with conditions as the snow is starting to come through that area of Little Cottonwood. Not really sure how yesterday was the day. Conditions weren’t great, the bottom holds were a little damp, and it was warmer than I usually prefer. I competed at the US national lead semifinals earlier that day and didn’t make the final. I felt nicely warmed up and decided to head over there to give one go. I think the fact that a send that day seemed so unlikely to me allowed me to climb with no pressure and I found myself on top!

Niki Rusev, the 2021 Combined European Champion, has done the FA of Deutschland Meutschland (8C) in Rila Monastery. It is 24 moves roof climbing that took the 15-year-old, eight sessions and three minutes to climb, Insta video. (8a normally reports such boulder routes like 8Cc in order to separate them from boulders.) (c) Vladimir Pekov

"On the last try before the sunset, I managed to finish off this crazy beautiful roof project above the Rila forest. 24 hard and long moves involving many important heel hooks. Actually, it’s closer to lead climbing style than bouldering. I also suffered at the last part in which I had to do a compression and put maybe the trickiest heel hook that most of the time slipped, so everything had to be perfect. I used to drink coffeе in the last resort, just to wake me up a little bit for the try."

The Boulder Youth World Champion did amazingly also win one Euro Youth in Speed as well as twice made the podium in Lead. His previous hardest boulder was 8A+ but he has done two 9a's and he feels like this could be graded as a 9a if it was a route.

What are your winter plans?
Our plan is to climb as much as possible on rocks until the new year because the new comp calendar is full of challenges. There are so many more beautiful lines like this, including routes. I have no excuse not to climb. I have everything I need and I think I'll take advantage ;)

Adam Ondra takes Magnus Midtbo, who runs the worlds biggest youtube climbing channel with 1 million subscribers, to his home crag Sloup and they climb one 5c and Ondra puts up Carmina burana (9a). Ondra gives interesting insights to Midtbö, about training, the Olympics and 10a etc.

Christof Rauch, who previously in 2021 has done eleven routes 8c+ and 9a, has sent Frontman Deluxe (9a) in Allgäu. "Such a nice line! Short, powerful and crimpy. Love this style of climbing. Couldn‘t do one move some years ago, last week Domi convinced me to give it another try, I did the move and came close to send. Today everything clicked and I fought my way to the top. Thanks to Domi for the support!"

Interesting is that the Austrian started to focus on routes just in 2021. One reason for this is that he has pretty much done most of the hardcore boulders in his neighbourhood in combination with the travel restrictions. Furthermore, he has had different injuries in the last three years. In total, he has done 829 boulders 8A and harder although have been working full time for many years.

What is your next plan?
No special winter plans. I have a little elbow injury at the moment, so maybe I have to take some rest soon.

How much do you train and climb during a normal week?
I work 38,5h per week, from Monday till Thursday. Normally I train 2 days after work and climb 2 days at the weekend.

What about taking some time off and seeing how far you can reach?
I think there are much stronger guys out there and I need some money 😅

Climbing has the full interview where Anna Hazelnutt says, "I think the route was actually relatively safe." Impressively, Anna started to trad climb in 2021 and this was her first ever hard trad route. The videos is excellent and it sure does look scary. Actually, twice her placed gear falls out!

It says 5.13a/b R (7c+/8a R=dangerous) in the Youtube presentation which is strange as it previously has been considered 8a/+. Furthermore, the R added after the grade should mean that you probably will seriously injure yourself if you fall in the wrong place. In practice, a "relatively safe" 8a/+ does not convert to UK E9 grade which only a handful of females previously have reached. The UK grading system is based on a combination of how hard and dangerous it is to onsight trad routes.

Austin Purdy has done Paint it Black (8C) in RMNP (CO). Interestingly, in the end it came down to some fingernails optimization that Austin describes below. Previoulsy, the 24-year-old has done 72 8B's, 17 8B+' and just one 8C, so we are talking about a record wide grade pyramid showing that there is room to make it more pointy.

"Paint It Black has been at the top of the list of boulders I want to do in Colorado since I moved here, but after trying it a little bit a few years ago I wrote it off due to my fat fingers not fitting inside of the tiny slot crux crimp. This year though I have been feeling a lot stronger and decided to return to it. I immediately felt a lot better on the boulder and also figured out that I could file down the tops of my fingernails the make my fingers thinner and fit them into the slot just deep enough to make it possible. After this discovery, the boulder went down relatively quickly!"

Jonathan Siegrist, who previously in 2021 has done two 9b's, has repeated Adam Ondra's Goldrake (9a+) in Cornalba, after just four sessions. "Incredible how there are really no great holds for the entire length of this awesome pitch. A true crimp strength endurance test-piece. The insane texture of the rock allows for some pretty exciting fights!" (c) Marco Zanone

The 36-year-old has posted an interesting write up on his Insta that begins with, "I think climbing your best is largely about quieting your mind enough to let your body do the work it’s been trained to do. I pride myself on being somewhat of a master in this realm but there have also been times when it feels next to impossible. Ultimately, I only succeed when my focus is the rock, the movement and the effort - and not on the outcome, consequences or my expectations."

Adam Ondra set all types of grade records being a kid and still when it comes to onsight, even the youngsters of today are far behind. However, in 2021 new redpoint records for 10 and 12-year-old's have been set. Here is speculation of what max grade levels needed to be Top-10 in the world per age group as of 2021 as well as the "world record". Girls are probably two grades lower, however, Ashima Shiraishi did her first 8c+ at age 11 and her first 9a /+ at age 13, which were records at that time.

10 years: 8a+ (record 8c+ Bayes Wilder 2021)
12 years: 8b (record 9a Gianluca Vighetti 2021)
14 years: 8b+
16 years: 8c
18 years: 8c+
Adam Ondra is the youngest to have reached 9a+, 9b and 9b+ being 15 (and one week), 17 respectively 19-years-old.