Austrian climber Nicolai Užnik flashed American Gangster V14 (8B+) in Zillertal, Austria on November 8th. First established in 2009 by Daniel Woods, this five-star line has also been climbed by well-known boulderers such as Paul Robinson, Jimmy Webb, and Pietro Vidi. The problem features a start and finish on jugs, connecting two powerful V12 sequences into a heady top-out. While some footage of the boulder had circulated before, the climbing collective Mellow recently published the full video of Užnik’s send.
“I just barely missed flashing another boulder at this grade a while back, so this time around I got my revenge!” Užnik wrote on Instagram. “I’m really happy I pulled it off—especially on such a standout line, originally put up by [Daniel Woods]. My beta for the top section felt like a gamble, but I stuck with it and managed to keep my head in the game after nearly messing up the opening moves.”
