It is impossible to say how many have done an 8a. One way to come up with a guess is to use factor 3.5 for every grade. In practice, a factor 4 fits better for the the somewhat official stat we have for 9a to 9c but the history shows that many of them will probably get down graded. Anyhow, in one way, such calculation helps us to understand the width of the grades and how the grading system works. 1 = 9c (Ondra) 3.5 = 9b+ (Ondra, Sharma and Megos) 12 = 9b (Some 16 guys) 43 = 9a+ (Around 70 guys) 150 = 9a 525 = 8c+ 1 838 = 8c 6 433 = 8b+ 22 519 = 8b 78 815 = 8a+ 275 854 = 8a

The seventh and last Boulder WC will take place in Munich 17-18/8 and it is a two + two person battle. Jernej Kruder and Miho Nonaka are in forefront. Tomoa Narasaki needs to be #9 or better and beat Jernej to win and Akiyo Noguchi needs to be #2 and beat Miho to win. Complete rankings

karoline sinnhuber has done two 8A's in Silvretta; High Society and X-Ray, "FINALLY! Took my Silvretta nemesis boulder down! Shitty conditions in the hole, kinda slippery and dampy next stop: Rocklands!" In the 8a ranking game, the Austrian is #7 with a perfect score of 10 000 points, having done ten 8A's the last 12 months.

Magnus Midtbo, #4 in the WCH in 2011 and famous vlogger from Oslo Climbing Center, tries out Vertical-Life gym ranking challenge in order to get #1 in the annual global ranking in just one day. VL plan to set up such one day challenges during the autumn. There are now 65 gyms world wide connected to the system, having a digital updated topo. The scoring is a copy of the 8a ranking game and you can filter it in many more ways. Invite your gym to join Vertical-Life.

Nalle Hukkataival in Rocklands - The Realm from Kevin Takashi Smith on Vimeo.

1. Alex Puccio USA 33 - Rei Sugimoto JPN 34 2. Miho Nonaka JPN 23 - Sean Bailey USA 24:2 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 13 - Tomoa Narasaki JPN 24:3 Complete results Alex Puccio, doing her first WC in 2018, was last out and flashed the boulder and secured the victory in front of her home crowd. All boulders were topped out. Among the male, Rei Sugimoto was in the lead before the last boulder which he could not top. Then it was Sean who on his flash attempt could not hold the swing on the top hold and the same situation later ocurred for Tomoa. (c) Eddie Fowke

1. Jernej Kruder 400 - Miho Nonaka 500 2. Tomoa Narasaki 396 - Akiyo Noguchi 495 3. Rei Sugimoto 322 - Fanny Gibert 305 4. Alexsei Rubtsov 296 - Stasa Gejo 222 5. Jongwon Chon 247 - Katja Kadic 202 6. Kokoro Fujii 233 - Janja Garnbret 180 The above ranking calculates all six events before the last event in Munich. Counting all but one, Tomoa and Akiyo are in the lead. Complete results Country ranking 1. Japan 2269 2. Slovenia 1107 3. France 751 4. Austria 584 5. Russia 543

Alex Puccio wins in Vail and Eddie Fowke has created a stunning gallery.

Rei kawamata, Youth Boulder World Champion last year, has signed up to 8a and added three 8B's and the well confirmed 8B+, UMA in Shiobara. In the 8a junior ranking game, the 14 year old is #5. More pictures on his also new Insta. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing

Piotr Schab has done his fourth 9a+, Biographie in Céûse. More info on his Insta. In the ranking game, the 21 year old Pole is #3. (c)Jan Novak ”I’ve tried it a lot in July 2016, got very close but then the downturn began. I’ve tried to come back 3 times but there was always something disturbing and I wasn’t ready. Noe I came back stronger and mentally fresh and climbed it in the 4th day, just when the conditions and head made it possible. As you can see in my insta the send means so much to me, I’ve felt everything that you can feel on the project while trying Biographie.. so now Just pure happiness, relief and pride.”