Nalle Hukkataival's legendary boulder "Burden of Dreams" in Lappnor, Finland has gained another ascent, this time by 23-year-old American Noah Wheeler. He secured the seventh ascent of the world's first 9A.
"Dude, you dabbed."
Wheeler worked on the high-end boulder over seven sessions, spread across two trips. Just a few days ago, he posted a video on Instagram in which he climbed "Burden of Dreams" to the top – albeit with a noticeable dab: On his first cut-loose move, his left foot touched a crash pad. He dryly commented on it on Instagram with "Good Link".
Two attempts later, it finally happened: clean and without pad contact. Wheeler had booked a flight for 6 a.m. the next morning and had to pull off the decisive attempt literally at the last minute.
Some moments are so surreal that they still feel incomplete even afterwards.
Noah Wheeler
Third 9A for Wheeler
"Burden of Dreams" is Wheeler's third boulder problem in the ninth French grade. He had previously climbed it. Daniel Woods »Return of the Sleepwalker« (9A) in the Red Rocks and »Shaolin« (9A) by Sean bailey repeatedly. In comparison to Shaolin, Wheeler says: “I made it through every session from start to finish. I think you need a 75% success rate for each individual move to send BoD. It’s absolutely my style – I would guess the boulder is objectively harder than Shaolin, but therefore easier for me.” Accordingly, Wheeler has marked the boulder as “soft” on his 8a.nu logbook page.
Noah Wheeler during his second trip to Finland working on "Burden of Dreams". | All photos: Henrik Asklöf
"Burden of Dreams" – The world's first 9A
Nalle Hukkataival He first climbed the boulder in 2016 after nearly four years of project work, thus establishing the world's first 9A boulder. For over six years, the boulder remained unrepeated – despite attempts by big names like Daniel Woods and Shawn Raboutou. It wasn't until April 2023 that Scotsman Will Bosi managed to repeat Burden of Dreams. In December of the same year, Simon Lorenzi followed suit, securing the third ascent. They were followed by Elias Iagnemma, Sungsu Lee, and most recently, Makoto Yamauchi and Noah Wheeler. Like Wheeler, Sungsu Lee also had to top the boulder twice. During his first send, he noticed a minimal dab of his shirt on the crash pad in the video – so he simply went for it a second time: this time shirtless.
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Credits cover photo: Henrik Asklöf