Will Bosi Climbing V17 in the U.S. and Europe
Watch all three of his V17 ascents and read what he had to say about the grades
Will Bosi, 25, recently made the second ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker V17 at Red Rocks after 12 sessions for his third boulder at the grade. The first ascent was by Daniel Woods in 2021.
Bosi is a climber from Edinburgh, Scotland, who started out as a competition climber. He progressed through national competitions and then European youth comps where he had several podium finishes. After retiring from comps, he to sport climbing and bouldering outdoors, where he’s become one of the world’s top climbers.
In 2020 he became the second British climber to climb 5.15b with his repeat of La Capella. The following year, he made more hard first ascents and repeats including among others, including La Furia de Jabali 5.15a FA, King Capella 5.15b FA, Mutation 5.15a second ascent, and Brandenburg Gate 5.15a FA.
Before Return of the Sleepwalker, Bosi had previously climbed two other V17 boulders: Shawn Raboutou’s Alphane in Chironico in 2022 and Nalle Hukkataival’s Burden of Dreams in Lappnor in 2023. Watch his three V17 sends below.
Alphane V17
About his send, Bosi said, “A few sessions back I was unsure as to whether Alphane would go on this trip, the temperature has been unseasonably hot, some rainy days had made it really humid and the route was damp in places. However, the crew out here managed to keep the psyche really high and the problem came together quickly. The moves on this line are so good and after a lot of time on the wall, I was really happy to claim the third ascent.”
About the grade, Bosi said, “In terms of a grade, I personally felt that Honey Badger V16 was more of a challenge for me and proposing a grade for that at the time was daunting as it was my first V16. At the cutting edge of climbing, grading feels so much more difficult as the margins are that much finer and personal strengths and preferences really come into play. Is it 9A? Honestly, I do not know and as I gain more experience of climbing around this grade range I may have a better view, but it is a fantastic line established by Shawn and I look forward to seeing more experienced climbers comment on where the grade sits.”
Burden of Dreams V17
After his send, he 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.”
About the grade, he said, “I think Nalle Hukkataival was right to suggest 9A [V17] and I agree with it. Comparing to the 8C [V15] boulders I’ve done it definitely felt like a massive step up. . On my sends of both Alphane and Burden of Dreams I felt like I had got stronger than the boulder and a lot of the moves didn’t end up feeling as limit as I expected. This meant the send goes were very confusing on the difficulty front. However with my send of Honey Badger I think I got super lucky and had that perfect go where I did everything perfectly and most moves felt at the absolute limit so the send felt desperate. I think I shouldn’t have sent Honey Badger for another couple days realistically and this has taken awhile to work out. Knowing this makes me more confident that Honey Badger could be hard 8C+ [V16], Alphane soft 9A and Burden of Dreams solid 9A. Hopefully that made some sense.”
Return of the Sleepwalker V17
About his send, Bosi said, “Sending Sleepwalker 8C/V15 in only three days completely blew my mind and having a long time left on the trip, I was pretty confident I could have a good stab at getting Return of the Sleepwalker done. In the last session before the send, everything just clicked. I was feeling confident but as the weather forecast looked bleak with a storm closing in, I was only able to take one rest day before heading back out for another session. I still felt quite tired so I was unsure about even trying it. However, after warming up, the moves were feeling great and I decided to give it a go. The first attempt went perfectly up to the sloper but then I really messed up the next move through to the slot and almost dropped it. Somehow, I recovered and hit the last hard move perfectly. Pulling onto the slab was incredible and I had to take a minute to get my breath back before heading up to the top.”
About the grade, Bosi said, “Grade wise I still believe the stand start is only 8C/V15 but I do think the sit start adds enough for it to remain 9A/V17. In comparison to the other climbs I have done at this grade, I think Return of the Sleepwalker comes in around the bottom end of the grade. Burden of Dreams was harder but it is such a different style. I think Return probably came in harder than Alphane. Currently, I am very unsure about the distinction between 8C+ and 9A and I think it will take some time and a broader consensus of climbers operating at this level to get the distinction right.”
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