BURSTAmerican climbers Adam Shahar and Ben Hanna both recently sent Sosa V16 (8C+) in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Shahar and Hanna are the fourth and fifth ascensionists of the problem.
Zach Galla established Sosa in May 2024. Sosa is a hard roof climb, so it’s incredibly steep and athletic. Daniel Woods put some sessions into the climb, but didn’t end up with a send. In a YouTube video of his session footage, Woods was sure to give a shoutout to the people who “excavated the cave to make it climbable” and said it would have taken some “serious work”.
American climber Owen Whaley made the second ascent in April 2025, more than a year after Galla’s FA. Korean climber Sungsu Lee made the third ascent in September of last year. On his 8a.nu page, Lee, who climbed Burden of Dreams V17 twice because of a t-shirt dab and has also ticked Alphane V17, called Sosa “a banger”.
“We are so back,” said Shahar on his 8a.nu page. “First day of the year, first try getting through the bottom. Really thought I wouldn’t get the chance to hop back on this one due to a wrist injury a couple months back. Ecstatic I pulled this one off. Truly such an awesome power testpiece. Props to Zach for the FA.”
Shahar has now topped two V16 boulders, including Sosa. His first V16 climb was The Process at the Buttermilks in February of last year. In December 2025, he broke into V17 when he made the seventh ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker in Red Rock, Nevada. The 21-year-old American climber has climbed at least five V15s, including a few classics like Nalle Hukkataival’s The Understanding in Magic Wood, Woods’ Defying Gravity in Thunder Ridge, Colorado, Fred Nicole’s Monkey Wedding in South Africa, and Paul Robinson’s Lucid Dreaming in the Buttermilks.
Sosa is also Hanna’s second V16, which is the hardest bouldering grade he has climbed to date. In November 2025, he notably made a speedy ascent of Nathaniel Coleman’s Grand Illusion, a classic Little Cottonwood Canyon V16. He has climbed at least three 5.14d routes and one 5.15a, Ace of Spades at Poptire Cave in Utah.
Owen Whaley’s Second Ascent of Sosa V16
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