Will Bosi Upgrades Jana Švecová Boulder to V15
With the upgrade, Švecová becomes the fifth woman in history to climb V15
After spending some time projecting Stefano Ghisolfi’s Excalibur 5.15c in Arco, Italy, Will Bosi is now in Czechia trying Adam Ondra’s Terranova V16 (8C+). Located at the Holstejn crag in the Moravsky Kras area of Czechia, Ondra made the first ascent of the line back in 2011. Now 12 years old, this problem has yet to see a repeat.
As a side project, Bosi recently repeated Nova, a problem established by Czech climber Jana Švecová in June this year. The line starts seated on Sedni si na Kost V14 and then after two moves merges into the second half of Terranova. Švecová originally graded the problem V14 (8B+) but Bosi has suggested an upgrade to V15 (8C).
“I think it deserves an upgrade as it took more work and days than all the other [V15’s] I’ve climbed in the Czech Republic so far,” he said on Instagram. I’d also like to think it suits my style as it’s limestone crimping so I think that factors in. Hopefully it will see some more repeats soon and we get more opinions.”
Švecová appears to have agreed with the new grade assessment. “Congrats Will, it was so cool to be part of the process and share some of my beta with you,” she responded, also on Instagram. “My thoughts to the proposed upgrade from [V14] to [V15] – When I did the FA of Nova, I knew that it was by far the hardest boulder that I’ve done. But I worried to propose [V15] as I did only a few boulders close to [V14] and I just didn’t want to stir up the waters by having my first [V15] as [a first ascent]. You should have seen the beef for proposing it [V14] anyway. I hope Will is inspiring others to come and try it.” She now lists the problem as 8C (V15) on her 8a.nu page.
With this upgrade, Švecová joins a small group of women who have climbed V15. In 2016, Ashima Shiraishi was the first to tick the grade with Horizon V15 at Mount Hiei in Japan. Two years later, Kaddi Lehmann climbed Kryptos V15 in Switzerland. The following year, in 2019, Mishka Ishi climbed Byaka-dou V15 in Jorai, Japan at just 13 years of age. Oriane Bertone was the next to climb the grade with the first post-break ascent of Satan I Helvete Bas in Fontainebleau. She initially proposed V15 for this low variation but subsequent ascensionists moved the grade down to V14, which Bertone agreed with.
With Bosi’s upgrade, Švecová comes next in this timeline with her first ascent of Nova in June. In July, Katie Lamb climbed Box Therapy V16 in Colorado. Brooke Raboutou repeated the problem shortly afterwards, downgrading it to V15.
Švecová and Bosi are both currently working Terranova V16. You can watch their latest livestreamed projecting session here.
Jana Švecová on Nova V15
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