In his bouldering era: Stefano Ghisolfi repeats »Dreamtime« & »The Story of 2 Worlds« in Cresciano

The 33-year-old Italian secured two of the most legendary 8C boulders ever in Ticino – as well as his fifth and sixth lines of this difficulty level.

Within just a few days, Stefano Ghisolfi repeated two of his hardest routes to date in the Swiss bouldering area of ​​Cresciano (Ticino): Fred Nicole's "Dreamtime" and shortly afterward Dave Graham's "The Story of 2 Worlds." Both boulders are located on the same block and are among the earliest 8C classics.

"Dreamtime": the world's first 8C

In the world of challenging bouldering, "Dreamtime" hardly needs an introduction. First climbed by Fred Nicole in 2000, it is considered the first 8C in bouldering history. Nicole's ascent brought bouldering in Ticino into the spotlight of the international professional scene.

To this day, the route has lost none of its reputation. "Dreamtime" is an uncompromising, roughly 20-move test piece on small crimps and has been repeated by numerous top athletes. Among them is now the Italian professional climber Stefano GhisolfiThe 33-year-old is among the best in the world, especially in lead climbing, but has also mastered difficulties up to 8C+ in bouldering.

Downgrade, breakout, upgrade: the story of »Dreamtime«

Since its first ascent almost 26 years ago, "Dreamtime" has had an eventful history. The first person to repeat the route, Bernd Zangerl, initially confirmed Fred Nicole's historic suggestion of a difficulty grade of 8C in 2001 – a grade that had never been assigned before.

However, the consensus didn't last long: In the following years, Dave Graham and Chris Sharma, the third and fourth ascensionists respectively, downgraded the route to 8B+. After holds on the original boulder were chipped in 2004, other repeaters joined in this downgrade. Among them were Malcolm Smith, Dai Koyamada, and Adam Ondra, who completed the line in just four hours in 2008.

In the fall of 2009, a hold on the route finally broke. Since then, "Dreamtime" has once again been considered 8C – a classification most repeaters agree on. Jan Hojer, who made an ascent in 2013, called the boulder problem in Cresciano "harder than any 8B+ I've ever touched."

Currently, the difficulty of "Dreamtime" is rated as either 8C, a soft 8C, or a hard 8B+ for repetitions. The latter is rather rare, however – the lower grade was recently assigned by Clément Lechaptois (2020), Stefan Scherz (2023), and Michael Piccolruaz (2024). All three used the original jump beta instead of a sequence on crimps.

To date, at least 65 people have repeated the legendary line. In November 2024, they succeeded. Michaela Kiersch the first female ascent of »Dreamtime«, a year later Janja Garnbret also repeated the coveted bouldering problem.

Stefano Ghisolfi: "Had no chance 15 years ago"

For Stefano Ghisolfi, "Dreamtime" also represents the progress he has made in his rock climbing career. Around 15 years ago, the Italian already stood before the 45-degree overhanging boulder in Cresciano. "Back then, I tried the line out of curiosity and didn't stand a chance," the now 33-year-old wrote on Instagram.

More than a decade later, Ghisolfi repeated the ascent in four sessions. Like most other ascenders, he used the crimp beta instead of the jump.

Stefano Ghisolfi is one of the strongest all-around climbers in the world. He has repeated or made the first ascent of four routes graded 9b+ – including the legendary route "Excalibur" (9b+) in Arco. From mid-2025, the lead climbing expert also increasingly focused on difficult boulder problems in Europe's top climbing areas, especially in Ticino. With success: Since then, he has completed six routes graded 8C and his first 8C+, Adam Ondra's "Gioia" in Varazze.

Ghisolfi also repeats “The Story of 2 Worlds”

This year, Stefano Ghisolfi wants to further test his limits in bouldering. Opposite 8a.nu Immediately after his ascent of "Dreamtime," he mentioned two specific projects in Ticino. Ghisolfi has since repeated one of them, Dave Graham's "The Story of 2 Worlds" (8C) – almost faster than we can type here.

Graham first climbed the line in 2005, but it wasn't until the 2010s that it began seeing regular repeat ascents. As a lower start to "The Dagger" (8B+), Graham called "Story" "the new standard" for 8C at the time. Since 2022, there has also been an extension to this line: "Story of Three Worlds" (8C+), first climbed by Shawn Raboutou. This project is also still on Ghisolfi's to-do list.

Given his numerous rock climbing projects, the six-time World Cup winner plans to reduce his competition appearances this season. However, he will definitely participate in the European Lead Climbing Championships, which take place in Laval in August.

That might interest you

• Historic: Michaela Kiersch repeats Dreamtime, the world's first 8C boulder
• Second repetition and second devaluation for REM on the Dreamtime boulder

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Credits cover photo: Sara Grippo