Dreamtime (climb)

''Dreamtime'' is a long bouldering route, on the boulder of the same name, in the gneiss bouldering area of 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 again. ''Dreamtime'' is one of the most notable bouldering routes in rock climbing history, along with the Yosemite boulder ''Midnight Lightning'', and is renowned for both its beauty and its challenge.

History

In early 2000, Swiss bouldering pioneer Fred Nicole began projecting the boulder ''Dreamtime'' in the gneiss bouldering area of Cresciano, 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 his hardest-ever route and proposed a grade of , which was the first-ever boulder route at that grade. Nicole recounted:

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 lowered 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 lowering of the grade. In 2003, the situation was further complicated when Christian Core made the fifth ascent, said it was his hardest-ever boulder, and supported V15. Over the next five years, ''Dreamtime'' became one of the most desirable 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". Repeating the route a few days later, Ondra felt it was a "hard 8B+", but not 8C. With further repeats, consensus graded it closer to 8C, with Jan Hojer saying in 2013, "Much harder than any 8B+ 14I have ever tried".

In November 2024, American climber Michaela Kiersch made the first female free ascent of ''Dreamtime'', which made her the first-ever female climber in history to have ascended both an graded boulder and an graded sport climbing route, which she did on '' La Rambla'' in 2023.

''The Story of Two Worlds''

In June 2005, Dave Graham sent ''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 develop 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'', which is graded as . 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.

''The Story of Two Worlds'' itself 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 created a direct finish that starts with ''Dreamtime'', but at the crux, he 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'' is considered a rite-of-passage for major boulder climbers. In 2017, ''Outside'' listed the ascent of ''Dreamtime'' in its "12 Great Moments in Bouldering History". In 2020, when 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

The first ascents post the break of the hold include:
* 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;

The first female free ascents include ( FFFA):
* 1st Michaela Kiersch in November 2024, first female free ascent of ''Dreamtime'',

Other notable post-break ascents include:

* Jan Hojer in February 2013;
* in March 2013;
* in January 2015;
* Jimmy Webb in February 2018;
* Jakob Schubert in February 2018;
* Simon Lorenzi in January 2019
* 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
* '' The Mandala'', famous boulder at The Buttermilks
* ''Midnight Lightning'', famous boulder in Camp 4 (Yosemite)
* '' 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
Climbing in Switzerland
Ticino