Allison Vest, who last week sent her 15th 8B, has done Meadowlark Lemon Stand (8A+) in Gateway Canyon. In September 2023, she got a hand injury [Dequervains Tenosinovitis] and it was not until five months ago she could start climbing on jugs.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried this boulder a bunch last year, not realizing how bad my hand was and feeling frustrated that it was feeling out of reach for me. Stoked to have returned healthy and feeling like myself!

For 23 years, we've published our "Climber of the Year" list, drawing from the best available information and reporting. We give extra credit to climbers excelling across multiple disciplines, both in competitions and on the rock. First ascents, trad climbing, multi-pitch routes, and deep-water soloing (DWS) are also taken into account. This list is highly subjective, so we welcome your suggestions and additions. (c) IFSC

1. Janja Garnbret SLO: Olympic gold and #1 in all 5 WCs she entered. 8C and 8B+ boulders
2. Laura Rogora ITA: Six 9a or 9a+, 8c OS and two Euro Championship gold
3. Adam Ondra CZE: #1 in VL Combined ranking, #6 in Paris, Prague Boulder and Chamonix Lead
4. Alex Megos GER: Two 9b+', #2 in only WC done #13 in Paris.
5. Jessica Pilz AUT: #1 overall in Lead WC, #3 in Paris and Papichulo (9a+)
6. Michaela Kiersch USA: Victima Perfecto (9a+), 8b+ OS and seven boulders 8B to 8C
7. Toby Roberts GBR: Olympic gold and #1 in Lead WC overall
8. Jorge Diaz-Rullo ESP: #1 in the Vertical-Life route ranking game
9. William Bosi GBR: #1 in the Vertical-Life Boulder ranking game
10. Colin Duffy USA: #4 in Paris, winning in Chamonix and three 8C's

11. Aidan Roberts GBR
12. Jakob Schubert AUT
13. Seb Bouin FRA
14. Anak Verhoeven BEL
15. Katie Lamb USA
16. Chaehyun Seo KOR
17. Jonathan Siegrist USA
18. Martina Demmel
19. Brooke Raboutou USA
20. Zach Galla USA, Stefano Ghisolfi, Pietro Vidi ITA, Gio Placci ITA, Mejdi Schalck
Sean Bailey USA, Ainhize Belar ESP, Eva Hammelmüller AUT, Barbara Zangerl AUT, Katie Lamb USA, Sorato Anraku JPN, Moritz Welt GER, Sera Gearhart USA, Caroline Sinno FRA, Tanguy Merard FRA, Natalia Grossman USA, Oceania Mackenzie AUS, Dave Graham USA, Anastasia Sanders USA, Molly Thompson-Smith
Tomoa Narasaki JPN, Mattea Pötzi AUT, Meichi Narasaki JPN, Shion Omata JPN
Shauna Coxsey GBR, Jack Palmieri GBR, Gonzalo Larrocha ESP

Ann Tiempetpisal has done Lethal Design (8A+) in Gateway Canyon. ”I’ve heard this called anything between 7C and 8A+. It’s the first climb I’ve done harder than 7C so I have no basis for weighing in on grades and decided it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s morphological neutral and seems to be the same difficulty no matter the beta; my 5’2” spike crimp beta, the 6’4” person pulling straight up through the underclings, or the 8 year old grabbing invisible holds - that’s pretty neat. This process was an uncommon experience for me and I had a lot of fun. Thanks, everyone :)”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
I first tried the climb 2 years ago when my friend encouraged me to work it with him; he sent it shortly afterward and I came back last season to work it myself. It was a bit challenging to project a climb 1800 miles away; I flew out for long weekends, was rained out 3 trips in a row, I got sick for 6 months. It was feelings like I wasn’t supposed to climb this boulder, that I didn’t deserve to because I wasn’t properly respecting climbing since I hadn’t sent the grades below it.

I moved to the area but didn’t go back until a month ago when I went to support another friend. I was able to match my high point and resumed working the boulder however, I didn’t rest properly, overworked myself, and became very mentally negative. My partner told me I seemed stronger but looked as if I no longer believed I could send. I decided I needed to either get my head back in the right place or stop trying the boulder. I wasn’t ready to give up so I decided to tell myself every day that “today is the day” until I sent. Coincidentally, the first day I did, it was!

Nathan Phillips, with three 8C’ under his belt, has done the FA of Deep Fake (8C+) in Brione. ”6 years and it’s finally done!! Best feeling ever! Sitter to Fake Pamplemouse.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent, the process behind and the number of sessions needed?
I think it was around 50 sessions and maybe another 50 on my replica. 9 trips total over 6 years. I climbed the stand [Fake Pamplemousse (8A)] on my first trip to Brione in 2018 back when there was no guidebook and it was a far less popular area. I immediately saw the big ledge at the bottom which would be an obvious place to make a low start. I ended up having 2 sessions that trip to see if it felt possible and then 6 on the following trip before I had done all the moves. My beta changed several times since then but even taking that long to just do the moves meant I knew it was really hard but at least possible.

For the next 4 trips, my first session on each would end up being the best. Then every subsequent session would be better than the previous trip but not as good as that first one. Finally at the end of 2023 I decided to get really specific with training for it and ended up making serious gains on the boulder.

I had several consistently good sessions on that trip and got very close to making it through to the 8A/V11 stand start. Unfortunately the weather turned on me and I ran out of time to send it. After another unsuccessful tip in March and another solid block of specific training I came back this winter to see if I could finally do it. My first 2 session I got super close and was very confident I would do it. Then 2 not so good sessions followed… the session I eventually did it was actually terrible.

It was going really bad and I had basically decided that I had gotten too weak on one of the moves to do be able to do it. I then decided to change one thing as a last ditch effort and out of nowhere I found myself into the stand for the first time ever!

I tried to keep my cool but I started to numb out. On the penultimate move I completely missed the hold and in that moment I thought I was off. Somehow I stayed on and couldn’t quite believe that I had finally done it. All the pressure just washed away standing on top and it was honestly the best feeling I’ve had in climbing.

How hard is the sit start?
I think climbing into the start of the stand is 8C/+. It’s 3 moves of 7A/V6 and then all the difficulty is in the following 2 moves and a foot move. So 5 hand moves but I definitely count the foot move as a move.

Andrea Chelleris has during his first four days in Siurana onsighted five routes 7c+ and beyond including Pati pa mi (8b) and Migranya (8b). During the last three months, the 15-year-old has onsighted 16 routes 8a+ to 8b+ and in the 2024 onsight ranking game he is runner up after Jonathan Siegrist.

Can you tell us about your trip and your focus on onsight?
I’m here to try La Rambla (9a+) but sometimes I like to do some onsights before trying the main project. I did 3 days of work on La Rambla and it’s going well with the progress.

Migranya starts already quite intense with big moves on pockets. Then you get to a good rest before the last ‘’hard’’ part but easier, another good rest and then an easy last part with a long last move.

Today did not start the right way. It was humid and on the crack of La Rambla I split my finger so I decided to try a route that was ''dry''. At first I wanted to try El món de sofía (8b+) but other people were waiting to climb it so I decided to change route. I went under Pati pa Mi and without having a visualization from the ground I went up and climbed it very good.

Allison Vest, with 15 boulders 8B and beyond under her belt, has done Booka Booka Booka (8B) in Moe's Valley (UT) after working it for 7 sessions. (c) Bruce Wilson/Three Peaks Films

How come it is over one year since you sent anything hard?
I have been dealing with a pretty complicated hand injury since September 2023. It was dequervains Tenosinovitis but the current theory is that it was related to nerve issues in my neck. It took almost 10 months to figure out exactly what was going on and was getting worse while we figured it out. I finally got on the right track in July 2024. But had to climb only jugs for about a month and a half. So I’ve been working my way back up.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I was super excited to send Booka, it marks the start of me trying to climb on bigger spanned boulders. Excited to try more. It took a long time to learn how to go big on the crux move.

I’ve been climbing in Moe’s since I moved to the US, and with it under threat of being destroyed and developed, I’ve felt like the time is now to send the climbs I’ve always wanted to try. And Booka was #1 on the list!

Claudia Ghisolfi, who did a 9a in 2022, has during the last week sent Suka (8b+) in Albenga and Semplicemente mia 2.0 (8c) in Novalesa.

Can you tell us more about those two 8C’s?
"Suka" was 8b+ really hard and it didn't have many repetitions. For this reason in the new guidebook it is 8c. It's a tricky 8c, without the right beta is not so easy.

"Semplicemente mia 2.0" is a route near my home town, if you are small there is an hard move at the beginning of the route, for this reason I first sent "Le clochard 2.0" that is an 8b+ that share the last part with the 8c. After sending it I tried and tried that hard move of the 8c and when I finally did the move I sent the route!

Katie Malinowski, with seven 8A boulders under her belt, has done Power Slave (8A+) in Gateway Canyon.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
So psyched to have done my first v12! This culminates just under one year of work over seven sessions. Living and working as a routesetter and coach for touchstone 600 miles away from this boulder made this one difficult to project for various reasons. I fell going to the jug on my third session and it has been a mental battle to finish it off since. The morning of the send I realized I left my climbing bag at home and had to scramble to buy new shoes. I did the boulder 3rd go of the day in brand new Scarpa Drago LVs. This is the longest I’ve ever worked on a boulder, and I’m looking forward to trying even bigger projects.

Prudence Morgan-Wood has done Mind Control (8c) in Oliana. The 30-year-old has been on a roadrip in Spain since April and last month she sent her first 8c.

Can you tell us more about the process behind sending your second 8c?
I tried the route for the first time in April this year but left without sending it. Now, on our way back from the south of Spain for Christmas my partner and I decided to spend a week at Oliana and try Mind Control again. In April we both got close to the send but I had absolutely no strategy and got very frustrated. This time around the whole experience was so much better. I have been working with a mind control counsellor and she has helped me with my mental approach to projecting and it is working fantastically well.

My recent send of my first 8c in Sella gave me an extra boost of confidence and having the moves on Mind Control more or less fresh from trying it in April meant that I was quickly able to feel comfortable on the route. It was also useful to share beta with David my partner. I decided to focus on doing certain links on the route, especially the top section, and low pointed the route as much as I could. The day before I sent I knew I was close but got really nervous and fell at the start of the top crux. David and I decided to get up early the next day and have one last go before heading to my parents for Christmas. There was a bit of wind and the rock still felt cool from the night before but conditions weren’t perfect and that helped me feel relaxed and not pressured to send. When I got to the top crux I felt determined and the links and low points that I had done previously gave me the confidence I needed and took me to the chains!

So so happy to send this route and to enjoy projecting it! I still prefer onsighting and sending routes in few tries but thanks to Mind Control Counselling I can now say that I’m also learning to enjoy projecting as well!

Simon Raffeiner has sent Omen Nomen (9a) in Arco after working it for some 50 sessions. (c) Hanna Raffeiner

Can you tell us more about doing your first 9a and what is next?
I started trying the route in the winter of 2022/2023. At the beginning it took me quite a while to find good solutions that suited me for all the 3 boulder problems. Then, in spring 2023, I came very close to sending the route. Due to the increasingly high temperatures, it still didn't work out. I always had difficulty getting up the last slab, because I most of the times slipped on the slopy holds. I never tried the route in the winter 2023/2024 as the conditions were always rather poor. And now in fall 2024 I attempted the route again and after 1-2 months I finally made it up.

I'm very happy about my first 9a, especially because it's a real 9a. What I've learned is that you must never give up, no matter how many times you have to face defeat. In the end, the route was a real battle against the conditions and myself. So I'm all the happier to have made it finally.

Now I'm going to climb a few easier routes again, concentrate on the home projects and then attempt the next 9a or maybe 9a+ later.