Shawn Raboutou Announces Ascent of Alphane V17
Shawn Raboutou announces the ascent of what may become the world's third V17
On August 19, 2022, American boulderer Shawn Raboutou announced his ascent of what could become the world’s third V17. Rumoured to have been climbed long before this recent announcement, Raboutou continues to show himself as a leader in outdoor boulder development.
Update August 22, 2022: In conjunction with The North Face, Mellow released the footage of Raboutou’s Alphane V17.
The World’s Hardest Boulder Problems
Alphane joins only two other boulder problems that have retained their difficulty rating of V17 or 9A. The first came after Nalle Hukkataival invested over four years of effort into Finland’s Lappnor Project. He named the problem Burden of Dreams after he claimed the first ascent.
Since Hukkataival established the ground-breaking problem, several top-level boulderers have tried to climb it. British boulderer Aidan Roberts recently invested a month-long trip into the climb. He talks about his process on the problem with co-host Sam Prior on The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast. Roberts also talks a about trying a hard project with Raboutou. It seems possible that Alphane was that project, but this has not yet been confirmed. You can watch Roberts climb on a simulator he built for Burden of Dreams here.
Charles Albert’s No Kpote Only became the second boulder problem to earn the elusive V17 rating before it was subsequently downgraded. Although this thin crimp-line is widely considered somewhere between V15 and V16, Albert began the process of normalizing this once unimaginable difficulty rating.
Continuing this process, American boulderer Daniel Woods put over three months of effort into what ultimately became climbing’s second V17. After a long process on Sleepwalker, a V16 first established by Jimmy Webb in Red Rocks Nevada, Woods continued on a more difficult lower right start. Woods placed over three months of effort into Return of the Sleepwalker V17. His low-right start to this now classic Red Rocks V16 is said to add a V13 into Sleepwalker. Read more about Return of the Sleepwalker here and watch the ascent below.
The fourth problem to earn the elusive rating was Fontainebleau’s Soudain Seul. Belgian boulderer and World Cup climber Simon Lorenzi established the low, left start on Dave Graham’s famous problem The Big Island. Graham established this squeeze block at V15, though the difficulty has been contested in recent months.
The low, left project to the Big Island was one of the more famous projects in Font before Lorenzi sent the climb. He proposed the difficulty rating of 9A or V17. Nico Pelorson claimed the second ascent shortly after and suggested a downgrade to 8C+ or V16.
Shawn Raboutou
Raboutou has been on a tear since 2021 climbing numerous challenging Swiss projects. In May, Raboutou published his ascent of F*ck the System V16. The impressive ascent added lower moves to another Dave Graham first ascent, Foundation’s Edge. Graham recently published that he has also climbed the low start confirming the difficulty of the problem at V16.
Raboutou delayed the announcement of F*ck the System in addition to Story of 3 Worlds V16. This steep left start to the Story of 2 Worlds adds a significant amount of climbing into the famous Swiss boulder problem. The original line is another Dave Graham first ascent, established on the back of the Dreamtime boulder. According to hardclimbs, the 21 move V15 was named in reference to the grade inflation occurring at the time. Graham said the line set a “new standard for 8C.” Ironically, the difficulty of this problem has also been called into question recently. Alex Megos commented on the newer kneebar beta that makes the opening moves easier.
Finally, we arrive at the latest release in Raboutou’s first ascents: Alphane. The problem appears go left of Alphane Moon, an already established 8A in Chironico, Switzerland. He said little about the problem on Instagram, however, the footage will be released in a larger climbing film on August 22, 2022. If it retains its difficulty rating, it will become the third V17 in the world. In the meantime, climbing awaits the footage in what looks to become the most anticipated bouldering film of 2022.
Featured image of Shawn Raboutou on Off the Wagon Sit V16 – photo by Mellow.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
