Cameron Hörst has done his first 9a+, Bone Tomahawk in Fynn Cave. (c) J.P. Melville "WOOHOO! My hardest climb yet, next level for me. 15+ sessions of work over the last month and a half. The route has settled at 9a/+ grade range. However, I've sent 9as, and worked a ton of them. This thing is on a whole different level (at least for me). But hell, I'm confident in my abilities and I know other ascensionists have expressed similar views to mine. Regardless, amazing route. So special to have the first ascensionist (Joe Kinder) as my partner during the process! Gang."

The FA Joe Kinder graded it 9a+ and in total it has five ascents out of which three have thought it is a 9a+. Cameron did his first 8c at age 14 but he has only been climbing full time for two years as he during high school, has been a successful quarterback. Cameron's father is the famous coach and author Eric Hörst.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done the first repeat of Ramon Julian Puigblanque's Victima Perfecta in Margalef. "Ramonet", well known for his hard FA grades, put it up in 2008 and originally graded it 8c+, but Jorge gives it a 9a/+ personal grade. "Even harder than Gancho Perfecto (9a/+), although Ramón Julián said between 8c + and 9a... Pure continuity in the overhang into the line to the left, incredible! I fell 3 times in the last move, good training!"

The 21-year-old has now 43 routes 9a and harder in his scorecard which can be compared with 51 for Ramonet up to 9a+. However, based on the recent upgrades suggested for the 39-year-old's FA, it just might be that Ramonet in practice has done 55 up to 9b. Ramonet, who is 159 cm tall, has won 21 World Cups and the World Championship two times, and only Adam Ondra and Alex Megos have better tick lists in the world. Jorge is #7 in the world and he has been #1 in the 8a ranking for the last two years.

Gonzalo Larrocha has done Las Meninas 9a (+) in . The 36-year-old bolted it one year ago and Jorge Diaz-Rullo did the FA.

"It is a very steep route with a focus on crimps. I was working on it, during the autumn, now I send it on the fifth day. It is over 30m long but the harder section finish at 20m.

After I clipped the first anchor, I tried to continue but fell two quick draws before the second anchor. I was frustrated but at the same time really happy. Now, I will try some days more to link this 50 meters route. The second pitch is 8b+ (more or less). But it is a really technical roof, where you feel that your legs are going to explode.”

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