Taylor McNeill Establishes America’s Widest V16
In Joe's Valley, American Boulderer Taylor McNeill has established the widest V16 in the world. His process took over three years
Photo by: Taylor McNeill
There is a new V16 in the United States. On October 3, Taylor McNeill announced the first ascent of Moonlight Sonata, a soon-to-be-classic that has seen some of the country’s strongest boulderers.
The multi-move problem is appears to be the culmination of McNeill’s experience. Over three-and-a-half years, the American spent at least 39 days on the Joe’s project, steadily moving higher up the challenging feature. At a certain point, he faced a decision.
When media presents professional climbing, the challenge of the experience is often lost in a wave of stoke. Although Daniel Woods’s Return of the Sleepwalk did allow the community a moment to see what it is like to project something at the limit, 5.15 and V15 often get lost in the steady stream of sends climbing sees.
Working a project is hard. What makes McNeill strong is his determination to complete the moves, session after session until the boulder goes. In 2019, he shared that Justin Wood showed him the project a year ago. Since 2018, then, McNeill has had this project in mind. In these last three and a half years, McNeill has completed some of his hardest ascents to date.
Boulders like Southern Drawl V15, Squoze V14/15, and his recent first ascent Apparatus V14 each stand as crucibles of a style or styles. Where Apparatus could be an entire piece on its, Southern Drawl and Squoze each offer a high level of difficulty for the style.
Neither of these problems came close in difficulty to Moonlight Sonata for McNeill. Although this ascent is impressive, the decision McNeill made in order to climb the problem, as it stands, speaks to something greater.
The rapid pace of climbing media can make it seem as though a person must climb whatever they can as fast as they can. McNeill had climbed the problem from a V14-ish higher start but decided against calling that the line. Instead of taking a two-for-the-price-of-one approach to this problem, McNeill looked inward. He determined that boulder began at its start holds. Although he could climb the problem from higher up, that did not matter. The boulder problem starts where it starts. If that means it takes more sessions, so be it.
This refreshing approach to bouldering speaks to McNeil’s character. In March of 2020, he reflected on the project. “I’m not proud of my reaction but it’s impossible to not get frustrated. The psych waivers. I don’t want to climb anything else, but I’m so beyond sick of the same drive, the same warmups, and the same moves over and over. Climbing should be fun, but I’ve reached a point where I get no enjoyment from being at this boulder. To be completely honest, I hate it. Yet I’m still attached and can’t let myself walk away. I cling to a glimmer of hope and try to remind myself it will be worth it in the end.”
At that time, the American had decided to give up alcohol and to eat better in order to make it to the top of the climb. Still, he would walk away empty handed. He would spend the next year having one of his most prolific and difficult seasons yet. In the end, he did top the boulder. In the end, he faced himself, pushed beyond his limits, gave himself to the process and became one of America’s best boulderers.
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