Dreamtime (climb)

''Dreamtime'' is a long gneiss bouldering route in a forest in Cresciano, Switzerland. When first solved in October 2000 by Swiss bouldering pioneer Fred Nicole, it was graded at , making it the world's first-ever boulder route at that grade. With subsequent repeat ascents, it was regraded to , but after the breaking of a key hold in 2009, its grade is now considered closer to . ''Dreamtime'' is the most notable bouldering route in climbing history along with ''Midnight Lightning'', and is renowned for both its beauty and its challenge.

History

In early 2000, Swiss bouldering pioneer Fred Nicole began projecting ''Dreamtime'', envisaging a long right-to-left diagonal route from a sit-start that took about 21 movements. After traveling to Australia and then to South Africa, Nicole returned to the route in the autumn and solved it on 28 October 2000. Nicole felt it was the hardest route he had ever done and proposed a grade of , which was the first-ever boulder route at that grade. Nicole recounted: "We had been in Australia over the summer, so I felt that this name was a good fit. For the Aborigines, 'dreamtime' means a kind of half-dreaming trance, somewhere between dream and reality, or a dream that becomes reality. When I saw the line for the first time, I thought: Wow! Is that even possible? And then it finally happened. Dreamtime was a very special time for me, a highlight in my climbing life".

In 2001, Austrian climber made the first repeat and agreed with the grading. In 2002, American climber Dave Graham made the third ascent but used a heel hook that he felt softened the grade to . The following year, American climber Chris Sharma made the fourth ascent, and using Graham's new beta agreed with Graham's grading. There was concern that holds were "overcleaned" (or even chipped) since Zangerl's ascent, which might have contributed to the softening of the grade. In 2003, the situation was further complicated when Christian Core made the fifth ascent and said it was the hardest boulder he had ever climbed, supporting a V15 grade. Over the next 5 years, ''Dreamtime'' became one of the most desirable boulder routes for leading climbers and repeats by Dai Koyamada, Nalle Hukkataival, Daniel Woods, Kilian Fischhuber and Adam Ondra (who was only 15 and solved it in 4 hours), led to a consensus grade of .

In November 2009, Italian climber discovered that the crux pinch hold had broken off, thus changing the route. In December 2009, Nalle Hukkataival repeated the damaged route and logged on the climbing database, ''8a.nu'', that the "standing start" version was now , and that Nicole's "sit start" version was "a real 8C now". After repeating the route a few days later, Ondra felt it was a "hard 8B+", but not 8C. With further repeats, the consensus is that the grade is now closer to 8C, with Jan Hojer saying in 2013, "Much harder than any 8B+ (V14) I have ever tried".

The Story of Two Worlds

In June 2005, Dave Graham created ''The Story of Two Worlds'' on the other side of the Dreamtime boulder, proposing a grade of . After the heated debates on ''Dreamtime'', Graham wanted to create a route that would be the "new standard for 8C". The 21-move route is a sit-start that links up with Toni Lamprecht's ''The Dagger'' . In 2010, Dai Koyamada made the first repeat but confusion over the start position led Dai to return in 2012 and make another repeat but from a much lower position than Graham, creating ''The Story of Two Worlds Low Start'', and at .

With subsequent repeats by Paul Robinson, Jernej Kruder, and others, there was a consensus that the grade was at . ''The Story of Two Worlds'' became the first boulder to have a "consensus" grade of , although the actual first-ever at the grade is now regarded as Nicole's ''Monkey Wedding'' and ''Black Eagle SDS'', both solved in 2002 on a trip to Rocklands, South Africa.

Ironically, even ''The Story of Two Worlds'' became subject to downgrade speculation, particularly with the development of kneepads that can be used for extended knee bar rests; Graham himself told ''Climbing'' in 2017 that the route "might be V14 now". Further repeats by some leading climbers such as Alex Megos have upheld the grade of , with Megos saying after his ascent of ''TSOTW'' in 2020, "I'd say 8C is about right".

Variations

In February 2023, German climber Yannick Flohé create a direct finish that starts with ''Dreamtime'', but at the crux goes right and directly up the boulder following the line of Jimmy Webb's ''Somnolence'' . He named this variation ''Return of the Dreamtime'', and proposed a grade of .

Legacy

In a 2009 article on ''Dreamtime'', ''PlanetMountain'' said: "So beautiful and important, the Dreamtime immediately did as its name suggests, it made everyone dream and, in doing so, it became a reference point for cutting-edge problems, one of the most famous boulders in the world, second perhaps only to ''Midnight Lightning'', freed by Ron Kauk in 1978 at Camp Four in Yosemite. Others have also labeled ''Dreamtime'' as being the world's most famous boulder route, often along with ''Midnight Lightning'', and credited it for promoting the development of the sport.

In 2015, ''Climbing'', listed ''Dreamtime'' and ''The Story of Two Worlds'', in their "Climb of the Century" for the bouldering category, saying: "In 2000, Fred Nicole gave the world its first 8C (V15) boulder with Dreamtime—arguably the first internationally famous boulder problem since ''Midnight Lightning''. The Story of Two Worlds (Dave Graham, 2005), on the same boulder, became the new standard for V15 after Dreamtime was broken and downgraded."

In a later 2017 piece, ''PlanetMountain'' said: "But the one that more than any other captured the imagination of climbers at the beginning of the new millennium was most certainly Dreamtime..". Repeating ''Dreamtime'' became a rite-of-passage for every major boulder climber. In 2017, ''Outside'' listed the ascent of ''Dreamtime'' in its "12 Great Moments in Bouldering History". In 2020, when leading German climber Alex Megos repeated ''Dreamtime'', he wrote on his Instagram page: "This one has definitely been on the bucket list! DREAMTIME. Possibly the most famous boulder problem in the world!".

Ascents

''Dreamtime'' has been ascended by (and their proposed grade):

Pre-hold break

* 1st. Fred Nicole on 28 October 2000; .
* 2nd. in April 2001; .
* 3rd. Dave Graham in January 2002; .
* 4th. Chris Sharma in August 2002; .
* 5th. Christian Core in February 2003; .
* 6th. Thomas Willenberg in April 2003; .
* 7th Malcolm Smith in February 2004; .
* 8th James Litz in March 2004; .
* 9th Christoph Cepus in April 2004; .
* 10th Lionel Lamberlin in May 2004; .
* 11th Dai Koyamada in November 2004; .
* 12th Nalle Hukkataival in March 2005; .
* 13th Martin Cermak in March 2006; .
* 14th Tayler Landman in November 2006; .
* 15th Daniel Woods in November 2007; .
* 16th Jon Cardwell in December 2007; .
* 17th. Kilian Fischhuber in December 2007; .
* 18th Adam Ondra (age 15, in 4 hours) in March 2008; .

Post-hold break

*1st. Nalle Hukkataival in December 2009; .
*2nd. Adam Ondra in December 2009; hard .
*3rd. Tatsuya Muraoka in March 2010; .
*4th. Paul Robinson in November 2010; .

Other notable post-break:

* Jan Hojer in February 2013; .
* in March 2013; .
* in January 2015; .
* Jimmy Webb in February 2018; .
* Jakob Schubert in February 2018; .
* Jernej Kruder in November 2019.
* Alex Megos in December 2020; .
* Yannick Flohé in December 2020; .
* William Bosi in December 2022; soft .

See also

*History of rock climbing
*List of grade milestones in rock climbing
*''Midnight Lightning'', famous boulder in Camp 4 (Yosemite)
*''The Mandala'', famous boulder at The Buttermilks
*''The Wheel of Life'', famous boulder in the Grampians, Australia

References

Further reading

*

External links

Dreamtime Boulder: The Story of Two Worlds V15/8C
''Hard Climbs'' (2023)
VIDEO: The Classics – Dreamtime (8C/V15), with Fred Nicole
''Rock & Ice'' (2017)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreamtime
Boulder climbing routes
Ticino
Climbing in Switzerland