Photo by Sam Pratt

By the time Noah Wheeler and Hamish McArthur reached the forests of Lappnor, the outcome of the trip was already uncertain. Rain was constant, the rock rarely fully dry, and attempts on Burden of Dreams were limited to short, damp windows between storms. Instead of long, uninterrupted sessions, the days were defined by waiting—checking forecasts, drying holds, and making decisions on the fly.

What unfolded over the course of the two-week trip was less a campaign for ascents and more an immersion into a place. Wheeler and McArthur spent time projecting Burden of Dreams, explored the legendary Sisu Project, and slowly built an understanding of both lines under far-from-ideal conditions. Just as importantly, they shared the routines that filled the margins of each day: grocery runs, shared playlists, improvised living spaces, and conversations about what it actually takes to commit to climbs of this scale.

This interview brings together their reflections on the climbing itself, the realities of projecting in Finland’s fall weather, and the moments off the rock that shaped how the trip is remembered.

Burden of Dreams

Michael Rosato: When did climbing Burden of Dreams become a serious priority for you?

• Noah Wheeler: "Obviously my priorities last year lay with Sleepwalker first and then Shaolin. After that, my main priority was to go to Switzerland and sort of build my repertoire there, get on the classic climbs I've always wanted to try. But then Hamish hit me up saying he was trying to go to Burden of Dreams in the fall. I knew it was maybe the most 'in-my-style' V17 that exists in the world, so it just made sense for me to come along and go in the fall. It wasn't like a priority coming into the year really, it just kind of turned out pretty well in that way

 Hamish learning the holds on Burden // Photo by Sam Pratt

• Hamish McArthur: "For me, it's never been a climb I thought I'd be able to do for most of my life. I remember seeing a replica when Aiden Roberts first got it—I went to his house and he had it on his home wall—and I didn't pull on, but I just looked at it and touched the holds and was like, 'Oh, there's no way I would ever do this climb.' And then I had a good start to the year where I did two 17s and then suddenly I had the realization of, 'Oh my God, I probably could do this climb,' that I'd fully ruled out. I think really I just wanted to go on another trip with you guys. That was genuinely the main reason for suggesting Burden; I feel like it could have been anything else, but I knew that would get you guys excited and I just wanted to hang out. Burden isn't like a 'dream climb' of mine, really, it's more like—it feels more symbolic in that it's something I thought I would never do, and now I'm like, 'Alright, I should have done it,' even though I was only there for one dry session."

Quinn Spadafora: How are you prioritizing the climb now?

• Hamish: "For me, for now, I'm basically only board climbing at the minute, which is great. I feel like going there really showed me—especially just climbing with Noah and you guys—showed me what I was lacking in climbing. I had some really inspiring sessions on Burden and indoors on various boards that really showed me room for growth in my own climbing. I'm changing my climbing style more toward Burden, really. And I would love to go back and do it, but it really isn't about the climb still; it feels more about me leveling up as an athlete."

• Noah: "I've always been training on the boards so I haven't changed my training plan very much. I'm going to continue training on the boards until I go to Switzerland, but then my plan is to go to Burden as soon as possible really. The season comes around in spring again, and so I want to go in the spring, ideally with Hamish. I felt pretty close and I'm going to train a little bit for it as well, but not as centered or as specifically as I did prior to the initial trip, because I don't think that is as necessary."

Noah on the middle section of Burden // Photo by Sam Pratt

Michael: How did the actual climb differ from your expectations?

• Hamish: "My expectations would be that the first move would be by far the hardest and that once I could do the first move, I would do the rest of it because the rest of it seemed way more in my style. But then getting there, it turns out that I struggled most with the middle bit. I didn't really try the first move until the last day just because it felt like I would do it as soon as I committed to trying and squeezing the hands and figured out my micro-beta. But the middle bit really stumped me until I figured it out. It was way less consistent than I thought it was going to be. It's kind of hard for me to understand why, really, because none of the positions felt that hard to hold, but it felt really inconsistent to hit everything right and not very repeatable on a lot of the moves. That's usually something I'm good at—once I've done a move, I'll do it every go—and that was not the same on this climb. So yeah, that was the biggest shock to me, is how inconsistent it felt."

• Noah: "I guess my biggest thing, kind of similar to what Hamish said—I thought the first move would be the hardest for me by far, but it turned out it wasn't even the hardest. It felt very similar to the rest of the moves for me in difficulty. I think I did the first move within a few tries and it was within a similar amount of tries that I did the middle link or the last move. But it still felt really hard in the second and third sessions. So honestly, I think I had a similar conception where I thought maybe the first move goes and then the rest just goes pretty quick after, but I found that—and this makes sense—but the redpoint crux is definitely the last move for me. But I don't know if I had time exactly to feel out how much of a crux that really is."

The first move // Photo by Sam Pratt

Quinn: Did your height prove to be an advantage or disadvantage?

• Noah: "Honestly, for the first move, I don't think it matters a ton. I think maybe on Hamish's side, he has longer limbs than me by quite a bit I think, it might be a little harder the first move because you're pulling on in a bit of a tight position, especially with the feet. But in general, the first move doesn't seem to make a difference. The middle section, there's totally different beta depending on your size. Even with our beta, maybe it would be better if at least Hamish was—it seemed like the drop knee, even though we're going to the furthest hold, it is a little tight seeming. But then the last move I think is easier if you're taller; you can get the distance easier and it becomes way more just about accuracy."

• Hamish: "Yeah, I would agree with that breakdown. The last move felt pretty consistent if the conditions were good; I could basically keep my foot on the low foot to get to the top hold, I didn't need to use the high foot, so I can skip out a foot move. The first move, yeah, I don't think it makes much of a difference; it feels more like a leverage thing that makes it harder with having pretty long arms more than a 'box' thing. It's just like a narrow compression so it's hard to generate force quickly, but I figured it out and got to a point where I feel like I could do it most goes. And then the middle bit, being a bit taller—again, it just took more figuring out. It's like a more specific body position that I had to find in order to get my foot out. I was over-squeezing to compensate for it for ages and I couldn't figure it out, and then I just changed a couple of little things and suddenly it worked."

Michael: Is there anything the videos didn't capture?

• Hamish: "No, I think you did a really good job with the videos to capture the vibe, because that's the most memorable. I guess the only thing was—maybe it just didn't come across as much in person as well—but there was definitely some frustration from my side with the climbing just because it was annoying, just the physical positions and the pain that I was in when I was trying to figure out my sequence. Because of trying to manipulate myself to be in the smaller box before I figured out the little changes that made it possible, it was very physically uncomfortable, unpleasant climbing until I found my way, and suddenly it was like, 'Oh, I can enjoy this now.'"

"HELLsinki - Tension in Finland" video by Tension Climbing

Quinn: Are you motivated to return despite the weather risks?

• Noah: "I'm keen on returning as I said. It discourages me a little bit, but I know that we went in arguably the worst season for rain. Even if we get, I don't know, instead of 1.5 days a week, we get two days a week, that's a big improvement. And I'm willing to go for that."

• Hamish: "And also on that, even if it was the exact same conditions, we'd be better at preparing the boulder so we could climb on it. Like we would tarp it better and have the right equipment to dry it and stuff. Like we did surprisingly well with just toilet paper. So I feel like if we were there a second time around, we just wouldn't let it get wet. If we went and it was dry, we would throw a tarp on it no matter what."

Rain prep on Burden // Photo by Sam Pratt

Sisu Project

Michael: What were your first impressions of the Sisu project?

• Hamish: "For me it was really, really memorable actually just seeing Sisu. The first impressions—it was quite mythical feeling, especially before we got up close to it and we were disappointed to see there were no holds. But the very first impression of seeing it—it looks like a sculpture more than a natural formation. I would see that in a gallery somewhere, it is just stunning, all the colors and the form of it. There's a lot of beautiful rock around there, but I remember going on a walk after we'd had a little Sisu adventure just in the area, looking at all the other rock around there and being like, 'Oh, there's a potential line, there's a potential line,' and then circling back around and seeing Sisu and being like, 'Holy fuck, that's the line.' It doesn't matter what else is here, that is the best-looking line that I could ever imagine. So it was aesthetically very memorable for me."

Analyzing the Sisu Project // Photo by Sam Pratt

• Noah: "Yeah, definitely the aura of the boulder struck me more than anything concerning the climbing. Because I still had such a hypothetical perception of it in my mind, and I still do now. But yeah, it really just struck me... walking in, also the fact that it was fall, it was just very atmospheric, it felt witchy. We had all these conversations about how it felt witchy, and the boulder fits it perfectly."

Quinn: Do you think the line actually goes?

• Hamish: "I would say it's physically possible, but practically impossible, maybe. Physically, I believe that a human being has the physical capacity to climb the thing, but I think you'd have to really, really, really value climbing that and only live there essentially and have that be your entire life goal. The thing that really brought it home is feeling some of the holds, how small and sharp they are, and knowing that if I had one go or I tried as hard as I possibly could, I would go through my skin on it. So you could maybe have like one max-effort go a week at best, and that's only a few weeks a year when it's cold enough to do it. So it feels like practically an absolute nightmare to project."

Hamish and Noah at Sisu // Photo by Sam Pratt

Quinn: What would it take—in terms of build or personality—to send it?

• Noah: "Well, I guess in terms of personality type, they'd have to be incredibly dedicated and all that. But also I think maybe—I don't know, maybe Hamish would disagree—but it did seem like there's a good amount of distance in between the crimps. Like you'd need someone who's a little larger but still like the best in the world at crimping and micro-crimping, which is like an even more unique combination. As we get a larger sample size, that sort of build is the build with the highest ceiling, especially for this climb because you have to go in between these tiny crimps that are pretty far from each other."

• Hamish: "Yeah, I agree. I think you'd want to be taller; it gives you a lot more options for drop knees and stemming, but it is all pretty far apart. Personality-wise, I don't know if it would ever be... I feel like there's a point where it's just not healthy to put too much time into something like that. If it's something which is obsessive for years and years and years, I don't think that's for me."

Miming the potential moves of Sisu // Photo by Sam Pratt

The Trip Between the Sessions

Quinn: "Is there anything else about the trip that stood out that you guys would like to mention?”

• Hamish: "I really liked our supermarket outings. I thought they were fun, just looking for the best cookies. There was just something about it which felt very young, it really took me back to being younger when you are away with friends for the first time abroad and even just going to the supermarket feels like an adventure. It wasn't a chore going to get stuff for dinner."

• Noah: "Yeah, I agree. It was kind of fun having to find a place to watch movies in our Airbnb because there was no living room. We just watched movies in that middle section between our rooms. We made it work."

Life in the van while the holds dry // Photo by Sam Pratt

• Quinn: "Those moments stood out for me, Noah and I were obsessed with those chicken legs that were super cheap. And then trying to figure out how to build a living room in the most random part of the house was fun."

• Hamish: "I also loved hiding that giant clock in people's beds. I forgot how much I like being mischievous."

Michael: “We made a collaborative playlist during the trip. What would you say is one track that instantly brings you back to the trip if you had to pick one?

• Hamish: "Mine is 'This Could Be Texas,' the Baxter Dury remix. One hundred percent. That's just one that Sam and I listened to on our drives in the van a lot and it really puts me there."

• Noah: "It's hard to think of something immediately, but maybe some Underworld album, maybe 'Jumbo' or 'Nylon Strung.' I hadn't listened to Underworld a lot prior and you guys kind of introduced me to them, and I kind of associate them with hanging out with you guys on the trip. And also the vibes fit, it was a little darker electronic music."

Morning oats with Hamish in the BnB // Photo by Sam Pratt

Noah Wheeler // Photo by Sam Pratt

• Quinn: "Yeah, we had that whole conversation about the witchiness of Finland. Early on when we were building out that playlist, we were adding a lot of songs that had this witchy quality to them. The song that, for me, encapsulates the trip is 'Cow Song' by The New Eves. It's so good and I added it in that segment of the UDVs video where we're all kind of frolicking around in that field looking at boulders. It was a very witchy vibe, but that song every time I hear it brings me back."

• Michael: "The one I keep going back to is the last track that you put in the UDVs, Quinn—'Chasing a Comfort.' That credit reel was just... that really did it for me. Something about the scenes and the credit reel with the music takes me back for sure."

Finland Spotify Playlist

Michael Rosato: Looking ahead to 2026, what are your goals for next year?

• Hamish: "I'm moving to your continent pretty soon in April; I'm going to move to Squamish. So I'll be around, we'd have a van obviously, so it's not too far to come down to Colorado or meet somewhere in the middle. That's kind of my next big adventure is moving house and country."

• Noah: "Switzerland I think in February. My biggest goal is ‘Alphane’ maybe, and then I want to try 'Poison the Well' and some other stuff out there. Also 'Arrival of the Birds.' I've been doing a lot of micro-crimping when I was in PA. I think it's a lot of micro-crimping on Arrival, just tiny blades. And then ideally Finland in March. I want to check out 'Spots of Time' if the weather's good around the Finnish trip."

• Michael: "Awesome. Well cool guys, thanks for doing this, thanks again for letting us come on the trip and be involved in th experience. I'm psyched to do it again whenever we can."

Photo by Sam Pratt