Will Bosi has turned his attention back to sport climbing in spectacular style with the second ascent of Stefano Ghisolfi’s Excalibur (9b+), at Drena near Arco.
He began trying the short and powerful route that has only ‘just enough holds’ in late 2022, taking twenty-one sessions before his successful redpoint, by coincidence on the same date as Ghisolfi’s first ascent (Feb 3rd), but two years later.
Conditions on the short 40-degree overhanging wall seemed key to unlocking the ascent, as Will notes only ten of his sessions were good ones, due to conditions limiting the others.
He commented: “Too hot and the holds don’t work, too humid and the holds don’t work but too cold and your fingers go numb and don’t work. Lastly, you need good skin for the holds to bite properly so I needed everything to come together to grab the ascent”
Bosi describes his ascent: “The first go of the day everything went perfectly, I felt like I was floating through the climb and arrived at my previous high point feeling strong. Setting up for the final hard move I was really confident, but disaster struck and I just missed the hold and fell off.
“I took an hour rest, warmed up and went again. This time I arrived at the rest feeling tired battling through the upper section but on the final crux I landed perfectly into the slot. Pumped out of my mind, I almost fell jumping to the jug but just about kept it together for the top out”.
He added: “This is one of the craziest and rewarding lines I have experienced and pulling onto the top of the route is something I will always remember. Excalibur was my longest project on a rope since Mutation [9a+ at Raven Tor in Nov 2021] so I was so psyched to piece it all together finally”.
Will’s ascent of Excalibur makes the 26-year-old Scot the first Brit to climb 9b+ (again). Will previously proposed 9b+ for his own route, King Capella [March 2021], in Siurana but after ascents from Alex Megos and Jakob Schubert it has settled at 9b.
As for the inevitable question of Excalibur’s grade, Will expressed that after so much time bouldering over the past couple of years he felt ‘a little unqualified to be sure’ but he was happy to agree with the 9b+ grade.
Excalibur follows on from Bosi’s remarkable bouldering run where he climbed four blocs graded 9A/V17, more than any other climber in the world. This started with Shawn Raboutou’s Alphane in October 2022 and included Aidan Roberts’ Spots of Time [October 2024], Daniel Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker [February 2024] and Nalle Hukkataival’s Burden of Dreams [April 2023].
