''The Wheel of Life'' is a famous

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

problem in the sport of

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

. Located in Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampians of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and initially graded , it is now commonly considered to be .

Route

The problem, which consists of over 60 moves, was first completed by

Dai Koyamada Dai Koyamada ( ja, 小山田大, born 23 August 1976) is a Japanese rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint ...

in 2004, and it links up three shorter problems that were established by climbers such as

Klem Loskot KLEM (1410 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Le Mars, Iowa. The station is owned by Powell Broadcasting Company, Inc. It airs a classic hits music format. The station was assigned these call letters by the Federal Communications Commis ...

and Fred Nicole (Extreme Cool, V8; Sleepy Hollow V12; Cave Rave, V13). Although it is climbed without a rope, due to its length it may be considered to be a climbing route. It is commonly graded 8C as a boulder problem, and 9a as a route. Graham stated that it was in a league above 9a routes he had climbed, possibly even a 9a+.

Notable ascents

* Second ascent by the Australian boulderer

Chris Webb Parsons Taylor Parsons (born Chris Webb Parsons; 4 February 1985) is an Australian professional rock climber and boulderer who, while presenting as male, was Australia's strongest climber in the late 2000s to early 2010s; completing the second ascent o ...

, in 2007 -
VIDEO
YouTube) * Third ascent by

Ethan Pringle Ethan Pringle (born May 30, 1986, in San Francisco, California) is an United States of America, American rock climbing, rock climber with notable ascents in bouldering, sport climbing and traditional climbing. Notable ascents Sport climbing * 5. ...

-
VIDEO
* Fourth ascent by James Kassay, in 2011 * Fifth ascent by Australian climber Benjamin P. Cossey on 30 October 2011. Ben controversially downgraded the climb from a to a . * Sixth and seventh ascents by Dave Graham and Ian Dory, in June 2012. Graham suggested a route grade of 9a+ (Ewbank 36), stating that it was "not possible to compare it to other boulder problems, due to its length", and that it was in a league above 9a routes he had climbed. * In November 2012, James Kassay completed a more difficult finish to the problem, by linking it to the ''Amniotic World'' (V9), leading to the highest part of the cave. This new version of the problem was called ''The Wheel of Life Direct'' * Ninth ascent by Daniel Woods in July 2013
VIDEO
* Tenth ascent, after only three attempts, by Alexander Megos in July 2013. -
VIDEO
*Repeated by Tom O'Halloran, 20th October 2017 *Repeated by Jake Bresnehan in September 2018 *Repeated by Matt Hoschke in Feb 2019

References

{{reflist

External links

*The Wheel of Life video by

with several other boulders up to v14 range Wheel of Life, The

Route

Notable ascents

See also

References

External links