Will Bosi has made the first repeat of Daniel Woods Return of the Sleepwalker (f9A), in Black Velvet Canyon, Red Rocks, Nevada.

The ascent comes just under a month after Will climbed the stand start, Sleepwalker (f8C+), which he suggested should be downgraded from 8C+ to 8C.

Will's ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker came during his twelfth session on the boulder, having reached a new high-point the session before when he fell at the penultimate move on three occasions. Will spent a total of three sessions on the stand start, and nine on the sit, although two sessions on the sit were quickly abandoned due to rain.

In climbing Return of the Sleepwalker, Will joins Simon Lorenzi as one of just two people to have climbed three 9A boulders. Will is the only person to have made three repeats at 9A, having climbed Shawn Raboutou's Alphane in late 2022, and Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams in spring last year.

Will went to Las Vegas in mid-January with Return of the Sleepwalker as his main objective, and with the stand start Sleepwalker as an interim goal. During his first session on Sleepwalker he managed all the moves, he started trying from the bottom during his second session, and then climbed the boulder on the first go of his third session on it.

The following session, Will started working Return of the Sleepwalker, finding that the crux for him was the fourth move - a left hand gaston - for which he found a slightly different beta from first ascensionist Daniel Woods. In the fifth session, Will was able to link the boulder in two overlapping halves, climbing from the sit start of the boulder to the pinch, which is the third move of the stand start.

From session six, Will began trying a slightly lower version of Sleepwalker which he referred to as Sleepwalker+, eventually climbing this version of the boulder in his ninth session, at which point he began to put in attempts from the ground.

In session ten Will fell four times on the sloper move, in session eleven he stuck the sloper move four times and was able to pull through to the lip three times, but unable to hold onto it, and on session twelve, on the very first try of the session, he made the first repeat of Return of the Sleepwalker, 9A.

Commenting shortly after the ascent, Will said:

'Coming out to Las Vegas, I had no idea how this trip was going to go as I do not climb on sandstone often and Sleepwalker did not look my style. Sending Sleepwalker 8C/V15 in only three days completely blew my mind, and having a long time left on the trip, I was pretty confident I could have a good stab at getting Return of the Sleepwalker done'.

'In the last session before the send, everything just clicked. I was feeling confident, but as the weather forecast looked bleak with a storm closing in, I was only able to take one rest day before heading back out for another session. I still felt quite tired from the previous session so I was unsure about even trying it'.

'However, after warming up, the moves were feeling great and I decided to give it a go. The first attempt went perfectly up to the sloper but then I really messed up the next move through to the slot and almost dropped it. Somehow, I recovered and hit the last hard move perfectly. Pulling onto the slab was incredible and I had to take a minute to get my breath back before heading up to the top'.

Speaking about the grade, Will said:

'Grade wise I still believe the stand start is only 8C/V15 but I do think the sit start adds enough for it to remain 9A/V17'.

'In comparison to the other climbs I have done at this grade, I think Return of the Sleepwalker comes in around the bottom end of the grade. Burden of Dreams was harder, but it is such a different style. I think 'Return' probably came in harder than Alphane'.

'Currently, I am very unsure about the distinction between 8C+ and 9A and I think it will take some time and a broader consensus of climbers operating at this level to get the distinction right'.

Will now turns his focus to his European projects, namely Excalibur, 9b+, and Terranova, which remains unrepeated at 8C+.

'My next project is dependent on conditions but I would love to head back to Arco and try to finish Excalibur (Stefano Ghisolfi's 9b+/5.15c) or back to Brno to work more on Terranova. I would also love to spend some time finding new lines in Scotland but the weather seems to always be against that!'

The video of the ascent will be published on Will's YouTube channel in the near future.