Daniel Woods put up Hypnotized minds as an 8C in 2010. Already in 2012, 8a started to say that It is time to step up/Upgrade to 8C+, using Hypnotized minds as an example. The upgrade suggestion was based on the fact that some of top guys had tried it with no success. Some 15 years ago, 8a said (since we wanted to present as correct news as possible) that many Boulder grades outside Font were deflated. Complaints were put forward saying that it was only the repeaters who can suggest downgrading or upgrading, in regards to Hypnotized minds. The simple reason why 8a was able to predict grades so well is the Grading theory we have followed since 2000. "Rating is based on individual subject suggestions - and confirmed by facts and results by the climbing community." Sure feelings and opinions are important but in the long run, the success ratio for the community is a better measurement. Later we have precised it even more with the Time Comparison scale. It should be mentioned that when we talked to Daniel Woods some years ago, he said that Hypnotized minds could surely be an 8C+, which many of his friends speculated in but he wanted to be absolutely sure before suggesting the new standard grade. There are many more 8C's that should be upgraded as the community has clearly taken huge steps since the first 8C was established some 15 years ago. Within a couple of years, we should have the first 9A and one contender might be Woods's new link-up project.

Last year we at the Spanish 8a.nu site had a long chat with Mikel Linacisoro in this vídeo interview just before he became the European Youth Champion. There he expressed that he wanted to send his first 9a before his 15th birthday. However, being focused on the comps at that moment he had to wait to have that goal completed until last Sunday when he was finally able to clip the chains of Begi Puntuan, 9a in Etxauri. He started trying it at the beginning of last December, projected it for two weekends before Christmas and he almost sent it during those holidays. Then, he just needed two more weekend trips to the crag to bag it. This way he's set a Spanish record again, being the youngest (he's 15 now) to send an 8c and an 8c+ back in those days and a 9a now. When we interviewed him for the first time three years ago he had redpointed an 8b+ and onsighted an 8a+. That same year and just before turning 13 he fired-off his first 8c with 'White Zombie' in Baltzola and one year after he reached the 8c+ grade with 'Koldoren Mundua' in Araotz. **Now you can read the interview we had with the Basque yesterday, where he tells us more about his new step up.

Michael Gunsilius has done his first 9a, Frontman Deluxe in Allgäu, which was opened by Christian Bindhammer in 2009. -I tried the route the first time three years ago with a good friend of mine, Fabian Buhl. It felt pretty tough back then. The following Season I made a couple of nice linkups and noticed some progress on this project, but the time was limited as I started working for a consulting company during 2015. I then tried the route again more often in fall 2015, mainly on weekends when commuting home. Unfortunately, the year ended without success, but I was super psyched and motivated to master this climb and started strict training during winter. After a few tries in spring I felt I had the needed preparation for this route. A good time management and a supportive boss helped me freeing up some hours during the last two weeks to do a a couple of tries. The conditions were good last Sunday and I was lucky enough to finish this amazing piece of rock. I really enjoyed to do this climb together with Fabian.

How long should I rest in between attempts depending of different type of routes? One of the things that Adam Ondra is famous for is taking very long rests, sometimes more than 60 minutes, so that could be a guideline. If we are talking about short routes where you did fall after just a minute of climbing, you could actually try again after just some minutes. However, in general, you should rest longer than you think, which might also relate to the desire of climbing. If you feel like you are fresh after 30 minutes and you are eager to climb, add some 50% and you will just get more psyched. Stretching is perfect for killing time in between burns.

During the last 12 months, a total of 103 ascents of 9a and harder have been recorded in the 8a database, 20 out of which are 9a+'s and there are 5 9b's. In comparison with previous years, this is an almost 20% increase. In total, the number of 9a ascents and harder done in the world is believed to be at least 150 last year. The first 9a's were Action Direct and Hubble, which, during the four last years, have been repeated three times in total. One might speculate that one reason why these old school routes are so seldom repeated is that they are in fact harder for modern climbers?

Giorgio Bendazzoli, who won one Euro Youth Lead Cup last year and was the European Champion in 2014, has done his first 9a, L'attimo in Covolo. - L'attimo is the connection of the hard part of two 8c' which I did last years. I started trying it last year but it was a bit over my level...the hotter conditions after winter came in march but the climate was cloudy and humid, not so good for the crimps! This month I also got a contraction in my back that didn't let me to do my best. Now that both physical and weather conditions are perfect it came out the occasion to do this very beautiful line.

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I do not know where to rest and I normally do not feel that I recover when resting. How to optimize recovering rests? This is of course very personal and it depends on each route. If we are talking about real shake-outs, try to get into a yoga meditation mode where you can count your breathing. Chalking up should be done in slow motion. Try to create your bubble. If you are very pumped sometimes you actually need to rest with your arms above your head or just skip the rest if you are close to the anchor.

8a and its members have been working actively against chipping by marking it in the scorecard for many years. Adam Ondra is one of the most active ones with some 59 routes marked as, "Poor / Mainly Chipped". It seems that chipping routes has become much less common lately, which is just great. Another way of reducing the risk that first ascentionists would start chipping again could be to mark the routes as chipped in topos and also stop giving stars to such routes? Sure a nice crossover move is often pretty cool but to manufacture such sequence and then say it is such a nice 3-star route is passing the wrong message.

Alexander Feichter has done the FA of The Walking Dead 9a in Pursteinwand, which is mainly a slab Climb with many Bouldery passages. In practice it is a 35-metre-long link-up of an 8c with an 8A+/B boulder crux and Feichter's third 9a. "The line is a mental killer, because there are so many Boulder parts on the slab where you can really fall on every move. Therefore you have to be very calm during the Ascent. After the ascent I was stunned happy that this project became reality. Slab climbing is a crazy thing. What I liked was the natural Gneis-Granit stone in this line. Normally I train exclusively force on my pull up board. Additionally, I'm practicing sometimes some indoor training in climbing halls but three-quarters of the training I'm doing at home with my own utilities."