Nalle Hukkataival’s New Hard Boulder Problem
Nalle Hukkataival is one of the world’s strongest climbers. He consistently establishes new hard boulder problems.
People travel to Nevada’s Red Rocks every winter for the sandstone climbing. Some climbers aim for the crags, some for the multi-pitch routes and some for the boulders, Hukkataival is the latter.
The day after he climbed his new V15, he wrote an in-depth account of the send on Facebook.
Kintsugi by Hukkataival
Yesterday was one of those special days, a first ascent of Kintsugi V15. The project was discovered by Andy Raether and is maybe the most impressive line I’ve seen in Red Rocks. Early in the trip, we went to check it out and immediately it took the number one spot on my list. First on the agenda was sending The Nest V15, which went down after a few days of effort and rest.
After that, it was time to get on Kintsugi. The unexpected happened and I ended up with 15 staples in my leg. I couldn’t even walk and I thought I was out for a long time. However, my leg healed incredibly fast to a point where I could carefully hike up the hill and go work the moves on a rope. Soon enough, I was trying it ground-up with the staples still in. Yesterday, I topped it out. Kintsugi is one of those climbs that you only get a handful of in your lifetime. It’s tall and proud, great rock and the way it climbs is just perfect. Every try is ground up. Once you stick the jump start, it’s on all the way to the top.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
