Sung Su Lee laps up 'Burden of Dreams' (9A)

Former IFSC competition climber Sung Su Lee has made an utterly convincing repeat of Burden of Dreams, the 9A boulder problem located at Lappnor in Finland. First ascended by Nalle Hukkataival in 2016, at the time the problem was hailed as the first 9A boulder problem in the world. While other 9A's have been established in the meantime, Burden of Dreams remains the non-plus-ultra of modern bouldering and the absolute benchmark for its grade. Lee's is the fourth repeat, after Will Bosi in April 2023, Simon Lorenzi in December 2023 and Elias Iagnemma in March 2024.

Lee travelled to Finland this season specifically for this problem and needed about 10 sessions for the send. Like some of his predecessors, he had trained on the replica prior to trying the real problem, and estimates a further 10 sessions at home.

The 26-year-old made headline news a few days ago when he posted a video (featured below) of what he initially believed was his send; he noticed only later that his t-shirt had accidentally touched the mat and was in a dilemma as to whether the send was actually valid or not. While the vast majority of climbers commenting believed the dab was uninfluential, he decided to take no chances and returned a few days later to make an absolutely impeccable send.

Conversing with planetmountain he explained "This is actually a personal matter. I just wanted to be satisfied with myself, and I think I did it again because I couldn’t honestly say I had given it 100% when I looked in the mirror." Hats off for the send, style and uncompromising integrity.

 

 

 

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