Boulder problems

References

[1] 2017 list of ascentionists

Right hand line to Steppenwolf (8B)

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.

At the time of Nalle’s first ascent, the boulder was located in dense woodland. This has since been cleared, leaving the boulder out in the open and potentially improving the chances of getting good conditions.

There has been some controversy around the raising of the landing to a potentially slightly easier pull-on position. To date, no-one has repeated the problem using Nalle’s original foot positions on the start.

The climb has had very few daytime ascents; short daylight hours and the requirement for cool conditions mean most ascentionists have succeeded during a night time lamp session.

References

[1] Marko Siivinen on Instagram, commenting on discovering the problem in 2013. April 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CrB1L4ctXrR/

Originally climbed by pinching the right hand starting hold and making a powerful move to the first crimp and given 8B with this sequence. Subsequently the beta has improved and now involves guppying the starting right hand hold and using a left heel to make the first move static.

Goes left from a similar start to From the Dirt Grows the Flowers.