BURSTJakob Schubert just sent Ephyra V16 (8C+) in Ticino, Switzerland. His send comes a few weeks after he climbed his third V17, Sean Bailey’s Shaolin, in Red Rock, Nevada. Schubert might have spent the better part of 2025 recovering from injuries, but so far, his 2026 seems to be off to a running start.
“More than a year ago I spent a couple of sessions on this one and thought I might give up because it felt like I’m just too stretched out to make the foot walk work from the start,” said Schubert on Instagram. “Yesterday I returned to just see how it feels and surprised myself with a quick ascent in the stickiest conditions ever. Another big winter goal done.”
Ephyra V16 (8C+) is located in Chironico, Ticino, Switzerland. The problem was first climbed by Jimmy Webb in 2019 and features a very difficult lateral move onto the left shoulder. Nonetheless, a few ascensionists, including Giuliano Cameroni, Yannick Flohé, and even Webb himself, have suggested it is low in the grade. Bosi suggested Ephyra is V15/16 instead of V16. Schubert, however, did not call it soft or a slash grade.
Schubert had a relatively quiet 2025 until November, when he dropped the news of his second ascent of Nicolai Užnik’s Mount Doom V17 in Maltalal, Austria. This was Schubert’s second of the grade. At the end of January, he ticked Daniel Wood’s The Nest V15. Of course, the V15 was just something to keep Schubert motivated as he struggled with skin on his bigger project, Shaolin, which he sent shortly after.
In 2023, Schubert made the first ascent of Adam Ondra’s “Project Big” in Flatanger, Norway, naming it B.I.G. and proposing a grade of 5.15d. He also climbed Shawn Raboutou’s Alphane V17 in Ticino, Switzerland. This combo made him the first climber ever to tick the hardest bouldering grade (V17) and hardest sport climbing grade (5.15d) in the world. In 2024, he placed third at the Paris Olympics, earning his second Olympic bronze medal.
Jimmy Webb’s First Ascent of Ephyra V16
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