Gripped Magazine
Jakob Schubert Makes Rare Repeat of Emotional Landscapes
Jakob Schubert and Michael Piccolruaz have just announced their ascents of Emotional Landscapes (post-break) in Maltatal, Austria. The boulder was opened almost a quarter of a century ago. Since then, a hold broke, so the original problem is no more. Both the original and post-break versions feature a wild, dynamic throw, requiring a strong left shoulder to clutch the next hold.
Emotional Landscapes was established way back in 2002 by Klem Loskot. It was considered “almost legendary by everyone in the bouldering scene,” according to its second ascensionist, Martin Moser, who topped the boulder two years after its first ascent. A couple of others repeated the problem, including Philip Moser and Nalle Hukkataival. Hukkataival was the last climber to top the problem before a key foothold broke.
In March 2023, Nicolai Užnik made the first post-break ascent and proposed a new grade of V16. “Once maybe the hardest boulders in the world, barely repeated even today,” said Užnik on his YouTube channel. “To this day, it’s still one of my most demanding climbs, and one that took a huge amount of effort.”
Schubert and Piccolruaz offered their thoughts on the grade, too. On Instagram, Schubert called it “such a great benchmark for the V15 grade in our opinion.” He continued to say, “Thinking that this was almost 25 years ago is incredibly impressive and shows how ahead of his time Klem was. Sending it the same day with [Michal Piccolruaz] felt special for sure!”
Emotional Landscapes is Piccolruaz’s fourth V15. His first was his FA of La Grosse Tarlouze back in 2015 in Magic Wood, Switzerland. In March 2020, he climbed Sierra Madre SD in Zillertal, Austria and in July 2025, he topped The Smile in Rocklands, South Africa – he called both of these soft for the grade.
“Ok, this comes as a bit of a surprise,” Piccolruaz said on his 8a.nu page. “I joined Jakob to come and support him on [Emotional Landscapes] thinking of probably trying something else. But then I warmed up, played around on the lower moves, flashed the stand start (to the lip only, it was soaking wet), and so I thought well, maybe I should try to actually climb this boulder.
“The first day, I got kind of close, making it through the lower part with the central feet, locking off slowly to the first hold, but I would end up having to bail due to fatigue and the increased humidity later on in the day. The second day, we came back and Jakob quickly figured out a way to make the heel-toe jam beta work, and we could soon consistently climb into the stand. Some dry fires later, first Jakob got it done well in control, and after almost losing faith that I could do it too, I pulled out a good beast mode go and managed to complete the team ascent! Mad respect to Klem for climbing this all those years ago. So surreal and so ahead of its time! Crazy!”
Schubert had a relatively quiet 2025 until November, when he dropped the news of his second ascent of Nicolai Užnik’s Mount Doom V17 in Maltalal, Austria. This was Schubert’s second of the grade. At the end of January, he ticked Daniel Wood’s The Nest V15. Of course, the V15 was just something to keep Schubert motivated as he struggled with skin on his bigger project, Shaolin V17, which he sent shortly after.
In 2023, he made the first ascent of Adam Ondra’s “Project Big” in Flatanger, Norway, naming it B.I.G. and proposing a grade of 5.15d. He also climbed Shawn Raboutou’s Alphane V17 in Ticino, Switzerland. This combo made him the first climber ever to tick the hardest bouldering grade (V17) and hardest sport climbing grade (5.15d) in the world. In 2024, he placed third at the Paris Olympics, earning his second Olympic bronze medal.
Nicolai Užnik Climbing Emotional Landscapes V15
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