The first 9A boulder problem in the world. Nalle Hukkataival made the first ascent in October 2016 and the problem received significant attention from many of the strongest boulderers in the world (Toru Nakajima, Shawn Raboutou and Aidan Roberts to name a few) before Will Bosi made the second ascent in April 2023.
The problem was initially found by Marko Siivinen:
At first it looked like it might be possible so we started trying the moves... Pretty soon it was obvious it was a bit too hard for us 😄 So next time we took [Anton Johansson] with us, who was the strongest man alive at that time. He looked at the problem and touched the holds a bit and said: "well... It looks really good but it also looks like 9A"😂 So the only thing left to do was to take Nalle there and the rest is history. [1]
In an interesting twist, the problem has become somewhat famous for replicas being made of it. Aidan Roberts made a 3D scan of the holds and problem on his phone during a working visit to try the problem, he then 3D printed the holds and worked with Core Climbing to cast copies of the holds in resin. Due to the relatively flat, consistent angle of the problem it was then possible to mount the holds indoors and effectively train for the real thing using the replica. Notably, Will Bosi trained on the replica for several sessions to train for the problem, then having done all the moves on the replica he booked a trip to try the real thing and made rapid progress, doing all the moves in his first session and then making the second ascent after ~12 sessions on the real thing.
[1] Marko Siivinen on Instagram, commenting on discovering the problem in 2013. April 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CrB1L4ctXrR/
6 recorded ascents, including 1 unsuccessful ascent.
| Climber | Style | Ascent Date | Suggested Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nalle Hukkataival | Boulder | worked | 24th Oct 2016 | 9A |
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First ascent.
Nalle invested a huge amount of time and effort in to the problem before finally making the first ascent, spending 3 years and 4000+ attempts on the problem. References[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2016/10/nalle_hukkataival_puts_up_burden_of_dreams_-_font_9a-70761 [2] https://vimeo.com/241518809 [3] https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thelappnorproject17 [4] While working the problem Nalle posted about in a series of Instagram posts:
[4] The Lappnor Project (2017 film) |
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| Will Bosi | Boulder | worked | 12th Apr 2023 | 9A |
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Second ascent. 14 sessions.
The long-awaited second ascent after 24 days of work, with 10 sessions on a replica created using 3d scans of the holds and then 14 sessions on the real thing. References[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CrAtt4YtyXc/ [2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2023/04/first_repeat_of_burden_of_dreams_9a_by_will_bosi-73279 [4] https://open.spotify.com/episode/4F0rw3OCCtjOTO9pPCREGg |
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| Simon Lorenzi | Boulder | worked | 27th Dec 2023 | 9A |
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Third ascent. Around 25 sessions.
With this ascent Simon became the first climber to climb three problems graded 9A after his subsequent ascents of Soudain Seul and Alphane. Interestingly Simon used a slightly different sequence to previous ascentionits:
On the difficulty of the problem compared to Soudain Seul and Alphane:
References[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Zu5gONwDT/ [2] https://karpollaon8a.com/burden-of-dreams-third-ascent-by-simon-sisu-lorenzi/ [3] Training process for BoD youtube part 1 of 3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7R-aIeZ7yS8 [4] https://www.climbing.com/news/simon-lorenzi-burden-of-dreams/ |
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| Ryuichi Murai | Boulder | did not finish | 2024 | |
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Ryuichi made rapid progress on the problem, linking it from one move in on his third session and dropping the last hard move on his fourth session, but was unable to complete it on this trip. References |
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| Elias Iagnemma | Boulder | worked | 26th Mar 2024 | 9A |
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Fourth ascent.
Interestingly Ellias used very different beta to the other ascentionists: after sticking the first move he uses a heel hook to establish on the final hold, then instead of dynoing for the last hold he does a paddle dyno to the top edge of the problem. References[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/C49dbMFoL34/ [2] https://www.8a.nu/news/elias-iagnemma-repeats-burden-of-dreams-9a |
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| Lee Sungsu | Boulder | worked | 12th May 2025 | |
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Climbed twice! On the 10th May his t shirt dabbed the pads on the first move so to put the ascent beyond doubt he went back and repeated it with his short off. References[1] https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ9pKkmIgll/ |
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