Nathan Phillips has made the sought-after first ascent of a long-standing project in Brione, Switzerland, naming it Deep Fake and grading it 8C+. The problem is Phillips' hardest boulder ascent to date.

Phillips spent six years intermittently projecting the climb, building an indoor replica to help train specifically for it.

In an earlier Instagram post, he described the line as follows:

'The breakdown is roughly a 3 move 6C/V5 into a one move 8A/V11 (into the undercut), then a one move 8A+/V12 foot move, and finally another one move 8A/V11 move before getting into the powerful 8A/V11 stand start.'

Philiips made the first ascent on 3 December, but announced his success on 26 December with a video release on the mellow YouTube channel, which described the climb as 'a well known project in Ticino hiding in plain sight.'

Sharing his news on Instagram, Phillips wrote:

'6 years of effort into one moment.

'This has been a battle since I first tried this project in 2018 on my first trip to Brione. The hardest thing I've climbed by a long shot. It took me 8 sessions before I had managed all the moves and around 50 to finally do it (plus probably another 50 on my replica).

'It was far from the perfect attempt and I had to fight for every move but that made it all the more satisfying to stand on top. It was honestly the best feeling I've had from climbing and I don't think it will fade anytime soon.'

Phillips - a two-time British Bouldering Champion and World Championship finalist - is one of only five British climbers to have ticked boulders at 8C+ or above alongside Hamish McArthur, Solly Kemball-Dorey, Aidan Roberts and Will Bosi. His previous best ascents at 8C include Beautiful Mind, Trance (UKC News) and Juneru. 

Watch a video of Nathan's ascent below: