Ethan Pringle and La Reina Mora (5.14d) from The RV Project on Vimeo.

Ignacio Mulero, who did his first 9a, Clandestino in Teverga, last autumn, has done his first 8C, Entropia in Castillo de Bayuela. The 26-year-old climbed 270 days last year out of which two days indoors. "I think that indoors make you stronger but I prefer to not be not strong and instead climb more on the rock. I spend all my time in climbing, searching and opening new boulders and routes. I am lucky because my family help me. If you spend time in the home areas you don't spend a lot of money." How is it possible to combine Routes and Boulders at the highest level? I do not train anything specific to do both things, I just climb. I am lucky to climb very often and throughout the year I can practice sport climbing and boulder. I think both can be practiced without problems. The strength and tricks that you gain in Boulder is great for climbing. Sport climbing gives you more resistance and more pace when you climb boulder. In the end, it is the same, climbing. In fact, the greatest climbers always practice both, right? Nowadays people try to do one thing or another better, instead of practice both. I think that is a mistake.

"Ramonet is the toughest FA grader in the world", was the headline of an article from last week. Since then many guys have stepped forward giving credit to 159 cm tall Ramonet and sent us examples confirming the headline. 8a has given examples of a 9a that Adam Ondra thinks is at least 9a+ and two Ramonet's 8c FAs for wich also 9a has been suggested and there is yet one more. In 2006, the double world Champion made the FA of Victimes futur recording it as an 8c in his scorecard. Later two guys have suggested 8c+ for it and in November 2015, Alex Megos reported on Facebook that he had done the route and said it was a 9a. Here is a comment from a guy who wanted to stay anonymous: "Everyone here in Catalonia knows that when Ramon grade a route, you can bet it will be superhard for the grade (like many 8b's people think can be hard 8c, 8c that could be hard 8c+...)." Another example is from the latest R & I where Jonathan Siegrist says he could not do Ramonet's Victimes del passat 8c+ after a couple of days of work at the same time as he did Era Vella 9a in his third try.

Gambaro Matteo has made the FA of Perfect man 2.0 9a in Albenga. Interesting is that he did his first 8c+ being 26, then many years later he did his first 9a, and now he has done three of them. - Perfect Man was bolted to Andrea Gallo in 1992. no one tried this roof before. I rebolted this line last year in January and begin try movements. Often this line is dry and a lot of time I failed in the end of the route. after this I broke two holds and re begin work the hardest moves. The line is all natural and very beautiful.

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