Daniel Woods: Hardest Problem in U.S.

Daniel Woods has completed a short granite roof in Boulder Canyon, Colorado, that he’s graded V16 — the first boulder problem given this grade in the United States, and one of the few in the world. The Game presents an all-too-obvious challenge, with eight hard moves across a giant talus block about 50 meters from the highway. The climb had been eyed and tried for years, but until this winter no one but Woods had been able to do all the moves.

Woods told Big Up Productions that he had worked on the problem during at least 17 days during the past two years. “Compared to Terremer and Jade, this is definitely another level,” he said.

Less than two weeks ago, Woods did the third ascent of the Fred Nicole problem Terremer (V15) at Hueco Tanks, Texas, reportedly on his first day of effort on the problem during this visit. He did the first ascent of Jade (V15) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, in the summer of 2007.  Woods established a V15 problem in Switzerland called In Search of Time Lost in 2008.

While warming up to attempt the Boulder Canyon problem on Wednesday, Woods broke a crimp hold in the middle of the roof and fell violently to the pads. Pulling himself together, he managed to find a new sequence and send the problem the same day.

At the Vertical Carnival blog, Cedar Wright, who filmed Woods’ ascent of The Game, quoted him on the name: “I called this problem The Game because for me the climb was a game I had to play; I had to click into game mode, and really train myself for these moves. I had to grow mentally strong and also physically strong to be able to put it together. I call it The Game because I played the game and I ended up winning the game, so game over.”

Video by Cedar Wright / Verticalcarnival.blogspot.com of Woods on The Game:

The second half of the following video, by Chad Greedy, shows several attempts on The Game earlier this winter.

Date of Ascent: February 10, 2010

Sources: Bigupproductions.com, Verticalcarnival.blogspot.com, 8a.nu