Simon Lorenzi makes fourth ascent of Shaolin (Font 9A/V17)
- Monday 5th January 2026
Simon Lorenzi delivers in the USA by sending the boulder problem, Shaolin (Font 9A/V17), located at Red Rocks, Nevada, USA.
Shaolin was first climbed by Sean Bailey in November 2024. Noah Wheeler came away with the second ascent in March 2024, followed by Zach Galla a few months later.
After his ascent, Simon commented, “Shaolin was my main goal of the trip; I had tried it a little last year and trained specifically to be ready and fit! Everything went super smoothly. It’s the first time a 9A has worked like this for me: at every session, I was making progress, without rushing, just staying patient until everything clicked. It was also much easier mentally than last year, because I was with my friends, we had an Airbnb, we were comfortable, joking around outside the boulder. The whole experience was really enjoyable!”
Prior to climbing Shaolin, Simon also climbed Defying Gravity (Font 8C/V15) in Colorado.
With this ascent, Simon becomes the second climber in the world, after Will Bosi, to have climbed five boulder problems graded Font 9A/V17. These being:
Soudain Seul – Fontainebleau, France, 2021
Burden of Dreams – Finland, 2022
Alphane – Switzerland, 2023
Return of the Sleepwalker – USA, 2024
Shaolin – USA, 2025