Samuel Ometz, who previously has done 15 boulders 8B+ and harder, has done his eight 9a and the first repeat of Baba Yaga in Val Bavona. Video on his Insta.

"Couldn't choose between bouldering and rope climbing so I tried this route from Giuliano Cameroni which is like bouldering with a rope :) it's an aesthetic line following an obvious arete, pretty technical with many tricky heel hooks even though it's steep. Used a kneepad for the relatively easier section that Giul didn't use. Also started the climb a bit lower adding 1 hard move because shorter people (<170?) can't reach the original start.

Felt a bit easier than other short 9a's I did, but low-end 9a might be it. 7 moves ~V13 into 15 moves ~V10 into easier topout."

Steep routes often involve a dyno where the feet cut loose. This can often be avoided by rope drag, i.e. the belayer stops the swing by not feeding out rope. It is kind of complicated but when it is done correctly, it will facilitate working and doing the move. Trying to work an overhanging route on top rope or even just the crux with the quick draw above clipped in is much more difficult.

Once you have done the hard part and clipped in, it is better to unclip and start from below again. To downclimb, once you have unclipped, is also much easier with some rope drag, i.e. the belayer is pulling the rope. This is very advanced but a good technique that also can be used stripping a steep route from quick draws. The closer to the quick draw the climber has come, the more rope drag can be used. Do, however, make sure that if the climber falls, you stop pulling and instead give a soft fall.

Another tip, in order to place the next quickdraw or reach the next holds, is to temporarily clip the rope into the upper carabiner of your quickdraw and to have a very tight knot. This will make you reach possibly 20 cm further. Another option is to clip in the quickdraw directly into your belay loop, meaning that you possibly can reach the next quickdraw and put in the rope. Note also that there are special stiff 50 cm long quickdraws that could help you reach the next bolt.

Remember also that rope drag on a dyno reducing the swing means that the ascent is not valid, even if it is only the belayers mistake. Sometimes you can actually see pictures and videos of ascents with rope drag.

Molly Thompson-Smith, #3 in the Euro Lead Championship last November, has done her first 8B, Keen Roof in Peak District. Amazing is that in March she did her third ever 8A and that she only needed two sessions for the well-confirmed 8B. "Maybe soft? Or just really my style? I don't really know what 8B should feel like!"
Video on her Insta.
The 23-year-old has been an active competition climber since 2011. In 2017, she had her best year ever when she was #7 overall in the Lead World Cup.

So could you please describe the boulder and your feeling once you felt it could down quickly?
I think it suited me perfectly - athletic moves made easier with strong fingers. I was pretty confident I could do it soon & thought all I needed was a cooler day (I first tried it in the sun last weekend). Some easier climbing leads into a backwards snatchy move off of a 2 finger pocket and crossly undercut. Then it’s pretty hard to hold the release, before traversing the lip to the finishing jug. I was quite relieved it did go down in my second session, as I’ve had this experience before of being confident I can send a climb quickly, and it turns into a several session epic. In my first session I tried the big backwards slap, as that was the crux move. After working out the best foot positions for every move I then climbed from the crux move to the top. I decided to come back when the conditions were cooler. Today I perfected the tor sequence leading into the crux move and reminded myself of all the body positioning before trying from the start. Then it took me 3 goes from the start before I did it :) I was really excited as I thought I’m in pretty good physical shape, and climbing a boulder like this so quickly kinda confirmed that to me!

How come you picked up hard bouldering just recently after a couple of years break?
Jan, (Hojer, her partner since 3.5 years), decided he wanted to be a sport climber, so we mainly went on sport climbing trips the last couple of years😂. When I was at home in the U.K., I was focused on training for world cups and didn’t believe that comp training and rock climbing could go well together The last couple of weeks have been great to see that they both can complement each other really well, when planned in properly so I think I’ll carry on doing that. Living a 10 min drive from the Peak District & having tonnes of harder boulders to try just made it really easy to get out after a gym session or by myself. I’d like to start doing some more sport if I can find some keen partners!

Adam Ondra and Alex Megos are the only ones that have done a 9c. At the same time, only six climbers have done 9b+ and around 25 have done a 9b, if we exclude the boulder routes. Looking at the number of routes, there are 37, 5 and 2 routes, respectively, graded 9b to 9c.

Comparing those route stats with the ones in bouldering, we can see that there is a big difference in the grade pyramids.

Daniel Woods and Nalle Hukkataival are the only ones that have done a 9A that has not been downgraded. The number of boulderers that have done 8C+ are around 30 and when it comes to 8C, we are talking several hundreds. Looking at the specific grades, there are around 150 boulders graded 8C, 15 8C+ and two 9A's.

These stats suggest that for some reason the 8C boulder difficulty grade is much wider compared to the 9b route grade. It just might be that many 8C's should be 8B+ and that some should in fact be 8C+. This is a thought I have discussed with many of the best like Daniel Woods for which most agreed.

Some 20 years ago, when bouldering become popular, the first 8C's were established. It sounds logical that at least a couple of hundreds have reached that level as the number of boulderers has skyrocketed while the training know-how and facilities are at a much higher level. With the same thinking, one could question how close to 9A+ Woods actually have been.

Comparing to routes, sport climbing was much more developed in 2000 and even so, the top-end grade ascents have progressed from 9a+ to 9c, i.e. three grades, at the same time just from 8C to 9A in bouldering.

Simone Tentori, who previously has done eigth 8B+', has done the FA of Megalodonte 8C in Val Masino. (c) Maximiliano Piazza

"What a journey!! The longest battle to date. So many days practising these moves till perfection. Hard connection of Crazy snake 8B into Snake's bite 8A+. (Both done last November). First of the grade for me and for the valley, so proud of this ascent. Thanks to my friends and all the people who kept the psych high!"

How many sessions did it take in total, including the 8B and the 8A+ links you did last November?
I climbed in Val Masino almost every weekend from November till April, so almost 6 months. But I climbed other stuff and I had to stop one month for the snow in December that covered the boulder and a skin injury that required 1 month to heal. So in total, it was not more than 20-25 sessions I would say.

Killian Chabrier, who had just done one 8B+ prior to 2021, has now done six up to 8Cc+ trav. Fanatic Climbing has made an interview, where he thanks his new trainer Pierre Brebion.

"Pierre showed me a new vision of training based more on pure climbing and less training on specific exercices. It allowed me to quickly transition between my strength sessions and my climbing sessions in the forest or indoors. And I made enormous physical progress!""

Thomas Ballet, four times Top-6 in the World Cup, has done his first 9a+, Super Crackinette in St Léger. In 2016, the 31-year-old retired from the competition scene.

"When I was competing I almost never climbed outdoors. Six years ago I did Sankukai in Entraygues which has been downgraded to 8c+. After three years of a climbing break because of work, I started climbing again two years ago with no goals. I was missing climbing and I love our sport more than anything. Now I only climb on rocks, doing lots of different routes and styles, easy routes but "legends routes" for example La rose et le vampire in Buoux. In February, I decided to find something harder. I worked Super Crackinette for four weekends and finally sent it."

Jean-Baptiste Jourjon, who did his first 8c in 2002, has had his best week ever by doing Purée de ratatouille 8c and, in just three sessions, Tonnerre d'orage 8c+ in Col du marocaz.

"I belayed Mathieu Bouyoud when he tried and sent the route with 8c+ proposal in 2012. I just put my fingers once in it and I could not imagine having enough power endurance. I thought it would not be downgraded because he did quite a few tries which I'm not used to 😂. A few weeks ago I sent an 8b+ next to it and there were draws in the 8c+ so I thought "why not"? All the moves were ok quite quickly that time but I had no idea how it would be linking the 15 to 20 intense moves. I made few adjustments during the first tries and I quickly had optimized beta.

Covid restrictions forced us to climb nearby but fortunately, we have crags close to home. It's a chance but also a personal choice otherwise living in a big city would not allow climbing regularly outdoor with a full-time job and family who is my best sponsor. Maybe restrictions were positive in my case because I work a lot from home and I stopped nibbling as I always did at the office. 2-3kg less and regular route climbing made me progressing in that power endurance style. I hope I'll be able to confirm other such hard routes even if I still fail to climb a few 8b's around...

About the grade: Mathieu didn't use a knee pad. I don't know about other repetitors. For me, it helped resting before the intense section. On the other hand, some other repetitors didn't use a knee pad but were going far left on the undercling of the route to the left to get some rest, which is allowed but not so beautiful as you need to go back then to the right. The knee pad also helped improving friction on crux.

Grading is a never-ending story, the route I did the week before suggested 8c by Mathieu and I repeated a few hours later felt as hard as Tonnerre d'orage to me. So hard and beautiful that it almost feels like a better achievement than the 8c+. Now I probably need to send 9a at 50+ to make again a news on 8a.nu."

Could you please say something about peaking at age 42 and how come you had a 14 years break of doing 8c's?
Good shape periods are so strange and hard to manage for me. I remember being strong in my 30's: I had stopped climbing 4 to 6 months to focus on triathlon. Back to climbing, I had peak power like 3-4 months after, certainly thanks to the absence of climbing injuries (fingers...). Since then I have some peaks but shorter and shorter. It generally ended with small injuries because of bad rest management. I often focus on bouldering on cold days and switch to lead around summertime.

Spring 2019 in my 40's I had a peak shape in bouldering with problems like Vecchio Leone 8B in Brione. Generally, on routes, I have a lack of power endurance but that time I felt not so bad in 8a-8b's after only 2-3 weeks. Usually, in such a case I was thinking, "let's get more training before trying harder, I feel good but no chance for a long and steep route with so little pump training". This time I stopped thinking and jumped to a 14 years project and succeeded in a few sessions. It was a good option because right after I felt weaker due to a new injury leading to less intense training and regression (finger, shoulder, biceps... I don't remember).

Part of my success now is probably more long term focus on lead and capability to rest on less and less good holds because I don't feel physically stronger for the hardest moves. I also discovered the hang board routine from Emil Abrahamsson and was really impressed by the results he obtained on himself. I don't feel so much progress on hangs like him but I agree it might preserve joints and tendons. Need to find a similar routine for bigger muscle groups that also feel painful...

Gonzalo Larrocha, who just did his 18th 9a, has done Ramon Julian Puigblanque's Priorato de Sion 9a in Alquezar. In total, the 36-year-old has done seven routes 8b and harder the last week, out of which four FAs! Psicosis 8c/+ in the picture by Uri.

So how can you explain being in the best shape ever?
I don't know what is happening this week. It could be the vaccine's secondary effect. I have been trying this route for two months. This route is a different style of climbing. I used 16 different kneebars to climb the 15 meters route. On the other hand, a broken hold in the crux section could maintain the difficulty.

It should be mentioned that Ramonet graded it 8c+ but all repeaters have thought 9a fits better. Many of his FAs have later been upgraded.

Jonathan Flor reports on Insta that he has done Fin de alihulk extension sit start 9a+ in Rodellar. "Very happy to be able to climb this type of route again and return to our second home. Now looking forward to the many other projects I have here👀🤟." n(c) Javi Pec

Jonathan has previously done some 40 routes graded 8c+/9a and harder including the FA of Ali Hulk Sit Start Extension Total 9b, which has a harder intro boulder than the left variation he just did.