Shawn Raboutou and Sean Bailey Try V17 in Red Rocks
The pair work Daniel Woods' Return of the Sleepwalker and an unclimbed project
Shawn Raboutou recently met up with Sean Bailey to work some hard problems in Red Rocks near Las Vegas. Raboutou just released a short film documenting a few of their sessions. The two work an unclimbed project next to Trieste V14, a popular Paul Robinson line originally put up in 2014. Raboutou believes the project will likely be V16 or V17.
The pair also spent multiple sessions working one of the hardest problems in the world, Return of the Sleepwalker. Daniel Woods made the first ascent of the line in Spring 2021. He proposed V17, making it first of the grade in the United States.
Located in Black Velvet Canyon, Return of the Sleepwalker V17 is a six-move extension of Jimmy Webb’s Sleepwalker V16, first sent in December 2018. Woods made the second ascent a month later. The line has also been repeated by Nalle Hukkataival, Drew Ruana, Nathan Williams, Matt Fultz, and Ryuichi Murai.
Raboutou is the first climber in the world to climb two V17’s. He had an incredible 2022 season, establishing V16’s F*ck the System and Story of 3 Worlds, and V17’s Alphane and Megatron.
Sean Bailey has climbed multiple V15 and V16 boulder problems including Box Therapy V16 in Rocky Mountain National Park and The Grand Illusion V16 in Little Cottenwood Canyon. In 2021, he repeated Alex Megos’ Bibliographie 5.15c. He has also won multiple IFSC World Cups in both boulder and lead.
Shawn Raboutou and Sean Bailey on Return of the Sleepwalker V17
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