Will Bosi has made the first ascent of his longstanding 'Burden of Nightmares' project at  Raven Tor (Miller's Dale). He has named it Realm of Tor'ment (f9A), and has proposed a grade of 9A.

In proposing a grade of 9A, Will becomes the first person to have climbed five boulders at the grade.

He also joins a select group of climbers to have both established a boulder and repeated a boulder at 9A, and brings the number of 9A boulders in the UK to two, alongside Spots of Time.

Will has spent ten sessions on the boulder this year, with many more invested across previous years.

At just eight moves, the boulder is a true test of power and contact strength. Sitting between Hooligan (8c) and Boot Boys (8a+), the boulder moves through steep terrain to an obvious flake, and - unusually for Raven Tor - is made up entirely of new moves, and is not an eliminate.

Will linked the boulder in two parts at the beginning of April, before heading two Switzerland for a tour of some hard projects and established classics.

Upon his return to the UK, Will went back to Raven Tor, and was able to finally make the first ascent.

Speaking to UKC, Will said:

'The line starts on a perfect left-hand tufa pinch and a right-hand split crimp. From here, you have four steady but very engaged moves that lead to two pockets. This is where the crux sequence starts: a hard bump into a sharp right-hand undercut, then a high-tension foot walk'.

'From here, you do the hardest move, which is a big dynamic left-hand slap to a bad small flat edge. I think this move alone is around a one-move 8B+/V14. Finally, you commit to another big slap up with the right hand to a good flake to finish'.

'I'm incredibly happy and psyched to finally put this project down! This has probably been my longest boulder project to date, taking double-digit sessions and work over a couple of years. The send went perfectly for me. I climbed the bottom section well and just stuck the crux move. I was about as close as I could have been to failing on the last move, too'.

'Arriving at a proposed grade has been haunting me on this project ever since I started working on the boulder. Finding an accurate grade on short, punchy boulders is so difficult as the eventual grade is so dependent upon perfect beta and suiting the style and preference of the climber'.

'However, drawing upon my own experience, I can say that it is a step above 8C+ boulders of a similar style, and sits as a low-end 9A boulder. However, I welcome the thoughts of other climbers who get on this excellent problem.'

We asked Will a couple of questions to find out more:

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Will, congratulations on climbing the Burden of Nightmares project! When did you first start trying this boulder, and what was it that made it feel so nightmarish?

So I don't remember exactly when I started trying it, but I started seriously trying it after sending Burden of Dreams, so spring 2023.

And I started calling it the Burden of Nightmares project because I tried it after sending Burden, and basically every time I got a sequence and started to feel like it was possible or it felt like I had the right sequence, I would either break a hand or a foot, and then it would be back to square one and basically having to work out the whole thing again.

So it was kind of this nightmare scenario, whereas Burden is perfect, it's all there, it hasn't broken yet, so it kind of was a jokey name, but I thought it was quite fitting.

We first spoke about the boulder when you were trying Burden of Dreams, and you described just how psyched you got by finding the hardest moves possible, regardless of where they were. This boulder seems like it fits that brief, one where the physical difficulty is the main draw - can you talk us through the moves and what makes them so hard?

Yeah, so this boulder, Realm of Torment, is definitely maybe not what people would consider one of the, you know, king dream lines. It's, for me, absolutely incredible. And if you're psyched by hard moves, cool holds, good movements, then this is a perfect boulder. But it is limestone. It does have a drop-off finish. And it's definitely not going to be considered, you know, one of the best boulders in the world, I would guess. But, I had an absolutely great time trying it.

And yeah, for me, just the movement and climbing is what gets me so psyched. So whether it's something like this at the tour or some dream lines in Switzerland, as long as the moves are good, holds are cool, and yeah, in general, it's hard for me, I get psyched out my mind.

You've given this boulder a grade of 9A (low end), but mentioned that you wouldn't be surprised if it saw some quick repeats. What is it about this boulder that means that it fits into this peculiar niche of incredibly hard but also quite repeatable?

Yeah, although I think it's really hard, the reason I said I think it's quite possible that it could be repeated quite quickly is because it is very much board style, and because it's at Raven's Tor. So it's at a pretty perma dry crag, this boulder only has one hold that seeps, the rest of it stays dry throughout the whole year. And yeah, it's a very accessible, local crag that, you know, most of the strong climbers in the UK live close to.

And because it comes down to basically one move, if you feel strong at this move or you've trained really well on a board for it, I could see people turning up and having a really good day. Whereas I remember for Burden, although it was about the first move being the crux, it definitely felt like there was maybe more luck involved. I don't know.

Realm, definitely, I could see being maybe repeated quite quickly. I'm not sure, it's just one of those things with 'one move' boulders. Once you've done the move, you then start to doubt yourself. You're like, 'well, was it really that hard?' But then again, it did take me a long time to do. So maybe it is quite a hard move. Yeah, it's a weird one.

In terms of pure difficulty, where do you think this boulder comes in a line-up of the other 9A boulders you've done?

For the grade of Realm of Torment, I've gone for low end 9A, and this is based off a lot of thinking and a lot of comparing to everything else, and trying to gauge where it sits.

For me, compared to any of the 8C+'s that are relevant or 8C+'s with short and powerful moves, it's for sure harder, and for sure a step harder.

Comparing it to the 9A's I've done, I've done four, two of them you couldn't really compare because they're too long, that's like Alphane and Return of the Sleepwalker.

But compared to Burden of Dreams and Spots of Time, they're like very similar in length. I'm not sure if it's maybe quite as hard as Burden of Dreams, at least using the sequence I climbed it with, but, thinking a lot about it, I don't see it being really any different from Spots of Time.

So if Spots of Time sits at 9A, then it makes sense for this to sit at 9A, although I do think both of them are low end 9A.

Finally, one of the most significant differences between first ascents and repeats is that with repeats, the beta is, theoretically, already mostly worked out. However, with so few people making ascents at 9A, it seems like you often end up exploring new and unique beta anyway! How different would you say your experience on this boulder, your first 9A FA, was from your other 9A ascents?

Yeah, repeating is always easier than first ascent-ing because you've got a set beta that you know works, and you know the boulder is possible. So mentally it's easier and also just from the physical side, the fact you can turn up and have less sessions, you're not trying to figure stuff out.

However, I definitely have played around and found a lot of my own beta, and every time I've tried a hard boulder, it's very rare, especially in this top end, that I would ever just stick to one beta. Even when I'm close to sending, I'd be doubting if I've got the right beta. So first ascent-ing is not massively different than repeating in that sense.

However, it definitely takes a lot longer because it just takes you a lot longer to actually find beta that works full stop. For this boulder, I've tried so many wrong betas that went to holds that just weren't usable in the end, and so many days that essentially don't count towards the final send, if that makes sense.

So, it's definitely a different game and first ascent-ing is harder, and you can obviously just miss a really clear beta that makes a move way easier and then it could be downgraded because of that in the future. So, I think it is harder, but especially if you can try with other people, it's not massively different, just maybe more time consuming.

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Will also sent over some more info about his thoughts in relation to the grade, which you can read below:

On the grade: 

I have been thinking so much about the grade ever since I started work on the project. I find it so hard to grade short, powerful boulders as so much of the grade weighs on fewer individual moves and the grade can shift dramatically around based on small changes in beta and whatever style suits the climber.

However, providing a grade based on my own experience of other hard boulders as well as boulders on Raven Tor and Peak Lime, I am pretty confident in suggesting that this sits as a low-end 9A boulder.

On why it seems harder than 8C+:

On Raven Tor itself, to the left of Realm, are two boulders which are essentially one-move 8A+'s. The crux move on Realm is at least one to two grades harder, and is comparable to the first move on Burden of Dreams. Stitching the crux move and the last move took so many sessions. Even matching the final hold is a real effort!

Looking at other hard single-move boulders I have done elsewhere, the crux move is significantly harder than other lines such as Forgotten Gem (f8C) and Silent Singer (f8C).

Comparing the whole boulder to other short, powerful 8C+ boulders, it feels harder than Brain Rot (f8C+) and Ephyra (f8C+).

It's incomparable to an 8C+ like Honey Badger, as, even though it's only twenty minutes down the road, it feels like a totally different boulder problem. Honey Badger has way more moves making it difficult to compare with Realm, as they are different styles. However, I put in way more time on this boulder than I did on Honey Badger, which, consciously or subconsciously, made me think this was a harder overall problem.

On how it compares to other 9A's he's climbed:

I think Spots is the best comparison as it is in the UK, I did it recently [Winter 2024], and it is a short boulder, similar to Realm.

For me, the crux of Realm is slightly harder than the crux of Spots, simply because the key hold is flat, slippy limestone, but when you put all of the moves of each boulder together, they come out around the same grade.

I do think Spots and Realm are a step above the 8C+ boulders I have done to date, so that's why I am proposing a low-end 9A boulder grade. As always, I am excited to hear what others think as they try the problem. It is at Raven Tor, so I am hoping it will get a lot of attention!