BURSTIn December, Adam Shahar made the seventh ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker 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 Return of the Sleepwalker in March 2021 and gave it a grade of V17. Shahar just dropped his send with the title: UNCUT: “Return of the Sleepwalker” V17
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The problem was the first V17 in North America. Will Bosi made the second ascent in February of 2024, and Noah Wheeler made the third ascent later that year. The problem saw several ascents in 2025, including Simon Lorenzi, Ryuichi Murai, Zach Galla, and Shahar. On his 8a.nu, Shahar labelled Return of the Sleepwalker 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.”
There are over a dozen V17 problems that have been established. V17 was the most difficult bouldering grade in the world until November last year when 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.”
Return of the Sleepwalker is Shahar’s hardest boulder to date. He ticked his first V16, The Process, in the Buttermilks in February 2024, and he’s climbed at least six V15s, including a few classics like The Understanding in Magic Wood, Defying Gravity in Thunder Ridge, Colorado, and Lucid Dreaming in the Buttermilks.
Shahar’s Send
Wheeler’s Send
Bosi’s Send
Daniel Woods FA
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