BURSTRitsu Kayotani has just sent Daniel Woods’ Defying Gravity V15 (8C) in Thunder Ridge, Colorado. The Japanese climber has now sent at least a dozen boulders V15 or harder, according to his 8a.nu page. He was simply pleased about his ascent, saying on Instagram, “I’m happy.”
Established by Daniels Wood in 2013, Defying Gravity is a wildly dynamic problem featuring one of the single hardest starting moves in the world. Clocking in at around V14, the problem’s first move is a coordinated jump sequence between two glassy rails. A few different betas have been discovered for sticking the rail, but each one is as difficult as the next. After moving to a higher set of rails, a huge, shouldery V10ish deadpoint follows – with climbers cutting feet as they try to hold the violent swing.
A few days after Woods climbed Defying Gravity back in 2013, Jimmy Webb made the second ascent. “Felt so nice to connect with that first move,” said Webb on his 8a.nu after his send. “Such a heinous jump from one glassy rail to the next. What a strange problem…and putting it all together may be one of the lowest percentage things I’ve ever done.”
The problem then went unrepeated for nearly 10 years until Noah Wheeler made the third ascent in late 2023. Shortly after, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nathaniel Coleman picked up the fourth.
Kayotani has had a wildly successful climbing year in 2026. In February, he climbed Jimmy Webb’s Sleepwalker V15/16 in Red Rock, Nevada. The next month, he established Tanpopo V16 in Shiobara, Japan. It was his first FA of the grade. Tanpopo is crazy steep – Yuta Imaizumi is the only other climber to repeat the problem so far. Shortly after in the spring, Kayotani sent three V15s (all located in Japan): Mandoragora, Nehanna, and Flux.
Nathaniel Coleman Climbing Defying Gravity V15
The post Ritsu Kayotani Climbs Defying Gravity V15 in Colorado appeared first on Gripped Magazine.