Here is a quick Climbers of 2015 List. Please comment and give suggestions. As in previous years, the list is based on both rock and competitions, giving extra credit for those doing all disciplines. 1. Adam Ondra 2. Mina Markovic 3. Ashima Shiraishi 4. Alex Megos 5. Jan Hojer 6. Janja Garnbret 7. James Webb 8. Domen Skofic 9. Jakob Schubert 10. Ramon Puigblanque 11. Jessica Pilz 12. Alex Puccio 13. Stefano Ghisolfi 14. Sachi Amma 15. Daniel Woods 16. Megan Mascarenas 17. David Graham 18. Jernej Kruder 19. Angela Eiter 20. Chris Sharma 21. Niccolò Ceria 22. Edu Marin 23. Jonathan Siegrist 24. Seb Bouin 25. Dani Andrada 26. David Firnenburg 27. Nalle Hukkataival 28. Gabri Moroni 29. Paul Robinson 30. Akiyo Noguchi, Tommy Caldwell, Kevin Jorgeson, Alban Levier, Christof Rauch, Gauthier Supper, Allizee Dufraisse, Sean McColl , Jain Kim, Shauna Coxsey, Pirmin Bertle, Katharina Saurwein, Isabelle Faus, Florence Pinet, Karoline Sinnhuber, Jongwon Chon, Nina Williams, Hannah Midtbö, Dai Koyamada, Maria Davies Sandbu, Klemen Becan, Sasha Digulian, Manu Lopez, Nina Caprez, Margo Hayes, Romain Desgranges, Melissa Le Neve, Nicki van Bergen, Katie Lambert, Sebastian Halenke, Ethan Pringle, Anak Verhoeven, Martin Stranik, Nathaniel Coleman, Jorg Verhoeven, Miho Nonaka, Mathieu Bouyoud, Reffo Silvio, Laura Rogara, Nicolas Perlorson, Piotr Schab, Magnus Midtbø, Carlo Traversi, Barbara Zangerl, Jacopo Larcher, Janina Gmiter, Ellis Butler-Barker, Marco Zanone, Giorgia Tesio, Ben Moon,

With the amazing barefoot ascents by Charles "Mowgli" Albert in Fontainebleau, there exists a possibility that there will be a market for sticking rubber toe plasters. As Mowgli has showed that on some few extreme boulder cases, bare feet are equally good as any shoes, what about something in between, rubber just on the big toes? This will increase the friction and make it possible to climb longer sessions without shoes and benefit from closer contact with the rock. Clearly, neither barefoot or rubber toe plasters will ever be popular with normal climbers but if you want to do some extreme climbs to get a higher grade, why not try it. Imagine the benefit from getting your whole big toe into a thin two finger pocket, compared to trying to get one millimeter of the shoe in the opening of that deep two finger pocket. One alternative could of be to make a semi-separate pointy big toe on shoes? This would also make it possible to get in your big toe deeper in the two finger pocket. If this could help you through the crux, you could try it out by creating an indentation in your shoe next to your big toe.

Charles Albert, who did the FA of the L'Alchimiste left exit last week, considered to be harder than the 8C right exit, did it today twice. (c) Neil Hart did get it on video both times. "He is so strong he made it look like a 6A. I picked him up at one o'clock and we did a very quick 7B that took two tries and we drove to the L'alchimiste. He just pulled on and fell three times on the crux then sent it, then climbed it again so we could get another angle. It is easier for him bare foot because he can hook his toes into the side pulls better. Definitely a new level!"

James Webb, #2 in US Bouldering Nationals last weekend, arrived to Fontainebleau, when it was snowing. It cleared up and one hour later he did the fourth repeat of L'Alchimiste. Gradewise, it has been given 8C and 8B+ and on Bleauinfo there was 8C/+ mentioned as well. James did it in just three tries and gave it a personal 8B grade in his scorecard. (C) David Mason "3 tries total. Im a bit confused by this right & left exit stuff. Its just one wall.. with just one line.. and two different options for beta. Thats it. Pick the beta that suits your style and go for it. Nonetheless, a quality problem! Very psyched to be here. It is a nice line for sure. Great rock and interesting features. Today was the first day. Traveled here over the night and landed this morning. Took the train to Font and my bud Dave Mason picked me up and we went climbing... No world cups for me. Would rather spend my time here on the rock. Probably gonna be here till mid march. Hopefully the weather holds up for us!"

Rock & Ice reports that Marianne van der Steen has set a new standard for dry-tooling by making the first ever male or female flash of a D13+, Kamasutra at Bus del Quai in Italy. It was opened last year by the three times Ice World Champion, Angelika Rainer and here is FA video. "Van der Steen told Rock and Ice that she’s a slow climber and thinks that might be a reason why she “never [does] too well” in World Cups where time is an important factor." The most amazing thing with Marianne's world record was that, "When she got to the ground, she wasn’t pumped at all, she says, “therefore it didn't feel like I'd done something super difficult. It was only later that evening when I realized and heard probably no one had ever done a D13+ flash. Picture by Marco Servalli.

Bouldering was more or less invented in Fontainebleau and it is still the most often visited and biggest arena in the world. The first topo was produced in 1945 but already in the 19th century, the Bleauserads were challenged by the blocs. The Bouldering difficulty gradings can also be said to have been invented in the Forest and in fact, the american V scale is above 7A a copy when in comes to grade steps. Grades in Font have been said to be sandbagged but in reality this is just another way of saying that another grade scale has been invented outside Bleau. The best way to describe this is to compare the maximum grades. In 2005, the highest grade in Font was 8B, which can be compared to the fact that in 1996 and 2000, the world's first 8B+ and 8C had been established and since then repeated many times. Meanwhile, some 100 guys had done an 8B+ outside Font until 2005 and gained fame in magazines and on websites as well as sponsor contracts, but nobody claimed to have done 8B+ in the Forest. In reality, there is probably at least a handful Bleauseards that have done 8A to 8B Boulders in Font, equally difficult as some 8B+ to 8C+ that were reported at the time around the globe in areas like Ticino, Rocklands, Hueco Tanks, etc. Here are some Bleauseards who probably climbed 8A - 8B's in Font prior to 2005 - these problems would have been reported as 8B+ outside Font - Julien Nadiras, Antoine Vandeputte, Olivier Lebreton, Sebastien Frigault, Christophe Laumone, Jacky Godoffe, Manu Marquès and Christian Roumegoux. The bleau.info scorecards of Marques Vimeo and especially Roumegoux (52), in the picture by Pierre Delas, are very impressive and yet they are unknown outside Font. Some 15 years ago Christian did an 8c+ and onsighted two 8b's on rock and did several 8B's in Font. If Font used the same grades as Ticino etc, he could be a world famous boulderer having done probably some 8B+'s.

Climbing reports that Colin Haley and Alex Honnold have done the second ascent of the Torre Traverse in Patagonia in 20 hours 40 minutes. Haley did the FA together with Rolando Garibotti in four days in 2008. "Last season, Haley and Honnold attempted and nearly completed the one-day Torre Traverse, climbing all the way to a stance two pitches below the top of Cerro Torre in just 22 hours. Here, a terrible storm forced them to a halt and eventually into a painful retreat down the west face of Cerro Torre and across the ice cap. By the time they made it back to town they had been going 53 hours straight with no stove or bivy gear." The picture was taken Alex Honnold, who reports on Facebook, "Sunrise on the South East Ridge of Cerro Torre as @colinhaley1 leads our rappels down after a long day of traversing the range. 32 hours camp to camp to climb all 4 Torres. Thanks for an amazing day out, Colin!"

Until 1995, all sport climbing grade breakthroughs from 8a+ to 9a were done with Boreal shoes, including Ben Moon's Hubble and Wolfgang Gullich's Action Directe. Furthermore, Lynn Hill's FA of The Nose 8b+ in Yosemite was also made in Boreal shoes. Read the amazing story of the innovation of the sticky rubber in 1979 on the new Boreal website. In 1983, John Bachard imported 263 pairs and they completely sold out in two hours in the Yosemite Mountain shop. In the last 8a poll, 'Best Climbing shoes', Boreal did get 10%, which is more than a double up compared to five years ago.

Mammut won a gold award for their #360 Project: "Interactive climbs are now possible for the first time in the history of alpinism. Experience the most famous routes of the world in a 360° view." It works best with a smartphone or a tablet. Jury: "Value, usefulness and fascination - Mammut bring the mountains to the computer screen. An ideal platform for planning actual tours with Tips from professionals, or to dream of unreachable peaks. An ideal example for the future of marketing communication...

Some ten years ago, several men - notably Dani Andrada, Patxi Usobiaga and Chris Sharma - broke through to the next grading level establishing several 9a's and 9a+'s in Santa Linya. As of 2016, however, it seems that progress has become stagnant with Chris Sharma's two 9b FAs representing the highest attainable level. Women, in the mean time, have caught up, in 2010 Angela Eiter did the first female 8c in Santa Linya. Quickly thereafter other women have followed suit with ten other females having completed climbs ranging from 8c to 9a(+) over the last two years. Complete stats. In this great picture captured by Luka Fonda, Janja Garnbret (16) flashes La Fabelita 8c. If the trend continues, it is only a matter of time before women are on par with men in Santa Linya. While impossible to know for certain, one of the reasons behind such phenomenal progress for women may lie in the nature of the climbing in the cave where technical skill and endurance are of vital importance. That, and the fact that these ten women - and the many who will follow - are testaments of climbing strength and power.