BURSTJun Shibanuma just announced via Instagram that he repeated Sleepwalker in Red Rock, Nevada. Established by Jimmy Webb in December 2018 at a proposed difficulty of V16, Sleepwalker has since become one of the most repeated of the grade in the world, seeing ascents from Daniel Woods, Nalle Hukkataival, Drew Ruana, Matt Fultz, Ryuichi Murai, Zach Galla, Noah Wheeler, and Will Bosi, among many others. The climb now has nearly 20 ascents.
Sleepwalker in Shibanuma’s first of the grade. There’s not much information about his ascent just yet but it appears he sent it yesterday on the final day of his trip. He has sent many V15 problems in the past, including Babel, Hydrangea, and Byaku-Dou, all located in Japan. Last year, he repeated the famous Dreamcatcher 5.14d in Squamish.
There is some debate about the grade of Sleepwalker. While most climbers have suggested V16 for the climb, Zander Waller – who has quite a large wingspan – said soft V15 is a more appropriate grade with his beta. Will Bosi also famously called the problem V15 after dispatching it in just three sessions, as did Adam Shahar. Others such as Zach Galla, Matt Fultz, and Noah Wheeler believe the problem to be soft V16.
Jimmy Webb’s FA of Sleepwalker
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