The race to repeat Burden of Dreams

Sam M wrote:

I think it's great though. Shows how respectful, humble and conservative the climbers at the top are being.

Or what’s left for the top climbers…Alphane sure got shit on real quick, same with Sleepwalker.

They're also (apparently) sharing a lot, collaborating, and documenting publicly. Closed projects are more and more a thing of the past. I doubt we'll see any of the old murky controversies like Akira, Shadowplay etc. where it's unclear how or what was actually climbed.

Hard to keep things under raps with social media. Closed projects also are typically far less common with bouldering anyways, which is arguably where the absolute strongest climbers are at right now (I’ll make an exception for Ondra and Megos). Nobody can’t argue that social media isn’t great for documentation purposes. People are literally live streaming projecting and posting immediately upon sending, it’s hard to imagine any controversy anymore, especially at the highest level, about who sent it first vs. who developed/bolted/found climb with so many climbers relying on social media and sponsorships for at least supplemental income. 

Tony S wrote:

Will Bosi is now wearing a right shoe on his left foot.

Guess he's in "drinking a lot and partying" mode - we've all been there, mate. 

Long Ranger wrote:

Guess he's in "drinking a lot and partying" mode - we've all been there, mate. 

Or he just wanted to play with the left heel hook and the right shoe had better rubber for it.

I once grabbed two right shoes out of my garage and didn't realize my error until I got to the gym.  It _is_ possible to climb in two right shoes, but it's pretty uncomfortable and you can't edge well with the wrong-sided shoe.

Aaron K wrote:

I just think it's interesting that probably the two biggest prizes available in climbing in 2023 are repeats of a 7 year old boulder problem and a 6 year old sport route.

It's not cutting edge, but looks like Sharma just climbed his long-standing 9b project, so that's neat for us ancients. 

Long Ranger wrote:

It's not cutting edge, but looks like Sharma just climbed his long-standing 9b project, so that's neat for us ancients. 

9b is soooooo 2008 bro 

Not Not MP Admin wrote:

Or what’s left for the top climbers…Alphane sure got shit on real quick, same with Sleepwalker.

Return has yet to see a repeat, although Nate Williams is probably close 

I appreciate how invested you guys are in me. I wouldn’t really say I’m a better climber than Stefano but I have probably as many 5.14 FAs as he does. I appreciate the feedback that the jump from 5.14 to v16 is possible!!

Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

I appreciate how invested you guys are in me. I wouldn’t really say I’m a better climber than Stefano but I have probably as many 5.14 FAs as he does. I appreciate the feedback that the jump from 5.14 to v16 is possible!!

Wtf are you talking about?

There are currently five V17s in the world (depending on how you count I guess):

Burden of Dreams: Nalle FAed in 2016, proposing V17 which looks likely to stick; many suitors have been slapped down including D Woods. Shawn has done all moves, Bosi has as well, Stefano did well on the replica and has promised to fly to Finland if he gets 100k youtube subs.  Toru is currently out there with Will, his 4th trip to Burden.  Aiden... who knows.  Still no repeat.

Soudain Seul: Font compression problem, FAed by Simon Lorenzi, then downgraded by Pelorson (who is "Mr Downgrade") but then re-graded V17 by another climber, so who knows.  It's very armspan-dependent so Shawn was completely shut down on it (Shawn is like 5'6"?).

Return of the Sleepwalker: D Woods went full monk mode and sent this a year or two ago, giving it V17.  It adds a V13/14 start into an established V16, so the grade is probably solid, but no repeats to confirm it.  It's in Vegas so quite accessible, though very condition dependent.  Not sure if anyone is currently trying to repeat it, though the stand start (V16) has been done a number of times and seems to still be quite hard (Jakob Schubert was slapped down on this thing, for example).

Alphane: In Swiss. Shawn got the FA. A ton of elites were trying this when he sent this, his first V17.  It has since been repeated by Bosi, Aidan Roberts, and Simon Lorenzi (the Soudain guy above).  D Woods has been on this thing endlessly (and still is, according to Insta).  With 3 quick repeats, it may get downgraded; Bosi and Roberts didn't confirm the grade, Lorenzi did (which would make Lorenzi the only climber other than Raboutou to have two V17 ticks).

Megatron: In Eldo (near Boulder CO, USA). 15 mins from the parking lot with season in the late fall to early winter. Shawn's other V17 FA, taking a V14/15 start into an established D Woods V14. Probably the scariest of the 5, with a V11 high finish. This just got done so hasn't been repeated, though Drew Ruana has 70+ days on it and is close. D Woods isn't working on it anymore, apparently. Bosi said on Insta that he's coming to Colorado in May and wants to try Megatron, saying "overhanging crimps is my style."

RIP to that little lizard fr

John RB wrote:

Return of the Sleepwalker: D Woods went full monk mode and sent this a year or two ago, giving it V17.  It adds a V13/14 start into an established V16, so the grade is probably solid, but no repeats to confirm it.  It's in Vegas so quite accessible, though very condition dependent.  Not sure if anyone is currently trying to repeat it, though the stand start (V16) has been done a number of times and seems to still be quite hard (Jakob Schubert was slapped down on this thing, for example).

Nate is actively trying it, and is the front runner to send to send barring any injuries this season. I believe he has fallen off the last move, from the start, at least once. Also, in Schubert’s defense, I am pretty sure DWoods said he couldn’t do a single move on Alphane last year, and recently made links to the last hard/weird moves from the start. Bouldering at that high of a level (especially at one’s limit) can be so stylistic. 

Soudain Seul: Font compression problem, FAed by Simon Lorenzi, then downgraded by Pelorson (who is "Mr Downgrade") but then re-graded V17 by another climber, so who knows. It's very armspan-dependent so Shawn was completely shut down on it (Shawn is like 5'6"?).

Hard for me, personally, to take a (down)grade suggestion seriously by someone who has only climbed one established V15/16 over Lorenzi, who has climbed multiple established 16’s and 17’s (if you include Soudain Seul). Especially given it is in the font and has pretty easy access for European climbers. Likely this one fit Pelorson’s box extremely well. Either way, I can see this one eventually receiving a slash grade upon more ascents due to the nature of the climb. 

Alphane: In Swiss. Shawn got the FA. A ton of elites were trying this when he sent this, his first V17.  It has since been repeated by Bosi, Aidan Roberts, and Simon Lorenzi (the Soudain guy above).  D Woods has been on this thing endlessly (and still is, according to Insta).  With 3 quick repeats, it may get downgraded; Bosi and Roberts didn't confirm the grade, Lorenzi did (which would make Lorenzi the only climber other than Raboutou to have two V17 ticks).

I thought the same thing, but if hasn’t been downgraded by now (a few months since the rampage of repeats) I’m not sure it will. Didn’t the a similar thing happen to Creatures of the Dark Lagoon (V16) or whatever it’s called? If DWoods doesn’t downgrade my guess is that it will likely stick at V17. 

All in all, I would like to see Aiden Roberts come stateside for a long duration and see what happens. Granite seems to be his thing

Shawn and company are out at Burden today 

I don't think it's fair to say the DW and co honestly tried Burden - I think they just waked and baked and went to check it out 'cause they were bored and were around the area anyways and had some time to kill before their flight out.

Pretty cool to see the main contenders out there at the same time!

Cron wrote:

Will live streaming his first go is cool as hell. What a time to be alive. 

What?!  Did you watch it?  He broadcast his attempted flash to the world and literally fell off the very first move.  That was the lamest climbing video I have ever seen.

Not Not MP Admin wrote:

Wtf are you talking about?

"The race" I thought was including all of us MP users as well as the pros. I thought Tony was challenging all of us to do it before Shawn/Daniel (he is gonna be washed in two more years)/crew.

Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

"The race" I thought was including all of us MP users as well as the pros. I thought Tony was challenging all of us to do it before Shawn/Daniel (he is gonna be washed in two more years)/crew.

You’re trying waaaaaay too hard, dude. 

The race is over - 

https://www.8a.nu/news/will-bosi-claims-the-first-repeat-of-burden-of-dreams-9a-aj8rf

Edit - adding some copy-and-paste from the link -

Commenting on the second ascent, Bosi said “It feels unbelievable right now! I came to the boulder today thinking it would be too hot to climb but the warm up felt incredible and on the send I flew through the bottom section and after dropping the top hold previously, this time it all came together!” On the grade of the problem: “From the overall experience on this boulder from working the replica to finally sending it, I think it’s a step up from everything else I have done and it is a huge step up from any 8C/+ I’ve done. Therefore I think it definitely deserves 9A!” 

...

The ascent means so much to me as I never thought I would ever climb a boulder like this. So, I think I’ve learned that I am capable of more than I thought I was and I’m looking forward to finding my own BODs in the future.

amarius wrote:

On the grade of the problem: “From the overall experience on this boulder from working the replica to finally sending it, I think it’s a step up from everything else I have done and it is a huge step up from any 8C/+ I’ve done. Therefore I think it definitely deserves 9A!”

This part seems telling. Especially after Will didn’t quite want to confirm the grade of Alphane.

Crazy. Congratulations Will!

He downgraded it from B3 to B2.