Zach Galla Climbing America’s First V16
Hypnotized Minds is one of the hardest crimp problems in the world
On September 21, Zach Galla made the fifth ascent of Hypnotized Minds V16 (8C+) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. The crimpy testpiece was established by Daniel Woods back in 2010. Woods originally graded the problem V15, but later reconsidered his initial assessment, instead suggesting V16, making Hypnotized Minds the first of the grade in North America.
Rustam Gelmanov made the second ascent in 2016. Dave Graham picked up the third ascent in 2019, and Matt Fultz the fourth the year later. Mellow just released a video of Galla’s fifth ascent, which you can watch below.
“It always makes little me happy finishing up these [Daniel Woods] testpeices that I watched the videos of on repeat as a young grom,” said Galla after his ascent on Instagram. “The hard rigs from that era of bouldering always hold special weight in my mind and putting this one together was an extremely memorable and fulfilling experience. Lowkey gonna miss grabbing that pinch.”
Galla, 25, is one of the strongest boulderers in the United States. In addition to Hypnotized Minds, he has several absolute classic V16s to his name, including Grand Illusion, Sleepwalker, Sosa, and perhaps most impressively, the long-awaited second ascent of The Process. He had a very successful trip to Squamish last spring, with highlights being repeats of Seven V14/15, Zazen V14/15, Room Service Low V14, Deadlift V14, and Offenders of the Faith V13. He also flashed Shelter V12 and Room Service V12. On a short visit this year, he topped The Singularity V16.
