Jana Vincourková Tries an Ondra V16

This is one of Adam Ondra's hardest boulders. It's never been repeated

Gripped March 21, 2023

Jana Vincourková recently tried one of Adam Ondra’s hardest problems with Terranova V16 at Holštejn in the Czech Republic. Ondra made the first ascent in 2011 and it’s never been repeated. Other strong climbers, like Will Bosi, have also tried Terranova.

Vincourková started climbing when she was about six, but said she trained and competed so much that it was no longer fun, so she stopped. She found new motivation over the past few years and started climbing again. She’s previously climbed up to V13, and earlier this year sent a new problem in Austria, suggesting V14 (8b+).

After Ondra’s FA of Terranova, he told UK Climbing: “This boulder has been my dream for years, even though it is a low traverse, on zero-friction limestone that gets quickly polished and ends up in a jug… It consists of 12 hard moves and some five moves of easy climbing to get to the obvious jug-spike as the finishing hold… In total I spent 11 days on it and one day last year and in comparison to Monkey Wedding or other V15s I have done, this is undoubtedly harder and took me much more time.”

Vincourková did all of the moves on Terranova in two days, finding new beta along the way. Watch her projecting below.