The Mandala is a 6-metre (20 ft) high granite bouldering route in the Buttermilks, a popular bouldering area near Bishop, California. Considered a "next generation" problem in the 1970s, the route was first solved by American climber Chris Sharma in February 2000. It is one of the most widely known boulder problems in the world and is graded at V12 (8A+), and the sit start variation is graded at V14 (8B+).
Darlene Thomasina Pidgeon is a Canadian rock climber known for being one of the world's strongest female boulderers in the early 2000s and 2010s, was for a time the strongest female Canadian boulderer, and was the first Canadian female to climb the grades of V10, V11, and V12. She is often featured in Gripped Magazine and contributes to The Collective. She has also been featured in several international magazines and websites and her image has been used in advertising, magazine galleries, and magazine covers.
Alex Puccio is a professional climber specializing in bouldering. She competes in climbing competitions and split her time between climbing outdoor and indoor. She finished third overall in the 2011 and 2013 World Cup bouldering competition, second overall in the 2014 Climbing World Championship bouldering competition, and has won the American Bouldering Series eleven times.
Shauna Coxsey is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition climbing after competing in the 2020 Olympics.
Ashima Shiraishi is an American rock climber. Shiraishi started climbing at the age of six at Rat Rock in Central Park, joining her father. Only a few years later, she quickly established herself as one of the top boulderers and sport climbers in the world. Her numerous accolades include first-place finishes in international competitions, and multiple first female and youngest ascents. Shiraishi is featured in several short documentary-style films, and is the subject of the documentary short "Return to the Red" (2012).
Angela Payne is an American rock climber specializing in bouldering, who won a clean sweep of the 2003-2004 US American Bouldering Series, and who in 2010, became the first-ever female in history to climb an 8B (V13) boulder.
Alexandra Johnson is an American rock climber who specializes in bouldering and who has made numerous first female ascents of notable boulders, including Clear Blue Skies V12 (8A+) in Colorado, and Book of Nightmares V12 (8A+) and Lethal Design V12 (8A+) in Red Rocks. Her highest rated boulder send, as of 2022, was The Swarm at grade V14 (8B+) in Bishop. In competition bouldering, she won the overall American Bouldering Series in 2009, and has twice won individual stages in the annual IFSC Climbing World Cup series in bouldering.
Hazel Findlay is a British traditional climber, sport climber and big wall climber. She was the first female British climber to climb a route graded E9, and a route graded 8c (5.14b). She did the third ascent of the Yosemite traditional route Magic Line 5.14c (8c+). She has free climbed El Capitán four times on four different routes and made many first female ascents on other routes. Climbing magazine gave her their Golden Piton Award (Alpine) for traditional climbing in 2013.
Mélissa Le Nevé is a French professional rock climber specializing in competition bouldering, but and also in outdoor sport climbing and bouldering.
Tim Emmett, is a British-born adventure climber and climbing author. He is known for his participation in a diverse range of climbing disciplines, including ice-climbing, rock climbing, deep-water soloing and alpine climbing. Emmett has established the hardest waterfall ice-climbs in the world, and was the first to climb grades of W10 and above.
Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian professional rock climber who specializes in sport climbing and competition climbing, and who has won multiple competition lead climbing and competition bouldering events. In 2021, she became the first-ever female Olympic gold medalist in climbing and is widely regarded as one of the greatest competition climbers of all time. She is also the world's first-ever female climber to onsight an 8c (5.14b) graded sport climbing route. As of 2023, Garnbret had won the most IFSC gold medals of any competition climber in history.
Tomoa Narasaki is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and competition bouldering.
Brette Harrington is an American professional rock climber and alpinist based in Lake Tahoe, California and British Columbia, Canada. She was featured in the 2021 film The Alpinist alongside her late partner, Marc-André Leclerc. She is best known for the first free solo of the 760 meter (2,500-foot) Chiaro di Luna (5.11a) in Patagonia, for her development of new alpine climbing routes, and as the star of Brette, a Reel Rock Film Tour short film.
Kyra Condie is a rock climber who specializes in competition climbing and was one of four American rock climbers selected to represent Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. She placed 11th in the Women's Combined event in the sport of Sport Climbing. In December 2019, she qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics following her finish at the IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse 2019, becoming the second female American climber to do so.
Oriane Bertone is a French rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, but is also noted for her sport climbing and her bouldering.
Colin Duffy is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. At age 17, he became the youngest climber to qualify to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Hubble is a short 10-metre (33 ft) bolted sport climb at the limestone crag of Raven Tor in Miller's Dale, in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. When Hubble was first redpointed by English climber Ben Moon on 14 June 1990, it became the first-ever climb in the world to have a consensus climbing grade of 8c+ (5.14c); and the highest grade in the English system at E9 7b.
Dreamtime is a 10-metre (33 ft) long gneiss bouldering route in a forest in Cresciano, Switzerland. When first solved in October 2000 by Swiss bouldering pioneer Fred Nicole, it was graded at 8C (V15), making it the world's first-ever boulder route at that grade. With subsequent repeat ascents, it was regraded to 8B+ (V14), but after the breaking of a key hold in 2009, its grade is now considered closer to 8C (V15). Dreamtime is the most notable bouldering route in climbing history along with Midnight Lightning, and is renowned for both its beauty and its challenge.
Katie Lamb is an American rock climber who specializes in bouldering, and who in 2023 became the first-ever woman in history to climb an 8C+ (V16) graded boulder.
