Will Bosi claims the second ascent of Excalibur (9b+) in Arco, Italy

Will Bosi, 26 from Edinburgh has claimed the second ascent of Stefano Ghisolfi ’s ‘Excalibur’ 9b+ in Arco.

Commenting on his ascent, Bosi said:

“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 UK) so I was so psyched to piece it all together finally”.

‘Excalibur’ follows a 40-degree overhanging wall at Drena near Arco. Cristian Dorigatti and Morris Fontanari initially bolted the route but Ghisolfi , from Arco, was invited to take up the challenge in 2021 and finally succeeded in October 2023 proposing the grade 9b+. The project had to date repelled some of the strongest climbers in the world including Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert, Shawn and Brooke Raboutou.

Will began trying the route in late 2022 and had twenty one sessions on Excalibur in total but notes ‘only ten of these were good sessions due to conditions limiting attempts on the others’.

In a complete coincidence, Bosi topped out on Excalibur on the same date as the first ascent by Ghisolfi (3rd February) but two years later.

Conditions seemed key to unlocking the ascent as Bosi notes:

“The conditions make a huge difference with this route. 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”

Commenting on the actual Ascent, Will added:

“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”.

Commenting on the grade, Will expressed that after so much time bouldering he felt ‘a little unqualified to be sure’ but he was happy to agree with the 9b+ grade.

Will previously proposed his own King Capella in Siurana, Spain to be 9b+ but after ascents from Alex Megos and Jakob Schubert it has settled at 9b. Will noted that linking all the sequences of each section changed the overall difficulty substantially on Excalibur which made him more confident of the 9b+ grade.

Bosi’s ascent of Excalibur marks a return to sport climbing following an unbelievable bouldering run where he climbed four boulders graded 9A/V17, more than any other climber in the world. This included Aidan Robert’s ‘Spots of Time’, Daniel Wood’s ‘Return of the Sleepwalker’, Shawn Raboutou’s ‘Alphane’ and Nalle Hukkataival’s ‘Burden of Dreams’.

Article image: Crimp Films