Ethan Salvo Climbing the Legendary Lucid Dreaming V15

In December last year, Ethan Salvo sent Lucid Dreaming V15 (8C), located on the Grandpa Peabody boulder in the Buttermilks, California. As a kid, he used to have photos of the legendary boulder plastered to the walls of his parents’ basement next to his home climbing wall. With the ascent, he joined a small group of elite climbers who have topped the iconic Bishop line. The problem was a long-term project for Salvo, taking around 40 sessions over two trips to unlock the famous test-piece. An excellent new film edited by Salvo was recently released by ANTIGRAV, which you can view below.

“Everything fell into place one night under the full moon,” said Salvo after his ascent on Instagram. “A moment I’ve wanted to experience for many years now, although I didn’t imagine it could be this good, nor this rich and full of ups and downs.”

Lucid Dreaming is a Buttermilks classic, and a sandbag at V15, at least in the modern era of bouldering. The problem features one of hardest two-move sequences of any established line in the world. When Paul Robinson made the first ascent in 2010, he initially proposed V16. After climbing a few other problems, he made the decision to downgrade it to V15 before it received a repeat. Whatever the grade, Lucid Dreaming was a futuristic climb. It took four years for the problem to receive its second ascent, and Daniel Woods was the climber to do it.

Alex Megos was the third ascensionist, sending the problem in 2015, and he described it at the time as “the longest project I ever had.” He compared the experience of topping out as being similar to when he ascended Action Directe, the world’s first 5.14d in Frankenjura, Germany. “It’s just so overwhelming,” he said after his ascent. “You’re just so satisfied. You cannot stop laughing anymore. It’s a really good feeling.” Since Megos’ ascent, Lucid Dreaming has be completed by several of the world’s best climbers, including Jimmy Webb, Sean Bailey, Lee Sungsu, Adam Shahar, Toru Nakajima, and David Fitzgerald, among others.

Topping Lucid Dreaming was the cherry on top of an incredible year for Salvo. He had a very sendy spring in Squamish. In May 2025, he made the first ascent of IMAX V15. Less than two weeks later, he made the first ascent of The Youngster’s Roof V15. The next month, he made the second ascent of  Event Horizon V16, becoming the first Canadian climber to send the grade. The ascent came three days after he clipped the chains on Chris Sharma’s infamous sport climb Dreamcatcher 5.14d. A new video of Salvo topping Lucid Dreaming has just been released (see video below).

After his ascent, Salvo published a blogpost on his Substack about his experience on the climb. It’s a highly recommended read, which you can check out here. Back in January, I caught up with Salvo via an email exchange to learn more about his time on Lucid Dreaming, You can read our short interview below.

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Interview with Ethan Salvo

How did Lucid Dreaming come on your radar? What was it about it that drew you in?

During Covid I spent a lot of time watching climbing videos. At the time, I was motivated to become stronger in bouldering to do the hardest moves I possibly could. I guess it makes sense that I watched Reel Rock 2010s “The Hardest Moves” segment over and over again. The part shows Daniel doing “The Game”, and Paul on “Lucid Dreaming”. The condensed difficulty of a V15/16 boulder into 4 moves was attractive to someone who wanted to do the hardest moves I possibly could. From then on, Lucid Dreaming kind of became the dream project. I wanted to save money, train, and head to the Sierras to see what this thing was all about.

Being out in Bishop and not at home in Squamish, did you feel pressured by time?

In your Substack article, you described eating the same meal for breakfast and lunch every day and warming up with the same routine, even listening to music from the same artist. How important is ritual and routine for you when projecting?

I don’t know if it’s a projecting thing, I think I’m just a creature of habit. Maybe there’s something in terms of my routines helping me slip back into the same mental space I’d be in from a session before. But really, I just like my routines, and like what I like. Living in a car is tricky at times, and so I find it’s easier to stock up on the same food needed to make the one or two simple but enjoyable meals.

You said in your Substack that when you finish a big project, you like to execute perfectly and that there is no room for ugly movement. Do you usually achieve this when you send? Do you feel the need to repeat problems if they weren’t smooth sends?

In a world that values green check marks and big numbers at any cost, I think style and mastery are dying. No one cares if you get away with barely doing a move, or how much your feet slip or cut. As long as you get on top, the majority of climbers think that’s sick and it’s over. For me, I don’t really agree. I like to climb pretty, in control, and when I get things done, I want it to feel rather like an execution of all that I’ve learned (a final exam, so to speak) instead of luck.

The day I did Lucid Dreaming, I had a very close go on my second try. On that try, everything went wrong, and I forced my way up with brute strength. When I slipped at the last second, I wasn’t actually that upset. I remember thinking that if I had done it that try, it would’ve felt like getting away with murder. All these days of effort, all that time learning just to do it poorly? That isn’t what I want, or how I want to remember it feeling.

The Grandpa Peabody can draw both a lot of climbers and perhaps even more spectators at times. Some climbers thrive and enjoy the energy, but others find it difficult to maintain their composure. What was it like for you climbing in that environment?

Yeah, it’s most definitely a scene there, honestly, it’s too much for me at peak times with 30 people talking to each other and then going quiet when you pull on the wall (or sometimes be really loud and distracting), you can really feel them looking at you. It’s one thing to have a big crew beside you trying Evilution and climbing with a bunch of folks on the same boulder. But, it’s really weird when 12 people you’ve never met or talked to stand around for a chunk of your session just staring at you like a monkey in a zoo, hoping to see something cool.

I started to feel really jaded by the whole scene this year, and would just roll up to Lucid with headphones on and try to block out all the noise while climbing and try to not notice all the headlamps shining on me. I kind of came to terms with it this year, feeling as if I had to accept it instead of run from it. As much as I’d like to have my space more respected at times, I’m climbing on public lands, and my right to be here is as much as the person that wants to stand around and watch. I started to think of myself as a performer on a stage for an audience, which made it a bit easier to focus on my role as a performer and forget that I’m on a stage.

I will add, it would be nice for people to just communicate more. Like if you wanna stand around and watch someone climb for an hour, maybe just ask if they’re cool with it. Also, the people who are climbing on the hardest stuff in an area are no different than your average climber, they’re regular people too. Imagine if you rolled up to your project with 1 or 2 friends, and a group of 8 walked by and decided to watch you climb for a while without interacting with you. It’s weird…

How does Lucid Dreaming stack up to your other big sends? How do you think you’ll remember the experience as time goes by?

Hard to say how it stacks up, it’s certainly wildly different in terms of style from other hard things I’ve done, and up there as one of the hardest things I’ve done. In terms of how I’ll remember it, it’s always gonna be the boulder I had photos of plastered on my parents’ basement wall beside my small homewall. Like, it was a really big dream for a young kid, and I couldn’t have imagined all the things that were gonna unfold in that dream. I don’t know if I’m gonna remember much about trying it in a few years from now, it’s gonna be all the other things that happened during these seasons in Bishop, and the people in my life during those times. Whether good or bad memories, I think it’s gonna be all love for all that happened when I look back on it now.

Ethan Salvo Climbing Lucid Dreaming V15

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