Could This Unrepeated V16 Be V17?
Will Bosi started projecting Adam Ondra's Terranova V16 and it's safe to say it's very, very hard
In November 2011, Adam Ondra made the first ascent of his first-ever V16 (8C+), Terranova. Located at the Holstejn crag in the Moravsky Kras area of Czechia, Ondra spent 12 days over two seasons working the problem before his eventual send. Now nearly 12 years old, this problem has yet to see a repeat.
Terranova is by no means a five-star boulder problem. It’s a traversing line of heinous crimps and pinches, passing the starts of several sport routes before ending at a drop-off jug. “Well, it is not not the most inspiring line,” said Ondra on his 8a.nu page after sending the line back in 2011. “It is a low [12-move] long traverse with interesting moves though, but climbs at the bottom of a cliff for sport climbing and ends up in a jug. Definitely not the way bouldering should look like. But I have been going around and looking [at] those tiny holds for ages and always wondering if it is climbable and this autumn I devoted myself to it.”
After not seeing much action over the past decade, a couple top climbers have started working it this year. Czech climber Jana Švecová did all the moves of Terranova in isolation after only two sessions. Because she’s much shorter than Ondra, she’s come up with new beta for key sequences. Švecová’s continued to make links but hasn’t been able to send the nails-hard problem just yet.
One of the best boulderers in the world, Will Bosi, has also added Terranova to his list of projects. Last year he tried the problem and was only able to do two out of the 12 moves. He recently took a short trip to Czechia and made much more progress. On his first session, he managed to do seven of the 12 moves in isolation. On his second session, he was able to do all 12 moves independently. He made a few links on his next session, which you can watch in the video below. According to Bosi, Terranova has “some of the worst crimps and pinches [he’s] used,” which says a lot for someone who repeated both Burden of Dreams V17 and Alphane V17.
After trying but before sending Burden of Dreams V17, Bosi told Climbing in an interview, “[Terranova] is for sure still the hardest boulder I’ve tried. That thing is flippin’ desperate!” Now, after sending Burden of Dreams and giving Terranova three proper days of effort, Bosi has added more thoughts. When asked if Terranova is harder than Burden on YouTube, he replied, “Hard to say until I get more time on it, but currently it feels it could be harder than 8C+ [V16].” Similarly, when asked if it’s harder than V16 on Instagram, he replied, “Hard to say until I get more sessions in but currently it feels it!”
It’s too early to say – Bosi and/or others need to go back and repeat the thing – but one can imagine a future where we’ll be having conversations about the world’s true first V17, Terranova or Burden of Dreams. This potential scenario would draw many parallels to the Action Directe–Hubble 9a (5.14d) debate.
Will Bosi Projecting Terranova V16
Adam Ondra’s FA of Terranova V16
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