BURSTOnly two weeks after her first ascent of Tokyo Drift V15 at the Holstejn crag in Czechia, Jana Švecová has now sent the original line, Drift V15. Drift is an Adam Ondra line that was established in 2017. It marks Švecová’s third V15.
“After sending Tokyo Drift, I decided to try the original line, Drift, and see if I could find my way to do it,” said Švecová on Instagram. “I always thought this boulder wasn’t really for me because I couldn’t reach the foothold in the first part. And it looked really hard. That’s why I decided to do Tokyo Drift.
“After couple tries, I found a beta that works for me, using higher footholds, changing some move orders and I found really cool footmoves that allowed to pass the super reachy middle part. It turns that middle sequence into a new crux (for me), but it was doable! At the end of the day, it felt just right to finish this line as well, since it was possible even for people my size. I’m so happy to do this boulder.”
Drift and Tokyo Drift both look very hard, as Švecová suggests. The problems are on severely overhanging rock, with many technical moves on awkward-facing holds. And as is classic for the area, the problems finish with a drop-off. Drift has seen several repeats from strong boulderers, including Martin Stráník, Jakub Konečný, Martin Švec, and Will Bosi.
Švecová has a stacked bouldering resume. According to her 8a.nu, she has climbed three V15 problems (two of which are first ascents), one V14/15, four V14 problems, and seven V13 problems. Only nine women in the world, including Švecová, have climbed V15 or harder. Švecová, along with Katie Lamb and Janja Garnbret, is among the elite few women who have climbed more than one V15.
In June 2023, Švecová made the first ascent of Nova, a variation of Adam Ondra’s Terranova V16. She originally graded the problem V14, but Will Bosi suggested an upgrade to V15 after his second ascent. Later that year, in December, she made the first ascent of Dune and proposed V13. Bosi also suggested an upgrade for this, calling it V14.
In November 2024, she made the first ascent of Supertussi Low and proposed V14 – the problem has not yet been repeated. One week after sending Supertussi Low, she also ticked Graceland. While most climbers call it V14, both she and Bosi dubbed it V13 (Bosi called it V13 hard). Ondra’s Terranova is one of Švecová’s mega-projects, and she’s been making slow, consistent progress on the unrepeated problem over the years. With her in peak form, we may soon see Terranova’s long-awaited second ascent.
Adam Ondra’s First Ascent of Drift V15
Jakub Konečný Climbing Drift V15
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