Ryuichi Murai has made the fourth ascent of Livin' Large (V16), in Rocklands, South Africa.

First established by Nalle Hukkataival in 2009, and graded 8C at the time, the twenty-six foot boulder was the one of the first instances of top end bouldering and highball bouldering coming together.

The boulder received its second ascent at the hands of Jimmy Webb in 2015, who described Nalle's first ascent as 'one of the most impressive things ever done in climbing'. Shawn Raboutou made the third ascent in 2018, at which point he suggested an upgrade to 8C+, which is the grade that Murai has reported his ascent at.

This upgrade would make Livin' Large just the the second ever 8C+ boulder, after Christian Core's Gioia (f8C+), established in 2008.

Livin' Large is perhaps best known for its central role in the Reel Rock episode 'High and Mighty', which followed Jimmy Webb as he sought to become the second person to climb the route, whilst also showing the fear that the boulder instilled in a peak-form Daniel Woods.

Ryuichi Murai's ascent of the boulder comes at the end of an impressive trip to Rocklands, within which he has already made three 8B+ repeats and an 8C repeat. He also made repeat of Daniel Woods' El Corazon (V12) - 8A+/8B - the crux move of which, a dyno between wide crimps, was made all the more challenging by the fact that Murai is only five foot six.

Having ticked off the main objective of his Rocklands trip, Murai shared news of the ascent on instagram, where he said:

'Mega psyched! I've done the main goal of this tour!'

'This line, which is over eight metres high, was called the Real Big Project at the time. It was very intimidating to imagine the climbers who tried this in the past fell from the same height as a balcony on the third floor'.

'The first half consisted of compression moves with friction slopers, and the second half was a mental battle (V11-ish) that required delicate footwork. It was only possible to try in perfect conditions in the early morning (~9:00), evening (17:00~), or [on a] cloudy day'.

'However, the approach takes forty-five minutes, so early in the morning there weren't enough time to warm up. In the evening there's only a short time after the rock cool down untill the sunset, so a cloudy day is the best. Due to friction issues, the damage to the finger skin was quite severe. If I tried, I had to rest for two to three days. So this cloudy day near the end of the tour was my last chance'.

'The conditions were great on this day and every move worked perfectly on the second try. I just focused on each hold in front of me, and didn't feel any fear of heights. It would have been really bad if I missed the last move. I'm glad I climbed, but more than that I'm glad I didn't fall'.

'Thank you to the tour members who helped me with the big hike for days, and huge respect Nalle Hukkataival for putting this mega up!'

Murai has been enjoying excellent bouldering form this year, with two 8C repeats and two 8C+ repeats to his name. Livin' Large is his seventh 8C+ ascent overall, of which three are unrepeated first ascents.