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After “the biggest mental battle” of his career, Austria’s Jakob Schubert has made the first ascent of Project Big in Flatanger, Norway. He hasn’t yet commented on the grade, but it’s rumored to be at least 5.15c—and given Schubert’s track record of sending hard things fast, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s harder.
The kicker? He sent in the rain, while livestreaming his attempt, and nearly fell when he broke a hold on the outro section, just two (very widely spaced) quickdraws below the anchor. (Video embedded below.)
For the last decade and a half, Schubert has dominated the international lead competitions. Since the start of his World Cup career in 2007, he’s won a mind-boggling 49 gold medals; won the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2018 Combined World Cup seasons; been the four time Lead and Two Time Combined World Champion; and taken Olympic bronze. He also has put together one the largest and most impressive outdoor ticklists of all time, with sends of Perfecto Mundo (5.15c), dozens of 5.15a and 5.15b’s, hard deep water solos, and numerous boulders up to V15. In December 2021, Schubert had what some of us (including Jonathan Siegrist) consider the most impressive climbing trip of all time: During a nine day trip to Siurana he sent Will Bosi’s King Capella, which he downgraded from 5.15c to 5.15b; La Capella, which he did fifth try and downgraded from 5.15b to 5.15a; La Furia de Jabali, which he did third try and downgraded from 5.15b to 5.15a; Jungle Speed (5.14c/d), which he flashed; and Last Night (5.14c/d).
Project Big was bolted by Adam Ondra in 2013—the same year he bolted Silence (5.15d)—but didn’t see much effort until Ondra and Schubert started working the line together last year. Schubert spent nearly two months on the climb since then—battling with fickle Norwegian weather and falling multiple times on the final crux sequence. Amazingly, it was the first time Schubert has ever been unable to send a rock climb in a single short trip.
The send
Project Big begins with a long 5.11d intro, after Schubert switches to a second rope to reduce drag higher on the route. This is followed by a V10-11 section, a middle section with a few decent but taxing rests, and then a meaty resistance section culminating in a very hard boulder problem. The crux move, a hard throw from a sloper to a crimp, is the 85th move of the route—and it’s followed by a few more hard moves and then 60+ feet of runout 5.13b or c.
The second he struck the crux, Schubert said, he was immediately scared of blowing it. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared on a climb before,” he said. “I know it’s just 8a [5.13b] or something like that, and I knew I should never be able to fall, but I was so scared of a foot slip or something like that.”
His fear was almost justified. There were multiple moments where things almost went wrong on the upper section. First he nearly fell while doing a long, precise pull-through from a wet hold. Then he broke a handhold—a horn that, though visibly cracked, he’d used many times before—and only barely managed to hold onto the part of the hold that remained on the wall.
“So nervous!” he cried as he clipped the anchors.
“This was the biggest mental battle that I have ever had in my career with a route,” he said later. “I have never tried a route that much. This is actually the first lead route that I have tried and didn’t finish in one trip. Now I have almost tried it for two months.”