Boulder problems

Left exit to Maxwell's Demon Low

kiinokuni boulder area, Mie, Japan

The Sisu project is an unclimbed line in Finland first tried by Nalle Hukkataival. It is incredibly hard: Nalle was only able to do a handful of the moves over the course of many sessions.

Hamish McArthur:

I would say it's physically possible, but practically impossible, maybe. Physically, I believe that a human being has the physical capacity to climb the thing, but I think you'd have to really, really, really value climbing that and only live there essentially and have that be your entire life goal. The thing that really brought it home is feeling some of the holds, how small and sharp they are, and knowing that if I had one go or I tried as hard as I possibly could, I would go through my skin on it. So you could maybe have like one max-effort go a week at best, and that's only a few weeks a year when it's cold enough to do it. So it feels like practically an absolute nightmare to project. [3]

References

[1] http://nalle-hukkataival.blogspot.com/2010/04/sisu-project.html

[2] Hamish McArthur and Noah Wheeler check the boulder out on a wet day in 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmqvRaR__1g

[3] https://tensionclimbing.com/blogs/blog/reflections-from-finland

[4] https://nalle-hukkataival.blogspot.com/2010/03/finland-update.html?m=1

Not to be confused with the Six Degrees (project)

The Six Degrees Project is an unclimbed problem in Yosemite. Aidan Roberts has been seriously projecting it since moving to California in 2024, and he has made some very promising links.

The problem has also been tried by the likes of Nalle Hukkataival, Jimmy Webb, Dave Graham, Carlo Traversi and Keenan Takahashi.

Aidan Roberts:

A series of slashed edges trend leftwards up a scooped face. The holds were bad, but the feet were worse. With nothing to offer any opposition, the only options seemingly to contort into some brutally shouldery positions until you can will yourself to fly to the lip. [1]

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/06/aidan_roberts_on_a_winter_in_yosemite-73991

Potentially the first ever V13/8B, Slapshot was the hardest of Holloway's "big three" that included Trice (8A+) and Meathook (8A). Holloway never graded the problem and it has yet to have seen a documented second ascent at the time of this writing. There is speculation that crux holds may have broken off or polished in the nearly fifty years since the first ascent.