Belgian climber Simon Lorenzi has made the fourth ascent of Shawn Raboutou's Alphane (f9A), at Chironico in Switzerland. In climbing Alphane, Lorenzi becomes the first person to have both repeated and established a Font 9A boulder, having made the first ascent of the world's second 9A boulder Soudain Seul (f9A) - also known as The Big Island Sit - in 2021.

Lorenzi first tried Alphane earlier this year, when he spent a week in Chironico working the line alongside the eventual second ascensionist, Aidan Roberts. Speaking about the problem at the time, he said 'it's an incredible mix of strength, tension, and technicity! I've found the style quite unique and complex since most of the difficulty comes from keeping your feet on the wall and pull[ing] enough…to optimise the hand holds'. During that one week trip, Lorenzi was able to climb Alphane in two separate parts.

When asked about the grade during this initial trip, Lorenzi was confident that Alphane was 'harder than V16s [he'd] done or tried, but not harder than Soudain Seul'. He did, however, acknowledge that the conditions during that brief trip were less than ideal, stating that '[at] 25°c it's hard to compare with other boulders that I tried [at] 10°c'.

Lorenzi seemed to confirm that both Alphane and Soudain Seul belong at Font 9A when sharing the news of his ascent on Instagram, where he said:

'My second of the grade, what an emotional rollercoaster it has been! Congrats Dave Graham for the vision, and Shawn Raboutou for unlocking the line last year'.

The grade of Soudain Seul has been a hot topic since Nico Pelorson got the first repeat and suggested a downgrade to 8C+, whilst the third ascensionist, Camille Coudert, suggested that the grade should be 'soft' 9A. With Alphane having received three repeats in the last eight weeks, and with Will Bosi stating that his Peak District problem Honeybadger 8C+ was 'more of a challenge' for him personally, it seems inevitable that there will be questions about Alphane's Font 9A grade.

With that said, it seems equally possible that Font 9A, a grade that was both incomprehensible - and seemingly reserved for Nalle Hukkataival - for so long, is now a grade that is achievable, albeit for a select group of incredibly strong climbers. The fact that Hukkataival invested three years and more than 4000 attempts into Burden of Dreams (f9A), and the fact that it hasn't received a repeat in six years, don't necessarily mean that other 9A boulders demand similar statistics.

Intriguingly, Shawn Raboutou recently released a video documenting the early stages of projecting Burden of Dreams, in which he managed three of the five difficult hand moves in isolation, and with relative speed. With Raboutou making quick progress on Burden, and Aidan Roberts having set a 3D scanned replica of the boulder on a board he rebuilt to match its angle, it may not be long before Burden of Dreams receives its long awaited second ascent.