Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen has done The Island 8B+ in Fontainebleau. (c) Thomas Caleyron "One and a half year ago I tried the Island for the first time. Such an intense problem and maybe the best compression boulder in the world. Even I only have been there for 6 or 7 days, it has been on my mind since. Yesterday it went down, but this isn´t the end. The big Island always has been the main goal. It is time to go BIG! The 8C starts two moves lower Bad conditions kept me from going back to the Big Island this trip. But will be back in December for two weeks. ‬

Joe Kinder has had three amazing weeks in Villanueva del Rosario, famous for the 9b Chilam Balam, where he has done five 8c+'s: La Rubia, El Bushido de Shiva, La Chispa, Matar a Platón (©Javi Pec) and Chilam Balam R1. "Part one of the full rig. DAMN that was sweet... banged out the first gnar crux and made it happen. Barely. The try before I fell on the foot cut move. SO STOKED!!! One of my dream routes and I am on my way. Two more days to learn for my return."

Stefan Bednar has done his second 9a in Misja Pec, Martin Krpan. "cooolba ! :) again many thanks for support and music during ascent to : ClimbIstria.com, where we got the picture.

Adam Ondra: 30 Chris Sharma: 18 Ramon Julian: 12 Sachi Amma: 10 Alex Megos: 7 Dani Andrada: 6 Enzo Oddo: 4 Seb Blouin, Iker Pou, Jakob Schubert, Stefano Ghisolfi, Steve MC, Ethan Pringle, Dave Graham & Dani Woods: 3

Megan Mascarenas has done her second 8A flash, Chill Style in Elevenmile Canyon, and she is #3 in the 8a ranking game. Last month, the 17-year-old won the Adidas Rock Star and of the two World Cups she has done in 2015, she won one and was third in the other. In other words, there is no other male or female who has better competition statistics. (c) Eddie Fowke

The 8a scorecard was introduced in 2000 and it was immediately a great success. Today, we received our 60 000th member. Currently some 100 new members sign up every week. In total in the database there are now 3.6 million ascents that will help you to find the best crags and climbs around the globe. Our highest priority is now the redesign and we hope to present the new design for the scorecard within some weeks.

Alex Huber, who has made cutting edge ascents in all climbing styles during the last 25 years, has done the FA of Il Capitano 8b+ trad in Sardina. The 47-year-old is also known for his hard FA grades and for having strong opinions about grade inflation. Here is his own story with great pics of Il Capitano, where he was actually belayed from a boat.

1 - Adam Ondra (101) 2 - Ramonet (40) 3 - Alex Megos (38) 4 - Chris Sharma (30) 5 - Dani Andrada (28) 6 - Sachi Amma (20) 7 - Seb Bouin (18) 8 - Markus Bock (16) 10 - Patxi Usogiaba; Enzo Oddo (15), 12 - Gaby Moroni (14), 13 - Matthieu Bouyoud; Dave Graham; Cédric Lachat (13), 16 - Jonathan Siegrist; Dani Woods (12), 20 - Magnus Mitboe; Lukasz Dudek; Stefano Ghisolfi; Steve McClure (11), 23 - Iker Pou; Edu Marin; Domen Skofic (10) "Rai" has published on the forum this list based on this statistics. It should be mentioned that especially Adam Ondra has given a personal 8c+ grade to many 9a's, meaning that his total number is at least 110 if topo guides had been used as a reference.

Robert Ryan from the USA started climbing some 40 years ago and he is now on a climbing trip to Kalymnos for the fifth time. Today, he led a 6a meaning that he is almost on pair with his hardest grade ever. - I am climbing like two, three days a week and actually back in my gym there is a guy 89 years old also pushing hard. You know, I started in the Gunks known for the hard grades so I have not really climbed harder than 6a before.