Persistence Pays Off as Ryuichi Murai Sends Five Year Project at V16
The problem has 40 moves and links two V14s, which he climbed dozens of times before the FA of Nexus
Ryuichi Murai is one of the world’s top boulderers with sends of multiple V14s and V15s, and first ascents of V16s. He’s just climbed a five year project with Nexus V16 in Shiobara.
The 27-year-old found the project that combines two V14s in 2016. The long problem includes 40 moves which includes a 360 and a number of powerful sections. Try not to get pumped watching this high-point attempt by Murai last week.
Murai trained by climbing the roof in sections until he could move through with ease. He climbed Uma V14, one part of Nexus, dozens of times.
“The difficulty in achieving this line was that in addition to the large number of moves and high strength, the accumulation of mental stress due to slight squeaks and mistakes greatly affected performance,” said Murai. “Therefore, it was important not only for endurance but also for how sophisticated the movement could be.”
In 2019, he made quick work of two classic problems in Switzerland in only a few tries: Dreamtime V15 and The Story of Two Worlds V15. “I took about two hours to send Dreamtime,” he told us after his sends. “First, I practiced each moves a few times. Then on my fourth try from the start I climbed it. The first part of this line was especially hard with a crux a dyno in the middle.”
That same year, he made the first ascent of United V16 in Japan, watch his send below.
United V16
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
