How to Project a Boulder: What V17 Sends Teach the Rest of Us
This week I watched two V17 films back to back from the couch, which is roughly the opposite of projecting. Jakob Schubert dropped a short film on his 2025 second ascent of Mount Doom in Maltatal, Austria: eight days of work, a hold that broke into a sharp new crux, and an injury along the way. The same week, uncut footage surfaced of Hamish McArthur's second ascent of Megatron in Eldorado Canyon, done in five sessions. Nobody reading this is climbing V17. But everybody reading this has a problem at their gym they fall off at the same move every Tuesday. The process is the same one. It's just slower, and nobody films it.
The 10-second answer
Projecting a boulder means choosing a problem you can't flash, breaking it into sections, solving each move on its own, then linking those sections until the whole thing goes. The limit is almost never motivation. It's skin, tendons and rest. Work it in short, focused sessions, rest properly between attempts, write down your beta, and stop the session while you're still climbing well.
What "projecting" actually means
A flash is sending on your first try. A redpoint is sending after you've already tried it, fallen, and learned. A bouldering project is anything that needs more than one session to redpoint. That's the whole definition, and it scales from V3 to V17 without changing shape.
What changes is the ratio. At your flash grade, you spend thirty seconds reading and ten seconds climbing. On a project, you spend most of your time not climbing: sitting on the pad, watching someone else's feet, pulling on in the middle of the problem, resting. The films make this obvious. The send is a couple of minutes. The eight days are the story.
If you're not sure what grade is realistically "a project" for you, the bouldering pyramid tool shows where your volume thins out. That thin layer, one or two grades above where you flash, is where projects live.
How to pick a project worth your sessions
Most people pick projects badly. They pick the one that looks the coolest, or the one their stronger friend just did, and then they spend three weeks failing on a single move they have no chance of doing yet. Here's my filter:
- You can do most of the moves on day one. Not in a row. Individually. If two or more moves are completely impossible, it's a goal, not a project. Come back in six months.
- The crux suits what you want to get better at. A project is training in disguise. Pick one that makes you practice something you avoid: heel hooks, slab trust, compression.
- It will still be there. Gyms reset. Check with the desk when that wall is scheduled for a strip. Outdoors, check the conditions window before you invest.
The V-scale breakdown helps set expectations for what a grade feels like. If you're earlier in the curve, our V0 to V5 progression timeline covers when projecting starts to make sense at all.
Session one: reconnaissance, not attempts
Alpine ski racers get a course inspection before a slalom. They sideslip the course, memorize the gates, and then get exactly one shot. Boulderers have it better: we get to rehearse the gates. So use session one for that.
- Read it from the ground. Find the start holds, the finish, the rests, and where the obvious crux is. Then assume the obvious crux is wrong.
- Brush every hold you'll touch. Old chalk and rubber turn a hard move into an impossible one. Brush between goes too, not just at the start.
- Pull on in the middle. Don't waste goes on the easy start. Figure out each hard move in isolation, from whatever position gets you there.
- Film yourself. Your phone is a better coach than your memory. Feet you swear you placed are often not where you placed them. (If that footage ever goes online, how to become a climbing influencer is where we cover what to do with it.)
End session one with a written list of the beta, move by move. A notes app is fine. You will forget which toe you flagged with by next week, guaranteed.
Breaking it down and linking sections
Once every move goes on its own, the job becomes linking sections. Split the problem into two or three chunks that overlap by one move. Link the top section first, from its start to the finish. Then link from the crux to the top. Then from the start to the crux. The overlap matters: the move where two sections meet is the move you'll fall on when you're tired, so it should be the one you've rehearsed most.
Linking from the top down is the trick nobody tells beginners. Every time you link the finish, you're rehearsing the part of the climb you'll be doing on send day with the least left in the tank. When you finally reach it from the start, it should feel automatic.
When the rock changes the rules
Schubert's film has the detail I keep coming back to: a hold broke during the process and left a sharp edge that became its own new crux. His beta died and he had to rebuild it. At V3 in a gym, the equivalent is a spun hold, a foot that got greasy, or a setter who "fixed" something. Don't mourn the old beta. Go back to session-one mode for that move, solve it in isolation, and relink.
Rest between attempts (the part everyone skips)
The single most common projecting mistake I see is burn after burn with thirty seconds between. Every go after you're tired teaches your body the wrong sequence: shorter reaches, sloppier feet, falling at the crux. You're not practicing the problem anymore. You're practicing failing at it.
My rule: rest between attempts until your forearms feel like they did before the go, which is usually several minutes on a full-length try. Shoes off, sit down, look at the video. A good project session is a handful of quality attempts, not twenty scrappy ones. When two goes in a row are worse than the one before, the session is over. Walking away while you're still climbing well is how you come back stronger next time.
This is the same reason we built the board session rules around a hard time cap: fingers adapt on a slower clock than motivation does.
Between sessions: skin, logs and knowing when to walk away
A project session ends on skin as often as it ends on strength. Split tips mean days off, and days off mean you lose the beta feel. File down calluses before they tear, keep tape in your bag, and don't start a hard session on thin skin just because it's Tuesday.
Keep a simple log: date, conditions, high point, which section you linked, what felt different. Over three or four sessions it tells you something your mood won't: whether you're actually progressing. If your high point hasn't moved in three sessions and no individual move got easier, put the project down. Work something else in the same style for two weeks, then come back. Projects often go on the first session after a break.
Everything that makes projecting work lives in your bag: the brush, the tape, the chalk, the snack, the notebook. Full transparency: we make one. The CRACX Ascend bouldering chalk bucket is a chalk bucket and gear bag in one, built around exactly this kind of session where you sit at the base for most of it. It's $49.99 at launch (regular price $89.99), with a brush and chalk ball included, first run ships in November 2026, free shipping, US only. If you'd rather sort your kit first, our bouldering gym bag checklist is free.
A session-by-session project plan
| Session | Goal | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reconnaissance | Every move tried in isolation, beta written down |
| 2 to 3 | Solve the crux | Crux move done at least twice, from its real position |
| 3 to 5 | Link sections | Top section linked, then crux-to-top linked |
| Send days | Full attempts | Few, fully rested goes. Stop when quality drops. |
Your numbers will differ. McArthur needed five sessions on Megatron; Schubert needed eight days on Mount Doom. What they share with a V4 project is the order of operations, not the count.
Quick answers
How long should you project a boulder?
As long as you're measurably progressing: a new move, a longer link, a higher high point. When three sessions pass with no change, take a break from it rather than grinding.
How many attempts per session on a project?
Fewer than you think. A handful of fully rested, full-effort goes beats a dozen tired ones. Stop when two attempts in a row get worse.
Should you watch beta videos before projecting?
Watch them after session one, not before. Solving it yourself first teaches you more, and other climbers' beta often doesn't fit your height or style anyway.
Is it bad to project too far above your grade?
If you can't do most of the individual moves, yes. You'll mostly train frustration. One or two grades above your flash level is the productive zone.
— CRACX Co-founder
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Cover photo : Julia Margeth Theuer / Unsplash. Graphics by CRACX.