With the first ascent of Boulder Mugen (8C) in Hinohara, Japan, Dai Koyamada showed that even at 46 he is still one of the best in his sport. Not only the inspection itself is impressive, but also the meticulousness of the preparation: Koyamada spent five days building the gigantic wooden landing platform.
The Japanese Dai Koyamada has numerous high-end boulders in his palmares, including The Wheel of Life (8C+, FA), Dreamtime (8C) or Nayuta (8C+, FA). He climbed his first 8C boulder 20 years ago. Recently, at the age of 46, he made the first ascent of Mugen (8C), a veritable symphony of finger holes.
“One thing is clear: this problem is great. One of the best problems in my life. And I could climb it. Those two facts make me happy."
Dai Koyamada
No ground, no landing
But before Dai Koyamada could even start designing the boulder, his manual skills were in demand. Because: The chalk stone he had in mind sits enthroned above a gorge of boulders.
«I can't complain about the beautiful wall. It has only one flaw: because there was no ground, there was no landing."
Dai Koyamada
Over a period of five days, he built a platform out of branches – a construction that more than lives up to the name platform and can even be admired from below.
The name of his most recent 8C boulder means short-lived, explains Dai Koyamada. At the same time, mugen also means infinite in Japanese. "In other words, Mugen has a contradictory meaning."
Mugen: "At least 8C"
Regarding Mugen's assessment, he emphasizes that this finger hole climb will probably feel different depending on the size and thickness of the fingers. For him personally, it felt hard, says Dai Koyamada. "Since giving a rating is subjective, I can say that it felt like at least an 8C for me."
"I'm too old to discuss high-end boulder grades."
Dai Koyamada
Everything else should be decided by future repeaters among themselves. "I'm too old to discuss high-end boulder grades." It is much more important for the Japanese climbing pioneer anyway that Mugen is one of the best problems of his life and that he was able to climb it.
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Credits: Cover picture Dai Koyamada