2021’s Top 10 Female Boulderers
8a.nu is an institution that has ranked climbers since the early 2000s. This year, the game has many notable leaders
8a.nu has persisted as the leading logging site for all things climbing. Whether you climb lead, boulder or trad, 8a provides a ranking service that lets climbers push themselves against the world’s best. As 2021 comes to a close, determining who concluded this season with the best result can be a fun way to see who is progressing in outdoor disciplines.
First – Katie Lamb: 10,800
At the top of the leaderboard, Boston’s Katie Lamb leads with what has been an incredible season. Although she may be lesser known than some of the more active competition climbers who will follow, Lamb took down several challenging problems this year. Between Chinese Connection V13, Jade V14, and New Baseline V14, Lamb has become one of the strongest outdoor climbers in the world. She climbed Jade in two attempts. As she continues to live on the road, a person wonders what project she might have in mind.
Second – Allison Vest: 10,555
She needs little introduction. Allison Vest is quickly becoming one of the fastest developing female boulderers in North America and abroad. The Canadian competition climber decided to take a step back from comps for the foreseeable future, aiming instead to go all in on rock. Furthermore, this time away may afford the Canadian the opportunity to push into more outdoor areas. After a season filled with Army of the Dead V13, Eclipse V12, Masterpiece V13, Blackout V13, and others, Vest has become the strongest female Canadian boulderer in history.
Third – Lucie Hrozová: 10,456
Czech climber Lucie Hrozová has also had an incredible season. The 14-time World Cup medalist climber two V13 and three V12 this season, but really filled in the lower grades to earn her third position.
Third – Natalia Grossman: 10,456
Hrozová shares third position with the IFSC Bouldering World Champion. Although outdoor climbing has not been her focus, Grossman has found great success in and around Salt Lake City over this last year. Grossman took down two V13s and four V12’s in 2021, and recently spent time in Joe’s Valley picking up Beyond Life Sit along with 12 other double digit boulder problems. For more about Grossman’s competition season, click here.
Third – Molly Thompson-Smith: 10,456
Great Britain’s Molly Thompson Smith closes out the tie for third position with another astounding season. Although Thompson-Smith made great strides this last year in competition climbing, she may have felt her effort short of her aspirations on the World Cup circuit. Still, she remains one to watch as she seems to constantly improve. This year, Thompson-Smith spent a great deal of time outside and took down a total of four V13 boulder problems. Thompson-Smith had a different approach over these last months and ultimately earned third through incredible volume at lower difficulties
Sixth – Karoline Sinnhuber: 10,450
Just edged out of the top three is Austria’s Karoline Sinnhuber. The top ranked woman from Austria climbed two V13 climbs and averaged an incredible V11 difficulty.
Seventh – Staša Gejo: 10,400
Serbia’s Staš Gejo began to break out this season. While we may not have seen the limits of her capacity in this last World Cup season, the 24-year-old climbed well into bouldering finals several times over this last year. Gejo may become a permanent resident of the top six in the 2022. Furthermore, she climbed a strong outdoor season despite having an indoor focus. This detail is perhaps most surprising about many of these athletes. Of the top 10, many focused primarily on indoor climbing, suggesting that they climbed most of their outdoor problems quickly.  Gejo climbed two V13 and four V12 problems this season.
Eighth – Irina Kuzmenko: 10,303
Russia’s Kuzmenko had a strong season climbing 12 double digit boulder problems. Of these, three were rated V13. Kuzmenko climbed all over the world this year and even took third at the European Championships. What’s more, she climbed The Arch, a stunning V13 in South Africa.
Ninth – Camilla Moroni: 10,203
Camilla Moroni really came into her own at the end of the season. The Italian took silver at the Moscow World Championships, surprising all in attendance with her near-perfect performance. To add to the success of her last year, Moroni continued by climbing a strong outdoor season averaged around the V9 range. With that said, she climbed a single V13 and nine V11 climbs, describing the sheer strength of the 20-year-old. Although outdoor may not be her focus during the comp season, the strong Italian could become increasingly well-known should her skills continue to develop.
Tenth – Jana Vincourková: 10,119
Rounding out the top 10, Czech climber Jana Vincourková joins her fellow citizen Hrozová in a strong outdoor season. The 24-year-old climbed four V12 problems this year and though she did not climb V13, this rounding out of the top 10 speaks to the increasing development of women in outdoor climbing. The sport is developing rapidly, and it will be exciting to see where it goes next.
Separately, it is important to note that these are the women that have logged their ascents. Many strong boulderers, Isabelle Faust included, do not log their ascents on 8a. This further solidifies the development of the sport and is something to keep in mind for the upcoming season. It will be interesting to see which woman becomes the first to climb V16.
Disclaimer from 8a:
The 8a.nu ranking game has been in use since the early 2000s and works with two simple assumptions: The grading scale is linear, and on-sighting a certain grade is about as hard as redpointing 3 grades harder. An 8a redpoint gets you 1000 points. For every (+) grade, the score changes by 50 points. The other modifiers are onsight (+147) flash (+53), toprope (-50), second go (+2), Trad (+33) and FA (+33). Keep in mind that it’s a game.
Featured Image of Allison Vest by Sean Faulkner.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
