Olympian compares 2016 V4-9 benchmarks

This was way too much fun. I can't wait to tackle the V10+ benchmark boulders. I've become a moonboarder! I never thought that was going to happen haha!
Boulders climbed:
An Easy Problem, V4/6B+
Gravity's Rainbow, V4 6B+
Ataualpa, V5/6C
Double Cross V5/6C
Hoccus Poccus V5/6C+
Gricia V5/6C+
Magnum V6/7A
Problem 20 V6/7A
Apple Sauce V7/7A+
All Night Cactus V7/7A+
Jordan 2 Var, V8/7B
Bogli Marry Me V8/7B
Mellow Yellow V8/9/7B+
Killer Bee V8/9/7B+
Salathe V9/7C
Time to Die V9/7C
Check out ‪@lee-cujes‬ pages for more moon and climbing froth :)
The book I love reading to my daughter amzn.to/3SaTSEx
On the wall climbing shots camera amzn.to/3yn8SHG
Little camera amzn.to/3Pi7WL5
Best mini tripod amzn.to/3ygZhSW
Compact Lightweight tripod amzn.to/3wf0HdQ
My mirrorless amzn.to/3FrWSGH
The lens amzn.to/37qkBuf
Microphone amzn.to/3sjPF6e
For 15% off Awesome Woodys products, use BAFFLEDAYS at checkout
awesomewoodys.com/
Australian Climbing podcast: www.baffledays.com.au
Thank you:
The North Face Australia
Tenaya
Black Diamond Australia
Clif Bar
Chalk Cartel
Awesome Woodys
Thrive Nutrition and Dietetics

[@SpartaSpartan117]

Lee seems to me like the Australian Ben Moon

[@AbelFarkas]

I was honestly confused for a little bit at the start.. :D

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Lee is about as psyched on moonboarding as it gets in Australia. And yes, there probably is a little physical similarity, especially when Lee's wearing the Moon uniform haha

[@user-io9ij9tu9e]

I actually thought so 😂

[@Hoolagun]

This 2016 board, being the main Mboard i train on, i understand the difficulty in some of those moves. You made them look too easy man haha well done.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha thanks. It was a fun session. That was the biggest session I'd ever had on the 2016 board (about the 3rd or 4th ever) so I was just psyched to climb haha

[@sulaymanzayed126]

Dude I had a blast watching this video. Please keep doing more moonboard content ❤

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Will do :). Always keen to climb on them. Just need to not go over the top and end up blowing all my pulleys haha

[@meganwong9508]

Another great vid! Really appreciate the board videos and the discussion points made. It’s nice to get your guys’ thoughts on the climbs and just seeing the progression of gnarliness, haha. Really excited to see the next part 🙂. Thank you as always for the vids! Cheers.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I'm psyched you enjoy them Megan. Always a hoot to get on the board, have a fun session and share it to everyone :). I'm excited for the next as well

[@nicks5468]

Im always suprised by how entertaining i can find watching someone on a moonboard. Good stuff, n strong as hell!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha glad you enjoyed it. I find the same thing. Even when the difficulty can be hard to translate, it still keeps me sat there frothing :)

[@billy44talent]

Great vid mate. Super strong precise climbing

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha thanks. It was a fun session :)

[@billy44talent]

I recently finished all the V4s and I gotta say gravities rainbow is a new addition and was very easy compared to some other V4s. The hardest for me was by far rainy day (V4) which was harder than most V6s and even a V8 I recently did. I suspect it is a combination of my board having some extra bad holds and morpho

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ahh cool. Yeah it's never going to be an exact science to find the truly hardest or easiest. It's crazy how hard some of them can be though. V4 as hard as an 8 is big. I'll have to check out rainy days

[@MrWhoabuddy]

@@TomOHalloranAus yea their grading system is totally screwed up. way off.

[@etiennecorbaux8756]

Amazing video mate. Keep crushing!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Thanks :). It was a fun to finally spend some time on the board and test the classics.

[@MrWhatev4r]

your channel is way too underrated D: this was phenomenal

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha time to buy shares in my channel then :). I'm psyched you enjoy the videos. Keen to keep making them.

[@Blackbolt09]

Insanely strong, those yellows are no joke. Would love more moonboard content, or board climbing in general! Also realised that I can in no way assess difficulty through a youtube video - could not tell which were harder until the mid 7s...

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha yeah I find the yellows to be pretty vicious. Definitely keen to keep making board content. It's a favourite for me :). Just about to build our new home wall, so expect a bunch more coming

[@Blackbolt09]

@@TomOHalloranAus Can't wait! Also still in awe at how strong you are. So used to see people blasting wildly on dynos on the MB vs seeing how controlled you look! Got on my own homewall with a ton of psyche right after watching!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@Blackbolt09 rad! im psyched you got psyched. that's the aim of all this. just share the love of climbing and get folks frothin' :)

[@danwest8914]

Sick video, strong work bro

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Psyched you liked it :). Thanks

[@jamesdazhongcook]

Cool to see, can’t wait for more! I just sent Project 2 and Shattered Mercy, I would love to see somebody at your level destroy those and Black Beauty!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

ahh rad. nice one. yeah I'm super keen to try some of those very hard ones. I've never tried them so will be cool to see what the top tier feels like.

[@kushbhalla7817]

The way you did salathe was pretty baller ngl. Would love to see you try v10+

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Very keen to do more hard benchmarks

[@gavinportier7838]

Our Australian Ben & Jerry combo. Want to see a crag road trip video next please. 15mins, 10mins, no! 5mins drive from my house to Elphinstone. Or a training session with a banging soundtrack in Cujes Garage

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha totally! 5 minutes! COOL! just need some good sunnies and frosted tips haha. definitely keen for a few more sessions in the cujes shed.

[@ensar6803]

I climb 2016 set twice a week for a year now. you doing those moves first go is insane!! crazy strong, do more moonboard content pls

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Very keen for more time on the board soon 😀

[@UnkleMonkey18]

Would love some more content on the 2019 set as well!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Will do for sure :)

[@andybfreeman]

Great video! I am just rebuilding my board and am going back to 2016 and I am frothing to try some of these problems

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha awesome. Enjoy ‘em ✌️

[@oscarsollie1227]

Sick man. Its always a good day when you release a video 😁 When are we gonna see you setting up and climbing on your home wall again? Thatd be epic

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha thanks :). The home wall is close...ish. We've needed to put a new garage door on so the board will fit. It was one of those tilt panel door which takes up the whole ceiling space. Anooying. Hopefully the new one arrives in the next week or two and we can finally build. It's taken far longer than I hoped haha. Can't wait to get into it. The new space will be awesome

[@bigdog5112]

Yes too keen for new board vid

[@joolsgrommers1466]

@@TomOHalloranAus Have you got quite a lot of surface on the new board? I could send you some of our holds, but they have a pretty big footprint. I am making some smaller ones though, soon.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@joolsgrommers1466 It is going to be a bit bigger than the last one, so big enough. 3m wide and 3.5m climbing length at 45 degrees. plus a head wall. pretty psyched t get it built once the new garage door arrives

[@padhraicmacmaghnuis1793]

Was totally ready to turn this off if you sorted by least repeats but fair play Lee! Nailed it!!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Guidance from Lee on all things Moon related is a must :). Although finding the 'hardest' or 'easiest' is always going to be an educated guess at best.

[@padhraicmacmaghnuis1793]

@@TomOHalloranAus absolutely it is but it's the first video I've watched which doesn't just take the least repeated (which as Lee pointed out are normally recently added). So nice to see you guys have a proper look at select one of the hardest if not the absolute hardest. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to the harder ones 😁😁

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Glad you enjoyed. Psyched to try the next ones as well 😀

[@VDB420]

That's a pretty sick tick list for a single session

[@TomOHalloranAus]

It was a fun one 😀

[@jordan-rogers]

I'd never looked at the comparison charts and noted that V5 covers two Font grades; that makes my Moonboard experience make a lot more sense! I've been trying to work my way through all the benchmarks on the 2017 set (all my gym has) and I've done about a third of the V5s, including several flashes, but even the "easiest" V6s feel like they'll be multi-session projects.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha I’m totally in your boots with that one as well. I just hadnt thought about it and always felt v5 had a massive range of difficulty and always had sooo many more problems in it than other grades. It all makes sense now haha. Good luck on your mission to get through the benchies 😀✌️

[@user-bx4zq7fx7e]

Ravioli Biceps looks like such a good boulder! I gotta find one of these board here

[@TomOHalloranAus]

He sets some good boulders for sure. Worth tracking down a board if you can.

[@LemonLimeFlavoured]

far out what a monster session

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha it was about the 3rd time I've climbed on this board, so psyched was high for everything :)

[@joolsgrommers1466]

Yay, more Tom vids! 😊

[@TomOHalloranAus]

and more to come :). psyched you're always here and enjoying them

[@joolsgrommers1466]

Would never miss them!

[@Petitgaaateau]

I 100% support using the font system on the moonboard. The font grades have progression in the right places for the bulk sum of climbers and keeps it simple for the crushers. What’s not to love?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I can see it now. Makes sense for sure. I had always wondered why v5 was such a large bracket on the moonboard. Thought it was just popular. Turns out it’s because there’s 2 grades in there haha

[@carlstonejunior]

Shoutout to all the short kings and queens who are also climbing the 2016 set. Represent.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Jump and cut for life ✌️

[@lucaa4480]

Some that you tried are the least repeated but only because they are quite new problem (they added those problem recently), there are harder problems for each grade in my opinion

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yep, finding the true 'hardest' is always going to be tricky. And what is hard for me is jugs for someone else perhaps. I'm sure we missed some hard ones along the way

[@leecujes2250]

Hey @lucaa4480, we actually spoke about this issue directly in the video and tried to choose hardest over recently added.

[@tysonbrown543]

Gricia is quite new (and easy if you go to F10 with your left!)

[@Jackwithoneeye]

So cool seeing you on the 2016 as its the only one i have access to. Does Lee have any other boards /spray wall in his shed or is it just moonboards?... What a fiend haha

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Just the moonboards. He did have the 2016 on the left and spray where the 2016 now is, then got the 2017 board to replace the spray. Then he got the 2019. He's a fully bonafide Moonman.

[@Jackwithoneeye]

​@@TomOHalloranAus Damn would love to know how he keeps his fingers healthy.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha tell me about it!!

[@TheXeeman]

made it look so easy.. im still trying to finish all the v4's before i go higher up in grade. idk if this is a mistake tho.. but i feel like i need to do all the v4 benchmarks before i am capable of going up

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I wouldn’t hold yourself back like that. My rule of thumb would be once you get around 50% of one grade done (and not just the easiest) open yourself up to the next grade. Then tick along through the higher grade while still keeping touch with the lower one. I get far too bored if I’m just stuck in the one grade. You’ll learn a bit from trying harder things and seeing others try them while you are. But that’s just me. My ultimate training fall back protocol is ‘do what motivates you the most.’ 😀✌️ have fun knocking them off

[@sylvernale]

Kilter separates out V grades that span French grades (so multiple levels of V8 for instance)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Keeping everyone happy :)

[@armaansadeghi8421]

Thoughts on flagging/smearing on the board next to the set you were climbing? I only say this because my gym's moonboard is a standalone system board! Great vid!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I don’t see a huge difference honestly, having climbed on both types of board. You get more ability to flag deep or swing legs around when there’s no edge, which I’ve found useful. To hover the leg/foot above the wall to keep thing ‘pure’ would make things pretty hard. I don’t know that it really matters. Psyched to hear you liked the video though 😀

[@leighgipp9468]

Wow your really good 💪💪

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha never as good as I want to be :). thanks

[@leighgipp9468]

I so get that I’m am totally the same always want to be better. Climbing is so good that way always room for improvement not matter how good you are.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yep, there’s always something to learn and be shut down and inspired by ✌️

[@the0neskater]

Would have been interesting to hear your thoughts on the grades for each easiest/hardest at various levels. Eg. the cross over on 6c looked very hard, but would you consider it still 6c?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Would love to dig into the details for a few things like that in future videos on the board for sure

[@andrewkendig5353]

Have you considered doing this for the tension or kilter boards too.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yes, for sure, i'd love to. Just need to get to one. There's not a lot around where I live (minimum 1 1/2hrs drive)

[@billy44talent]

How about trying Hoseok Lee’s one arm pullup (V8) on the 2019. You have to do a one arm pullup on the last hold for it to count. Glad you are giving the moonboard some love. It’s the next best thing to outdoor bouldering for me. Unfortunately it’s hard to get outside as much as I would like

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha now that is a contrived finish! Moonboard is super fun and great in circumstances like yours I imagine. Connect with the outside world when you can't get to the cliffs.

[@kalebwells9767]

課題2 is by far the hardest V4/6B+. The problem you tried does not compare in my opion. I would really be curious if anyone found any other V4/6B+ harder, I did not.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ok, cool. I'll jump on it next time. Sorting them out the way we did is not perfect for sure. It is also interesting seeing peoples' strengths and weaknesses on the certain boulders. There's a couple I have done which I find very hard and others cruise, then the opposite happens

[@thiagof.6132]

For me the hardest by far is "I'm not a setter". It's the only v4 I can't send. Maybe because i'm not tall and I have a negative ape index. And I usually have a hard time with D15. But I understand that for a lot people this is not one of the hardest.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@thiagof.6132 I think that's what's great about all these boulders on one board around the world. different body shapes, abilities, strengths and weaknesses all come together and try to climb everything and we can share the experiences. very cool. good luck getting im not a setter done :)

[@giavannipicarelli5891]

well ard!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

and well fun :)

[@julianbresler8432]

Feels wrong to call the least repeated climb the hardest because of variation in when the boulders were set. I think there are quite of few 7Cs that are quite a bit harder

[@TomOHalloranAus]

We did discuss that a bit in the beginning of the video, trying to make an educated guess on what might be hardest. But it’s still a guess. Unless there’s V12 in the V4s you’ll never get consensus on what’s the hardest boulder. There’s so many variables in what style, holds, positions do and don’t suite people. It’s just a fun little game 😀

[@benjaminjoseph9380]

Pinch of Salty is one of the hardest but not all night cactus

[@TomOHalloranAus]

It’s always going to be a little stab in the dark. Others have said different boulders for the grades as well. Different holds, styles, movement type etc are all going to come into play 😀

[@jonnes__4657]

🗽13:16 This technique is incredible! .

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha thanks :)

[@sissondanhhoang2000]

How do you think the difficulty compare across the 3 boards? I mostly climb on the 2017 and the 2016 felt like half a grade softer (but I haven't done much of the 2016 to have a good sense, only 2-3 each of V7-V9)

[@alexantone5532]

Imo 2017 is definitely the hardest set but some hard 2016 benchies are more sandbagged depending on what grade you’re looking at. 2019 imo gets hard around v9/10, where at that point it’s quite comparable to the 2017 in difficulty, sometimes harder

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I haven't spent enough time on each of the boards in the same period of time to feel much of a difference. I've found them to all be pretty on par with each other on the whole. I'm sure there probably is a little difference across them though. Each has its own style which will contribute to differences in grade/how hard it is for you

[@Outlabyrinth]

Personally i have the 2019 set and 2016 , the 2019 is for me again very hard , the wooden holds settings are harder , I can barely climb 7a\7a+ it takes the most repeated one and I need more than 3 try but on the 2016 I have flashed a lot of 7a and 7a+ And the 2017 set is somewhere in between but I don’t like the olds positions feels uncomfortable setting not enjoyable for most of them

[@ethannewman6617]

Hatha Yoga is the hardest 6B+ and nobody can convince me otherwise

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I'm at a point where I think it would be easiest to assume all the boulders are hard haha. Cool to see all the different boulders people find easy and hard :). There's been very little consensus haha

[@hyau23]

Can anyone explain how come for the 6th grades ie 6a/6a+/6c/6c+ etc they get an "easy/hard of that grade" but then it skips this when you get to 7a (v6) and 7a+ (v7)? It restarts for 7b/7b+ (v8)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

It's just the way the french first did things for their boulders in the forests of Font. The Americans came up with the V scale for their own thing (I think it started in Hueco)? Then when everyone came together and started to compare there boulders with each other, that was about how it all came together. Hope that helps

[@Alexander31616]

Out of interest, what makes crossovers hard for someone. I really struggle with them. I've started to work shoulder mobility to see if that helps. Seems like I struggle to reach the hold, then even if I can get to the hold I can only engage with a fraction of my strength. Others of similar finger strength can just engage and move off. When I do get the moves I'm having to tense so hard through the core and counter balancing foot to ridiculous levels to not fall off in the direction of the cross or reach over.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I think you’ve answered your own question there. Squeezing everything to hold on. There’s some coordination to it and learning what the body needs to do, then there’s all the little stabiliser muscles that help the coordination. Practice crossovers and you’ll learn how they work and the muscles will respond as well. It’s not mysterious trick, it’s just another skill to learn, become familiar with and grow confidence in

[@Alexander31616]

@@TomOHalloranAus Cheers for the encouragement, maybe one day it wont seem like magic anymore.

[@crispycrimps865]

Where do you change the grade to the french style in the moonboard app? I can't find it

[@TomOHalloranAus]

It’s in the settings for your profile under the ‘general’ tab. Then there’s the option to toggle on or off ‘V grades.’

[@benjaminjoseph9380]

Porellaggine is the hardest 6C+

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Will have to have a try

[@MrWhoabuddy]

In my opinion, Kyle Knapp and Riccardo Caprasecca set the lowest quality routes on the MB. Typically always skip those when i encounter them.

[@leecujes2250]

The database of benchmark suggestions from users does not agree with you 😊

[@TomOHalloranAus]

One persons love is anothers yuck. What keeps it all exciting :)

[@benjaminjoseph9380]

Hardest 7B+ is Bazoo

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Will have a play on this one at some point too 👍

[@maciejszpakowski9037]

What is benchmark boulder ?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

A climb set on the app which the moderators have deemed to be high quality and a good representation of the grade. Depending on the moonboard set your on, there 300-500 benchmarks out of 30,000+ boulders.

[@sandstone.addict]

In my opinion by far the hardest 7C is 1 2 3 stella, that would be a seriously impressive flash if you were able to do it

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha challenge accepted :). i'll have to check it out when I get on Lee's board again.

[@saureeeegogo]

Great video but why continuously exploiting the adjacent moonboard by flagging on it?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

avoiding it makes it way harder when it's there. to hover the foot out off the wall rather than being able to let the leg flag where it wants to be is a bit of a pain

[@danielv9482]

Hahah. How is time to die the hardest V9 benchmark?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Suggestions welcome 😀. As we say in the beginning of the vid, it’s just a fun stab in the dark

[@heraclitus4884]

does this guy fall?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha a lot!

[@nicholascherry5962]

U might wanna tell bro, in the opening scene, gray hoodie. The reason his fingernails look like that, is because of fungal infection. He needs to begin a year's long treatment of antibiotics :)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha yes, he's been dealing with that stuff for a very long time (10+ yrs). I think he's tried every treatment under the sun... or moon may be more appropriate in this context :)

[@nicholascherry5962]

@@TomOHalloranAus wasn't poking fun, genuine advice. Glad he's tried things. I want everybody to be healthy

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@nicholascherry5962 haha totally all good nicholas. No offence taken at all. Totally pickin' up what you're putting down :)

[@lerouxjacobs2032]

#crimpandforget

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Words to live by.

[@pedrohack2869]

From the official moonboard website "You must hold the finishing hold or holds in control for 2 seconds."

[@alexantone5532]

Moonboarding isn’t a comp lol, if you control the finish it’s up to you to decide how long to hold it

[@TomOHalloranAus]

one Mississippi, two Mississippi. I think you know in your heart whether or not you got control

[@maddhamstr]

I hate kyle knapp problems. They are all moprho, uncomfortable(its fine) and heavily sandbagged. But i guess its fine within moonboard community since almost everyone just keep supporting the sandbagged grades.

[@wircoal]

if everything is sandbagged and thus coherent with their grading compared to one another it's not that a bother, because you can just retranslate it in the scale of grading that you are used to, just like there are some outdoor locations harder than other, get a feel for the local grading and adapt your expectations, it's the same on the boards.

[@maddhamstr]

​@@wircoal Yeah, i got the point. Adapting my expectations is smth i still need to learn, thats true. But "The Scale" just feels completely wrong if v4 feels like v7 and vice versa. Thats what the video is about i guess. I just have a feeling that the culture of ego sandbagging is strong on the moonboard 🙂

[@TomOHalloranAus]

The sandbag things is a funny (annoying) one. I don't like sandbagging for the sport of it. It's a mugs game. There's some big differences in grade though for taller vs shorter on certain boulders. I'd say on the whole it evens out across all the boulders. But a taller setter is going to favour setting reachy boulders (unintentionally) i think. Which will be hard for the shorter or those who struggle to be strung out. I could be mis-remembering, but I think i remember hearing Mr Moon saying the moon grades were never meant to match outdoors. It was just it's own scale relative to things on the same board. Easier to match like for like than to compare font to rocklands to the 2016 led board.

[@MrWhoabuddy]

would be cool if the Moonboard admins actually put benchmarks where they're supposed to be. So many benchmarks are sandbagged and obviousy not equal to the grade. i've flashed v9 benchmarks but then straight up project'd v6s...like that doesn't make sense. at. all. fix your shit moonboard. sandbagging doesn't make you cool.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yeah it can be a bit over the shop sometimes. Just keeping it like outdoors :). There's the ones you find hard and easy. Then the ones which are actually stiff for the grade haha. I don't think there's a conspiracy to sandbag people, it can just be something that happens accidentally. Across boards there can be big differences. There was a V7 i couldn't do moves on on the board I normally climb on. Then went to Lee's shed and it felt pretty jugs.

[@peterjames7509]

TOM, could u please make a video on how some super strong climbers such as urself can have really weak fingers on the hangboard?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Absolutely on the cards. Something I’m very keen to dig into