Guillaume Glairon-Mondet Puts Up New V16 in Fontainebleau
The world’s newest hardest boulder problem?
Unlock this article and more benefits with 25% off.
Already have an Outside Account? Sign in
25% Off Outside+.
$4.99/month $3.75/month*
Get the one subscription to fuel all your adventures.
- Map your next adventure with our premium GPS apps: Gaia GPS Premium and Trailforks Pro.
- Read unlimited digital content from 15+ brands, including Outside Magazine, Triathlete, Ski, Trail Runner, and VeloNews.
- Watch 600+ hours of endurance challenges, cycling and skiing action, and travel documentaries.
- Learn from the pros with expert-led online courses.
*Outside memberships are billed annually. Print subscriptions available to U.S. residents only. You may cancel your membership at anytime, but no refunds will be issued for payments already made. Upon cancellation, you will have access to your membership through the end of your paid year. More Details
![GuiGui battles the crux of his new Font V16 <em>Le Pied à Coulisse</em> [screen-shot from video below].” title=”GuiGui battles the crux of his new Font V16 <em>Le Pied à Coulisse</em> [screen-shot from video below].”> <strong>The world’s newest hardest boulder problem? </strong>Guillaume “GuiGui” Gliaron-Mondet has made the first ascent of<br />
<em>Le Pied </em><em>à Coulisse </em>in Fontainebleau, France, which he rates 8C+ (V16). </p>
<p>The problem shares the first moves of <em>Chaos </em>(8B/V13) before it escapes directly through the roof and into a highball slab finish. “Some really<br />
powerful moves on good crimps, including some really strenuous body tension positions,”Glairon-Mondet writes on his <a target=](https://d1vs4ggwgd7mlq.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Article-Images/News-Photos/Jan-2016/GuiGui-cover.jpg?width=730)
blog.
“Then, the mantle is for me the hardest and low percentage part of the boulder.”
Glairon-Mondet discovered the line with Nico Januel three years ago. “We started brushing, cleaning, and trying the moves…” he writes, “and quickly
realized that this line was possible.”
Januel came close to sending it the first year, Glairon-Mondet writes. But the FA would eventually fall to Glairon-Mondet.
“It took me around 25 sessions over three years,” he said in an interview with 8a.nu, “12 [sessions] between
October and January.” The difficulty of the boulder problem limited him to three attempts per session. Finally, cold and windy weather in Fontainebleau
today gave Glairon-Mondet the conditions to pull through on his third attempt of the day.
Glairon-Mondet struggled to name a grade at first, but chose V16 based off the ratings of other classics in the area and benchmarks around the world. He
writes, “…this problem seems to be a new level of difficulty in the forest, a lot harder than the other things I have already done.”
He has ticked-off most of the Font’s hardest test-pieces, including the five 8C/V15’s The Big Island, Trip Hop, Jour de Chasse, Toupie Carnivore assis, and
Le Marathon de Boissy.
But Glairon-Mondet also acknowledges the controversy of rating such difficult problems. In his blog he states, “I will never say that I have climbed the hardest boulder in the world… many things make it complicated.” He ends his post in hopes
that “the bouldering ‘world’ stars will come soon to try it.”
Watch Guillaume Gliaron-Mondet on the first ascent of Le Pied à Coulisse (8C+/V16):