Climbing reports that an university study shows that rock climbers spend $3.6 Million a year in Red River Gorge. The study was conducted with funding support from Access Fund, Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition, and Eastern Kentucky University. "It also indicates that climber spending directly creates jobs and contributes to the local and state tax base. This study clearly indicates that rock climbing can be a strong economic driver in rural areas."

In 2013 Ramon Julian made the FA of Mejorando Imagen in Margalef suggesting 9a for it. Two years ago, Jordi Pou, who runs the local refuge wrote on Instagram that Adam Ondra said it was, "much harder than First Round First Minute" 9b, which he had just done. 8a asked Adam Ondra to comment; -The problem with Ramon is that he does not or cannot take into account that certain style of climbing just fits him too well. That is why some of his routes are very tough for the grade. He is unstoppable when it comes to pocket pulling with no feet, exactly like the route Mejorando Imagen in Margalef. He gave it 9a, but it is definitely at least 9a+. I am quite confident to say this even though it is my antistyle. And it felt harder than FRFM. But that does not mean that it is at least 9b. Because as I said, Mejorando Imagen is my antistyle.

Iker Pou reports on Facebook, with a great picture from Pedro Bover, that he has done the FA of Cleteropa original 9a on Mallorca, which was bolted by "Lito". Last year Iker did a 9a+ and he is equally famous for all his big wall ascents and overall the 39-year-old has been one of the best multi-discipline climbers of the last 20 years.

Competitions, Routes, Boulders, Trad, Big Wall, Ice, Alpine, etc. There are many disciplines and here are the top guys that have performed at the highest level overall. Please suggest names that should be added to the list. Adam Ondra, Lynn Hill, Yuji Hirayama, Jorg Verhoeven, David Lama, Nina Caprez, Iker Pou, Alex Huber, Sasha Digiulian, Catherine Destivelle, Barbara Zangerl, Wolfgang Gullich, Kevin Jorgesson, Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, Dave Mcleod

Big Up Productions have shared this picture of Ashima Shiraishi doing the 180 full split when she won ahead of Alex Puccio this weekend in NYC. The 14-year-old has had the most impressive ticklist for the last two years and possibly she is also the most flexible female top climber in the world. Interestingly, Adam Ondra might be the most flexible male climber. Maybe instead of focusing on power and endurance training, it might be most important to train the flexibility?

Ramon Julian has made some 80 FAs 8c and harder but even so he is mainly recognized for being the #1 Lead competition climber in the world of the last 15 years. One reason why his FAs are not so well-known is probably the fact that less than half of them have been repeated. A possible reason for this is that he gives very hard grades as a FA. In fact, for two of his 8c FAs, La Reino Mora and La Bongada, all repeaters have suggested 8c+ or even 9a and there are many other examples of upgrades. It should also be noted that Ramonet's first and most famous FA is La Rambla, which was given 9a+ but that was with an elimination which was skipped later and it is still a 9a+. What about all his FAs that have never been repeated? Maybe some guys will even suggest 9a+ for them in the future? If the 159 cm tall guy had suggested one or two grades higher for his FAs, Ramonet might have gotten much more credit and recognition as one of the very best rock climbers in the world. Possibly, the best way for him to get some more traffic on his unrepeated routes might be to upgrade some :) (c) Javi Pec

By building a solid base of your grade pyramid you can aim higher but if you not continue to make it also wider, it might collapse. The simple rule is that you are not fully prepared to put yet another stone on top of your pyramid until it is built by at least factor of 3 in the top. By doing this, you will have smaller risk of injuries and less anxiety. Instead, you will have more fun and reach further in many ways in your climbing life. In fact, the 8a scorecards are designed as a pyramid in order to create this factor 3 motivation. The picture is from Christof Rauch's scorecard who has built a solid base and could aim higher. You can also start with a pyramid thinking every spring and on road trips. By doing so, you will focus more just on climbing moves instead of hunting soft grades.

Angie Scarth-Johnson has taken three months off school in order to climb in Europe with her family. Yesterday, she did her second 8b+, A la puta rue in Margalef. Last year, she was also in Spain and then she did her first 8c being 10 years old, which is quite remarkable since she started climbing in a non-climbing family as she was seven and organises all her training by herself. Beside projecting very hard she does onsight volumes down to 5c. "My older sister Gabrielle has come with us this time too we are also planning to do a lot of tourists things as well as climbing, going to museums, castles and old churches. This helps with my education and home schooling.

Here is a draft of the best climbers overall in the last ten years based on rock and competitions, giving extra credit for FAs. Please feel free to add names etc. 1. Adam Ondra - Mina Markovic 2. Ramon Julian Puigblanque - Akiyo Noguchi 3. Chris Sharma - Alex Puccio 4. Jakob Schubert - Angela Eiter 5. Daniel Woods - Anna Stöhr 6. Sachi Amma - Sasha Digulian 7. Jorg Verhoeven - Jain Kim 8. David Graham - Charlotte Durif 9. Kilan Fischhuber - Muriel Sarkany 10. Sean Mcoll, Nalle Hukkataival, Alex Megos, James Webb, Patxi Usobiaga, Klemen Becan, Gabri Moroni, Dai Koyamada, Paul Robinson, Maja Vidmar, Jenny Lavarda, Allizee Dufraisse, Johanna Ernst, Ashima Shiraishi