David Fitzgerald Sends Shawn Raboutou’s Big Z V16
It's the third ascent of the unique problem in Lake Tahoe, California
Irish climber David Fitzgerald recently repeated Big Z V16 (8C+) in Lake Tahoe, California. Established by Shawn Raboutou in December 2020, the problem went unrepeated for over three years before Matt Fultz’s second ascent in March of this year. Fitzgerald’s ascent is the third and his first of the grade.
“Finding it hard to wrap my head around this one,” said Fitzgerald on Instagram. “An intricate sequence that feels levels above anything I’ve strung together before. I first tried back in 2021 and although I took many long breaks away from the boulder, the spells of effort I gave over the years were intense. By far my longest chapter to-date. A chapter that sparked so much drive and reason to improve, that closing it now feels both surreal and bittersweet in a way.”
Big Z is a uniquely delicate problem that traverses rightward across an overhanging face to an arete topout. The climber has to keep an immense amount of body tension throughout using underling and sidepull edges for the hands and a series of spanned-out toe and heel hooks for the legs. Like Fitzgerald, Fultz found the problem to be his hardest to date. He had climbed seven V16s prior to topping Big Z, a problem that took him over 30 sessions to complete.
Fitzgerald has climbed several V15s including Jimmy Webb’s Fallen Angel and Carlo Traversi’s Equanimity – both in Lake Tahoe – as well as Paul Robinson’s Lucid Dreaming in Bishop. You can watch Raboutou’s FA of Big Z below.
Shawn Raboutou’s FA of Big Z V16
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
