Toru Nakajima frees his Regret in Ena, Japan

Japan's Toru Nakajima has made the first ascent of what promises to be another extreme boulder problem in Japan, namely Regret at Ena. The boulder climbs the right side of the V14 Emotion, and after two high crimps leads past three intense moves to the top. Nakajima worked out the sequence in just three sessions and thought the send would be simple, but in the end he needed over 20 days to connect these 3 moves together.

AlthoughNakajima has not suggested a difficulty, he explained "Hands down, it was the hardest climbing challenge I've faced. But if you ask me the grade, I couldn't tell you. It feels harder than Lucid Dreaming V15 in Bishop, US, which is kinda similar, but then again, who's to say if a 3-move V16 is a thing?"

Nakajima has climbed a string of established 8C boulder problems such as The Big Island at Fontainebleau in 2013 and The Story of Two Worlds at Cresciano in 2014, while in 2022 he was the first to climb Dai Koyamada's Epitaph at Mt. Horai after a crucial hold broke, suggesting the grade 8C+.