Jana Švecová nails Nova, new 8B+ boulder problem in Czech Republic

Jana Švecová isn't a name that first springs to mind when thinking about hard female bouldering, but last week the 25-year-old from the Czech Republic completed a remarkable ascent that may well change things considerably, namely the first ascent of the 8B+ Nova.

Located at the smooth limestone crag Lidomorna at Moravsky Kras, this problem begins with the powerful sitstart of Sedni si na kost before moving left at the underclings and continuing up Terranova, the 8C+ put up by Adam Ondra in 2011 and currently unrepeated. Terranova is actually Švecová's main goal but in order to break the difficulties into manageable chunks she projected Nova as an intermediate goal. Her ascent came about despite conditions being anything but ideal, and immediately after the send she commented "Wow, todays conditions were unpleasant. It was like 28 degrees on the sun but somehow the rock was sticky."

Švecová has previously climbed a flurry of 8B's and two other 8B+, Roof der Wildnis in Austria and Prehistorik in the Czech Republic, and she now believes Nova is of similar difficulty. If the grade is confirmed, then this would hail as one of the most difficult boulder problems established by a woman to date and on a par with Sinawav put up by Isabelle Faus in 2020.

As mentioned, Švecová has her sights firmly set on Terranova. While this problem may not look particularly inspiring, in many respects the line represents the very essence of bouldering. As Ondra explained to planetmountain over a decade ago "This boulder is foremost about its difficulty." And still unrepeated.