Do longstanding projects always morph into V15s when Daniel Woods visits an area?  

Just two days ago, while spending time in Magic Wood, Switzerland, Daniel cranked the sit-start to the famous V11 Muttertag, now dubbed Mystic Stylez and given V15.

“The sit adds in four moves of frontal body power to the one-move dyno of Muttertag,” says Woods. “The line seems straightforward, but when you actually pull on and do the moves, the style changes.”

Woods elaborates, “I named it Mystic Stylez because the style of the climb starts out chopped-n-screwed and finishes with a powerful dyno. The differences between the two styles are significant.”

Regarding the grade, Woods has suggested V15 for the line but he feels that “like every ascent, time will tell.”  

He says, “The breakdown is a powerful 8B (V13) directly into a one-move 8A (V11).  For me it was hard to slap a grade on the climb, but it felt harder than some of the shorter 8B+s that I have completed recently.”

Courtney Sanders, Woods' wife, has also been climbing well, having completed three V11s while in Silvretta, Austria, before the two moved on to Switzerland. In Magic Wood Sanders has put down the classic highball Blown Away (V8) and Man of the Cow (V9).  

Sanders has temporarily left Switzerland to check out the climbing in Finland, while Woods continues his two-month stay in Ticino, Switzerland.  

“I want to repeat The Story of Two Worlds (V15), From Dirt Grows the Flowers (V15) and Big Paw (V15),” says Woods.  “After that I have projects that I am eying up before heading to Italy to try Gioia” in Varazze.

Gioia, established by the Italian climber Christian Core and suggested at V15, translates to “joy.”   The problem has yet to be repeated, although Adam Ondra climbed the stand-start at V12/13.  Ondra commented on his 8a.nu scorecard, “[S]it is another level, 8C+ for sure.”

Is Gioia the hardest boulder problem in the world? Again, time will tell.

[Daniel Woods on Mystic Stylez. Photo by Courtney Sanders.]