Adam Shahar Sends Return of the Sleepwalker V17
It's the 20-year-old American climber's first of the grade
On December 16, Adam Shahar made the seventh ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker V17 in Red Rock, Nevada. The problem is a sit-start version of Sleepwalker, a V15/16 put up by Jimmy Webb in 2018. Daniel Woods established ROTSW in March 2021. His first ascent was historic, as ROTSW became the first V17 in the United States. Will Bosi made the second ascent in February of 2024. Noah Wheeler then made the third ascent in December that year.
The problem has seen quite a few ascents in 2025. Shahar was the fourth to tick ROTSW this year, after Simon Lorenzi, Ryuichi Murai, and Zach Galla. On his 8a.nu, Shahar labelled ROTSW as ‘soft’. When Galla made his recent ascent, he opened up a discussion on boulders at the upper grades, saying the following through Instagram:
“Bouldering grades at the top end are at a weird spot right now. In my mind there is a pretty clear soft, solid, and stiff of every grade until V16. From my experience the V16 grade doesn’t feel very deep because there are seemingly so few climbs in the upper end of it. V16 stiff and V17 soft are very minutely different, and small things like finger size or wingspan can change so much about how a climb feels. If I compare Return [of the Sleepwalker] and Shaolin [V17] to the V16s I’ve done, they are both an obvious step up but with my current experience at that level it’s hard to say for certain where they lay exactly. It will be interesting to me to see how they stack up with the other proposed [V17s] when I have the opportunity to try them.”
For context, there are over a dozen V17 problems that have been established. V17 was the most difficult bouldering grade in the world until very recently. It was only last month, on November 10, that Elias Iagnemma established Exodia in Italy and proposed the first-ever V18.
“Pretty surreal to have gotten it done,” said Shahar on Instagram. “My first time taking a look at this boulder was during my first trip to [Red Rock] in 2021. I remember trying ‘Wet Dream’ and watching [Daniel Woods] working his magic on the mega line that eventually came to be ROTSW.
“After completing ‘Sleepwalker’ last year soon after moving to [Salt Lake City], I knew that the full line would be great to test my limits on. I spent two days sussing out the bottom and giving my best shot at it, but no luck. This year after a large break from the boulder I felt a lot stronger and more prepared. I had some close tries in some sessions in the fall, and then finally on Tuesday, I stuck the sloper move from the bottom and took it all the way to the top. Couldn’t be happier to have executed and make the most of the attempt.”
ROTSW marks Shahar’s most difficult climb. It was his first of the grade. He ascended Sleepwalker back in December 2024. He ticked his first V16—The Process—in the Buttermilks in February 2024. He has climbed at least six V15s, including a few classics like Nalle Hukkataival’s The Understanding in Magic Wood, Woods’ Defying Gravity in Thunder Ridge, Colorado, and Paul Robinson’s Lucid Dreaming in the Buttermilks.
