"HOW" you start a boulder can be a tricky game. The best example of this is The Story of 2 Worlds 8C. Dave Draham put it up in 2005 and described it as a "pure sit start" to The Dagger. Dai Koyamada did the first repeat but later UKC said his ascent "wasn't legitimate", as they said he started 40 cm to the right of the original Graham start. Koyamada came back and did it again laying from the ground with his feet on the starting hold, calling his Low start variation 8C+. Later, it was found out that UKC was wrong and Graham did come forward saying Koyamada had started on the right holds, in the first place.

Today, The Story of 2 Worlds is with close to 20 ascents one of the most repeated 8C's in the world and actually due to new sequences and knee pad, some have actually suggested 8B+ for it. At the same time, several of the guys repeating it they have not done it from a sitting position but instead from a crouched position, i.e. using one foot to establish a heel hook before taking off.

In general, Americans are more in favour of defined starting holds from a crouched position in comparison to the Euros mainly opting by starting from the butt. In the defined start, you are supposed to establish your position before start moving just like in comps, meanwhile, on the sit start you are not supposed to do any butt bouncing in order to facilitate the first move. The advantage of the American crouched start is that size does not matter meanwhile the advantage of the sit start is that it is often more obvious. On the other hand, what now seems to be an obvious sit start on The Story... created a lot of controversies.

So what is the best solution in regards to sit starts and defined starting ethics? Basically the ethics that have been used is that it is up to the FA to decide and in order to repeat that boulder and grade, you should start as the FA did. Personally, I do think the FA should opt for a start that does not add a hard move and which is fair for everyone but also that stacking pads is not a problem as long as this "How" is described.

Back to The Story... As Graham (179 cm) did define it as a sit start I think we should follow the FA starting ethics. If this means that shorter guys like Koyamada (165 cm) need to use two pads I am fine with that as long as it is described. Checking different videos, besides several guys do not start sitting, there exist different beta from the sit start which could also be used as an argument for advocating sit starts instead of crouched starts.

It should be mentioned that sometimes like for No kpote only, the second proposed 9A but later downgraded to 8C, the sit start needs to be defined as it traverses in the beginning and you could also start sitting from 2-3 moves in. Please forward your comments and questions?

Niki Rusev, who has done two 9a's in 2020, has done one more 8c, Botor in Lakatnik. Headlamp video on his Insta. "This is a legendary route. No one had sent it since 2008 🤯. And now I am honoured to have climbed it 😃. Today I did four tries. In moments like this, you should not lose faith in yourself. I was tired, it was dark and cold, I had no skin on my fingers, but inside my head, I knew I could send it today and ...... I did it ✊🔥"

"The year started quite bad, for everyone, and I spent two months in my home without going out. In Italy, we had a strict lockdown and I took this as an opportunity to train in my home wall, from the beginning of March. Later, the European Championship in Moscow was delayed. It was my last chance to try to qualify for the Olympics. Then I received the news that the spot for the Olympics was already chosen and my dream was gone. I couldn’t qualify anymore and the goal I was training hard for just vanished.

Even if I still was in lockdown, I kept training and I decided to set another goal so I focused on training for rock climbing and when the lockdown would be over I could start climbing hard outside. After the lockdown, the first restrictions didn’t allow us to go climbing by car, so we went to Eremo di San Paolo and Massone and I climbed three 8c+ in few days.

Then I started projecting a new connection between the historical routes Sant’Anger and Zauberfee and after few days I climbed it, and Beginning 9a/+ was born. In the meantime, I discovered a new possible route there and I bolted with the help of Seve Scassa. He introduced me to bolting, lent me his drill and I bolted my very first route, which turned out to be super hard. It was starting to be too hot to climb there in June so I started climbing in Padaro and projected a new route, with a crazy cross over and when I sent it I called it “The Bow”, a solid 9a+.

The situation in Europe was a bit better in the summer so I and Sara planned a trip with our van to a destination we’ve never been to, but had been in my dreams for a lot of years: Flatanger. I watched a lot of videos and decided I wanted to try Change, the very first 9b+ of the World, a route bolted and climbed by Adam Ondra in 2012 and never repeated and maybe never even tried after the first ascent. We started our trip at the beginning of August and I started trying the first pitch of the route. After a few days on it, I finally found a new beta for the first crux that fitted me better, and at the end of August, I climbed the first pitch. In September, we drove back 3000km to compete in my first and last competition of the year, the Italian Championship. I won, and we decided to drive back to Flatanger immediately. The double trip had been long and tiring, we arrived in Norway for the second time in terrible weather, so we waited and trained few days in the wall Adam built in the camping (the one he used for Silence). After a few days, the sun came back and I started climbing again in the cave, and unexpectedly I was able to climb Change on a sunny day where the condition was far from perfect. The dream came true and we decided to drive back to Italy, happy and victorious!

Back to Italy it was the right time to put the hands again on the project I bolted in Eremo before going to Flatanger. I started to figure out all the moves and did some good links. The temperatures went down and I felt better and better, and I started doing some real attempts, falling at the first crux move and then at the jump, and finally on the very last boulder at the top. On my best attempt before Christmas Lockdown, I fell very high and close to the anchor, but it is still hard there, and I can now tell this can be between 9b and 9b+, a bit easier than Change, but it is taking me more time than expected! I’ll try again when the restrictions allow us to climb again, hopefully, before the end of the year, I can make few good tries, and maybe send it!

These days I was also working on the video of Change, which is 100% produced, filmed, and edited by Sara (Grippo) and me. The final video of the ascent will be online as a Youtube premiere this Sunday, December 27th at 7 pm (CET), and I’ll be in the chat trying to answer all the questions people ask! Link to premiere."

Katie Lamb has done her sixth 8B in 2020, The Swarm in Buttermilks after seven sessions. In the 8a ranking game, the 23-year-old is #5. (c) Eric Bissell

"Every day for one whole year I have dreamed of The Swarm. It was my child, my light, my life. I wanted to prove myself as a crimper, and there is no boulder in the US more sacred to crimping crumpets than this one. Once I committed to learning the ways of the patina and listening to the whispers of the Owen’s Valley and ancient Bristlecone Pines the boulder was attainable. Every day that I felt close to sending, the boulder said “do it again”. I took inspiration from my friend Duke (who has the spirit of Santa’s elf) and eventually I found myself topping out the glory slab and standing atop the boulder of my dreams. Pure! Bliss! A merry Christmas kiss from the mountains!"

Alex Garriga has done his second 9a FA in Cuenca during the last week, Daemonologie. "The route shares the hard first half of El carnicero the rostov, a 9a I did in February. Then a bad rest in two 2 finger pockets followed by an endurance challenge with big moves on big holds. (c) Alfonso Martinez

Chris Cosser has made it to Tokyo by winning the Africa Championship. His best discipline is Speed where he did 6.87 although having just trained it more or less for two hours a week for six months. Until 2018, when he finished high school, he just climbed three times a year. (c) City Rock

"Once school finished I started to climbing 5 times a week at CityROCK Johannesburg where I really started to push my training as the Olympic goal became a focus. Since then I’ve been working toward the dream and kept trying to grow in the sport. Training in South Africa is difficult as the facility’s don’t currently cater for high-end training. I’ve spent a few months travelling around Europe both for competitions and training. In those months I truly understood what’s required to close the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. Now my objective is to do just that. The Olympics is the next set.

Speed is quite a cool one for me because it is homologated around the world which makes it even for everyone training it. Unlike the other 2 disciplines, South Africa is very far behind in terms of ability but with speed we are competitive, is it exposures or talent? For my personal speed training, I’ve just put hours in on the wall and have watched other athletes to see how they have trained speed."

The 20-year-old is hoping to move to Innsbruck in order to prepare for the Olympics. Last year, he participated in eleven Euro competitions placed #57 at his best among the seniors and #30 in the Speed World Championship among the juniors. "I’m also realistic about my goals for the OG." In any case, Cosser seems to be a talented Speed climber that should have chances to become Top-6 in Speed.

There are now 6 million star rated ascents in the 8a database, added by 85 000 members. Frankenjura and Fontainebleu have 221 000 respectively 154 000 recorded ascents and in practice, you can find info and comments on practically almost all crags, sectors and climbs in the world. There are endless possibilities to filter your climbs by grade and season etc. You can also become a moderator and help us to improve the database but in reality, with every climb you log, you interact with the climbing community creating better possibilities to find more and better climbs around the world!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Alex Megos, who has been appointed 8a Climber of the year, has done Dave Graham’s classic The Story of Two Worlds 8C in Cresciano from 2005. The name actually refers to the grading inflation at the time which basically stopped after Graham's statement. "I worked on it for four days I think. Day one and two were to figure out beta and to climb sequences. On day three it rained, so the second half was completely wet. I managed to get through the bottom bit and got close to sending it but fell three moves before the topout. The day after that it was dry again and I did it first try that day after warming up. We left a little after to drive back home again." (c) Alise Zvigule

On Insta he explains that he did not use kneepads and discusses ethics and the importance to also report HOW things are climbed. "There are various videos online from lots of different climbers, all theoretically climbing the same boulder and claiming the same grade- 8C. It seems like the climbing community is not differentiating at all and rarely mentioning HOW things are climbed."

Already in 2002, 8a published Ethics and Practice in Sport Climbing and we have done also presented the "How" in bouldering several times. Chatting with Megos, he also mentions that a proper sit start makes a big difference on The Story. As a matter of a fact, HOW a proper sitstart should be done has been discussed several times on 8a. One dilemma is whether shorter climbers are allowed to use the same starting holds a taller FA reached. As a matter of a fact, Dai Koyamada (165 cm), did the first repeat in 2010 but then did choose to go back in 2012 to do it again as some said he had not started in the same sitting position as Graham (181 cm) had done. Actually, Koyamada did then start laying down and said his variation was 8C+. 8a's take on this is similar to what Megos thinks. You can start anywhere you like, possibly by stacking pads if you are shorter, as long as you express this "HOW" clearly and possibly give your variation a different grade.

We also asked Megos to give further comments in regards the use of kneepads. "I think everyone can climb with kneepads if he wants to. But he should be honest whether or not he thinks it makes it easier. Some people just climb to tick a grade. So even if they find new beta or use a kneepad which makes it easier they still claim to have done a certain grade although it might have been easier. I just hope people can be honest. That's all 😊 Merry Christmas."