Nalle Hukkataival has done the third ascent Sleepwalker 8C+ in Red Rocks. The FA was done by Jimmy Webb in December and last week Daniel Woods did the second ascent.

Nalle Hukkataival by Instagram: „Last year I opened this project in Red Rocks and after putting in the work was close to climbing it – falling off the last move. Then frigid winter temperatures claimed the canyon. Even sticking around for two more months trying to seal the deal, I never got a fighting chance.

Returning for a rematch this winter I routinely worked my way back to where I‘d been – hoping to get an actual shot this year. It was really refreshing to finally session the boulder with someone. @jwebxl and @dawoods89 had teamed up earlier this winter to take it down. Their beta however was of no use for me. Ultimately the boulder is about a friction sloper crux with a barely-there bicycle to gain the slot crimp. Jimmy and Daniel both had the arm-span to bypass this sequence so I was alone fighting my own fight.

This low percentage, friction reliant sequence – combined with my skin issues in the desert – made for low odds to catch the conditions I required. Half the “climbing” days consisted of just showing up and not being able to get any grip on the rock. Or do any climbing.

It all boiling down to weather watching and very little actual climbing put a big dent in my motivation and made me question whether it’s even worthwhile to keep dragging myself out there day after day.

Yesterday I sent it. It was quite anticlimactic. It didn’t seem like anything that I hadn’t already done 10 times. My skin just didn’t fail me that time. I‘m happy it didn’t.

All in all, stoked!! Also a lesson to be learned about how not every battle is necessarily worth fighting. I struggle when climbing becomes all about managing external factors and very minimally about the actual climbing.

Just hours later another winter storm put an end to climbing here for a while. You’re bound to get lucky every now and then! Yes!! „