Will Bosi has returned from Spain with a world-class ticklist to his name, including the first ascent of King Capella, for which he proposes a grade of 9b+ (5.15c). If confirmed it would make him the first British climber to have achieved this level of difficulty. And to date as only the sixth person to have climbed 9b+, he’d join the ranks of rock stars such as Alex Megos, Chris Sharma, Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert and Stefano Ghisolfi. King Capella in Siurana, bolted by David Brasco, took Will ten sessions in total.
Previously in 2020, Will had become the first Brit to climb 9b abroad when he climbed La Capella in the same sector at Siurana. However, for Will, King Capella represented a a significant step up in difficulty and commented: “With powerful moves that don’t let up and having big all points off moves, King Capella was like I got to be Chris Sharma for a day, it was amazing”.
While it only took Will three sessions to complete La Capella, it took him three sessions to just unlock the first sequence on King Capella. Typical of the area the route involves intense, fingery and powerful climbing. The middle of the route was solved with an explosive dynamic move before moving straight into another tough sequence.
His list from the trip also included two further first ascents, La Furia de Jabali (9b, bolted by Beto Rocasolano) and Last Night (9a, bolted by Dani Andrada) plus repeating Estadio Critico (9a), and at Margalef, First Ley (9a+) and Ley Indignata (9a - third ascent). Will didn’t neglect his bouldering, establishing a new 8C bloc in Siurana, Ulls de Bruixa, as well as repeating Dave Graham’s Bhai Bon (8B+), Bhai Po (8B+), Bhai Kakata 8B+/C, Bhai Ji 8B+ and Hurrikuto 8B.
Ulls de Bruixa to the right of Bhai Bon goes from a sit-start, adding "three o.k. moves and then three really hard moves to a jump start 8A+". Will said: “It took the whole first day to get the moves figured out enough to start linking moves together. I then came back two days later after resting and was able to get the send after about six attempts from the ground. However, it was at the absolute limit for me, almost falling on every move of the 8A+ ending.”
“This is why 8C seems like the right grade to give it, as it felt significantly harder than Bhai Bon and took longer to finish but I would welcome others to try it. It is also worth noting that it fits my style of climbing perfectly with the small crimps and drop knees.”
As a professional athlete, Will had been in Spain since December 2020, as part of his preparations for the 2021 competition season and longer-term preparations for the next Olympic cycle. His priority for the upcoming season is the IFSC World Cup Lead routes, subject to selection to the GB Climbing team.
You can watch Will’s ascent along with footage of him working the route here.
