Ryuichi Murai Sends Return of the Sleepwalker V17

Ryuichi Murai just rolled into Red Rock, Nevada, looked the desert straight in the eye, and slammed down the fifth ascent of Return of the Sleepwalker V17 (9A). This beast is the sit-start to Jimmy Webb’s already-heinous 2019 Sleepwalker V15/16—a sandstone fever dream carved with deep, swooping lines that look like nature’s own mosh pit. And if the grade alone wasn’t enough chaos, the timing sure was: only weeks ago Elias Iagnemma dropped Exodia, the world’s first proposed V18, reshaping the top of the difficulty pyramid.

This problem has history baked into the stone. Daniel Woods opened the pit in March 2021 when he established ROTSW, the first V17 in the United States, lighting a fuse that’s still burning. Will Bosi marched in for the second ascent in early 2024, with Noah Wheeler and Simon Lorenzi keeping the momentum loud. Nearly two years after his own repeat of Sleepwalker (which he called V16), Murai returned for vengeance. At 5'4", he’s got to fight the rock for every inch, especially that notorious crux sloper slap, reachy, greasy, and unapologetically rude.

Murai’s résumé reads like a discography of banger after banger. ROTSW marks his first V17, but he’s already stacked with V16s: first ascents of United, Nexus, and Floatin in Japan; repeats of Gakido V16 at home, Sleepwalker V15/16 in Red Rock, and the sky-high Livin’ Large V16 in Rocklands. He climbs like someone who isn’t just pushing limits—he’s shredding them.

“I finally achieved what I came here for,” Murai blasted on Instagram, recounting rainy starts, endless micro-tweaks, and five days of “just keeping slapping that sloper and falling again and again.” He called the full-span sloper “the real crux,” the one move everything hinged on. After sticking it once but punting the final jump, he reset, breathed, and sent. “This success reminded me not to put limits on myself,” he said. And in perfect punk spirit, he’s not done. “I would love to say I can head home satisfied now… but Shaolin is still waiting… I am going to enjoy every remaining day.”