Mona Kellner has done her second 8c, Battle cat in Frankenjura. (c) Pirmin Bertle "I tried this route for the first time last year after doing cringer but then focused on other stuff because it got so crowded. So when it finally got warmer and I had no boulder competitions anymore I decided to try it again. I was quite surprised that my endurance wasn’t too bad and I climbed immediately to the top crux. Unfortunately, the last holds were a bit wet and I slipped off a few times and I was super happy when I finally could hold on and clip the chains:)"

Alex Garriga has done Jorge Diaz-Rullo's Panorama giving it a personal 8c+/9a grade confirming other repeaters thoughts. Alex did the 22 meter route on his ninth try after falling four times on the last move. "It is a very strange route with a lot of kneebars and crimps. The boulder cruxes are all with very technical kneebars. If you don't feel comfortable in them, you are f-ed".

The 22-year-old has done six 9a+' the last year, out of which, three FA's and he is #2 in the 8a ranking game. The picture is from Garriga's latest Insta trying Dani Andrada's unrepeated Arrepentimiento 8c+ from 2008. (c) Alfonso Martinez

Matteo Soule has done his fifth 8c+, Nadesjda in Joncas. "It took four sessions to do it. It's a really beautiful line. My father had already done it before." The 14-year-old is talking about Pierre Soule, (45) who did his tenth 8c+ this spring.

It should be noted that Matteo did his first 8c+ at age 13, with the FA of Dieu Merci in Gorges du Tarn. It is still unrepeated and nowadays listed as an 8c+/9a.

Grading inflation is something to be expected and part of the game. The easiest way to find the softest grades is simply to look at the most repeated ones of the grade, in the world or at the local crags. Down-gradings have often created controversies, and in order to make them less dramatic we have, during the last ten years or so, labelled them as "personal grades" in the news. Even so, over the years, I have received numerous private messages from climbers who think a certain climb should be downgraded but they do not want to be the "messenger". Lately, on social media, I have read statements that some climbers will stop giving personal grades as they have been criticized or even attacked for their suggested downgrade.

The most classical example of a downgrade that has been featured on 8a is Mind Control in Oliana. The high-class route was put up in 2010 as an 8c+ and it immediately became very popular with many quick ascents. Two years later, Gabri Moroni was the first one to spit it out: "Everybody knows it's only 8c...but nobody will ever downgrade it :-P"

8a reported this and at the same time, we got private messages from other climbers saying it is no way 8c+. In 2013, Silvio Reffo flashed it and commented, "Very very happy for this route, but stay a dream send an 8c+ flash...8c is true," and we started to report it as an 8c (+). Currently, the superb route has 68 ascents in the 8a database, out of which the last 13 have marked it as 8c. Actually, 50% of the latest six repeaters have marked it as soft.

It should be mentioned that several top-climbers often suggest personal grades, but Adam Ondra sticks out with numerous personal downgrades since he was 14 years old. Other celebs frequently giving personal grades in the 8a scorecard are Alex Honnold and James Webb.

It is important to understand that grades can only be based on an average consensus if everyone is honest when giving personal grades. As a matter of a fact, it seems like, at most, one third of all climbers using the 8a scorecard officially suggest downgrades. At the same time, about two thirds sometimes mark routes as "soft" or "hard". This is very useful when we try to decide which grade should be published in the headline. Other facts that could impact which grade to report when in doubt are how many climbers have set a personal record with the climb or have done it relatively quickly. From a retro-perspective, even if 8a sometimes reports a lower grade than other media, exaggerated grades have been published hundreds of times on 8a.

The new commentators in the Boulder World Cup did a great job, but as usual they presented incorrect statements at several times when analyzing the live rankings. However, they should not be blamed as this has been the case for the last ten years as the scoring system is not logical and too complicated. Furthermore, even the live score presented on the screen is unclear. As a matter of a fact, 8a has presented the results as points instead of tops and zones for a couple of years.

Natalia Grossman won in Salt Lake City and in the IFSC rankings, her result is presented 4t 4z 15 14. By contrast, 8a just presents her scoring as 44 points. In other words, by giving a top 10 points and a zone one point, it is much easier to present and understand the result.

Hence, the 8a system just needs to present one point score, and occasionally the number of attempts when the score is tied. IFSC always presents four scores, i.e. quadruple the info to handle.

Eliot Stephens did the FA of The Origin Sit 8C last month. "Wales first 8C. Power fade climbing, and aggressive from the first single 8A move. Hardest so far.".

Natalia Grossman, who finished third in Meiringen, faced extreme pressure on the last boulder, starting last, having done nine attempts and not reached the zone with some 40 seconds left. Then she did the dyno to the zone, which secured the win, and with ease she topped it out.

Adam Ondra, who won in Meiringen, struggled a bit on the first Boulder doing it on his fifth go. Then he flashed the last three with ease looking superior, it seemed.

1. Natalia Grossman (19) USA 44 - Adam Ondra CZE 44
2. Oriane Bertone (16) FRA 34 - Mejdi Schalck (17) FRA 34
3. Brooke Raboutou (19) USA 33 (4) - Jakob Schubert AUT 33 (4)
4. Miho Nonaka JPN 33 (7) - Kokoro Fujii JPN 33 (12)
5. Jessica Pilz AUT 13 - Anze Peharc SLO 13
6. Johanna Färber AUT 12 - Gregor Vezonik SLO 12
Complete results

Matteo Reusa has done his second 8c+ by the FA of One Punch in Falesia del ghëddo which is a new crag in Piedmont developed by his family and trainers. Last week, his brother Michele (14) made the FA of another 8c+ and they plan to set up some 30 routes at the 20-meter crag.

"The route, after a simple part of 7a +, consists of 15 very difficult movements. My father bolted it and I tried the route for 12 days."

Oriane Bertone started the first boulder by innovating a new move! The 16-year-old jammed her left hand high up and put the upperside of her right shoe on the texture of the wall and then, sitting on her foot like a ballerina, she made a kneebar and continued doing the boulder on her first try.

1. Natalia Grossman USA 44 - Kokoro Fujii JPN 34
2. Brooke Raboutou USA 34 (6) - Adam Ondra CZE 23
3. Johanna Färber AUT 34 (9) - Gregor Vezonik SLO 13 (2)
4. Jessica Pilz AUT 34 (11) - Jakob Schubert AUT 13 (3)
5. Miho Nonaka JPN 33 - Anze Peharc SLO 13 (4)
6. Oriane Bertone FRA 24 (2) - Mejdi Schalck 13 (12)
Complete results