Gripped Magazine
Mejdi Schalck Sending Defying Gravity V15
Mejdi Schalck recently ticked the Daniel Woods mega-classic, Defying Gravity V15 (8C). The problem was established by Woods in 2013. It is located in South Platte, Thunder Ridge, Colorado. Schalck just released a film about his battle with the problem, which you can view below.
Defying Gravity is a wildly dynamic problem that features one of the single hardest starting moves in the world: a coordinated jump sequence between two glassy rails that clocks in at V14. A few different betas have been discovered for sticking the rail, but each one is as difficult as the next. After progressing to a higher set of rails, a huge, shouldery deadpoint that is around V10 follows, with climbers cutting feet and coiling their body to hold the position.
A few days after Woods made the first ascent, Jimmy Webb made the second. Then, the problem went unrepeated for nearly 10 years until Noah Wheeler topped it in 2023. Shortly after the long-awaited third ascent from Wheeler, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nathaniel Coleman picked up the fourth ascent. There’s been a handful of other ascents since then. Hamish McArthur famously sent the problem in only 30 minutes. Incredibly, McArthur also ticked the sit-start variation, Coleman’s No One Mourns the Wicked V17, within 2 hours and 17 minutes of first trying Defying Gravity.
“First chapter of the USA trip finished,” said Schalck on Instagram. “Feeling grateful to climb on these amazing boulders and to meet so many nice people out there.”
Defying Gravity was Schalck’s third V15: in November 2024 he topped The Big Island in Fontainebleau, France, and in August 2025, he ticked La Force Tranquille in Magic Wood, Switzerland. In late October, Schalck flashed Casavino V14 (8B+) in Brione, Switzerland, his hardest flash to date. He’s sent many V14s, including Mystic Stylez and Practice of the Wild this year. Schalck also repeated the world’s first deep water solo graded 5.15a, Chris Sharma’s Es Pontas in Mallorca. But the 21-year-old French climber is perhaps best known for his comp climbing. He won one gold and two silvers in the 2025 Boulder World Cup.
Mejdi Schalck climbing Defying Gravity V15
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