BURSTEarlier this year, Noah Wheeler climbed Burden of Dreams V17, one of the world’s hardest boulders. It took him seven sessions across two trips to unlock the problem. He had previously climbed Daniel Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker, and Sean Bailey’s Shaolin, both V17. Wheeler just dropped a new film featuring his send, watch below.
“Burden demanded something different than optimization for me to unlock it, it demanded reorientation,” Wheeler said on 8a.nu. After seven sessions across two trips, he finally locked in the final move. “I had a lot of difficulty sleeping the night before I sent, and I spent most of this time navigating my mental game, attempting to find a mental space in which I would be comfortable doing the last move. I found it, envisioned it, and when the session came, acted on it.”
Burden of Dreams was first climbed by Nalle Hukkataival in 2016 after nearly four years of projecting. Hukkataival’s beta is what most people think of when they think about the beta for Burden of Dreams. He used a five-move sequence to move up the short, 45-degree overhanging face. Many different betas have been innovated since then.
Burden of Dreams sat for over six years without a repeat. Many of the world’s best tried their hand at the problem, including Daniel Woods and Shawn Raboutou.. In April 2023, Will Bosi made the coveted second ascent of the problem, using nearly identical beta as Hukkataival. Simon Lorenzi then made the third ascent in December 2023, Elias Iagnemma the fourth in March 2024, and Lee the fifth in May 2025. Makoto Yamauchi topped the problem just before Wheeler. Wheeler’s ascent was the seventh.
Burden of Dreams V17
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