[north_country_boy]

As above, the teenage wonder kid strikes again! Dispatching the famous Action Directe, 9a in the Frankenjura

[Nibile]

ohhhh, i've been waiting for this.
crazy guy.
made me happy.

[Nibile]

he's online now on 8a.nu. adding the tick. i can't help but imagine his face while at the pc, a young modest boy who's making our world tremble.

[Jaspersharpe]

[Nibile]

"Adam Ondra is revolutionizing rock climbing standards, so have some respect, and be inspired!!!"
from dave graham's blog...

[SA Chris]

At what point does "Ondra despatches something bullet hard with ease" stop being news. At the moment though, I am continually amazed by the guy.

[Paul B]

  

[Jaspersharpe]

I like how it seems that he's taking on all the classic hard routes regardless of the type of climbing. I don't think many of the previous Action Directe ascentionists also had / have the stamina to do the massive pump fests that Ondra has done. Likewise Uzogbreadboardixitrix et al don't appear to have the explosive power for routes like Action. This is amazing stuff we're seeing.

[Paul B]

I might doubt that fact.

[Jaspersharpe]

Which one? If you notice the post was heavily laden with provisos as none of it is fact and all of it conjecture. I'm just trying to think of anyone who's operating at 9a and above in both "disciplines" and can't.

[eteve]

are you familiar with the work of iker pou? dave graham or christian bindhammer? i think they are pretty all round amazing climbers in pretty much all departments, like adam.

[slackline]

  more 9a's in a year than most people could ever dream of doing in ten life-times!

More conjecture, but do you think this whipper-snapper would have the balls to get on some hard trad?

Seeing as it would be well below his top grade (isn't the F tech for Rhapsody 8c?) it shouldn't be too much hassle to dispatch a few of 'em in quality on-sight styleee.

[Paul B]

I like how it seems that he's taking on all the classic hard routes regardless of the type of climbing. I don't think many of the previous Action Directe ascentionists also had / have the stamina to do the massive pump fests that Ondra has done. Likewise Uzogbreadboardixitrix et al don't appear to have the explosive power for routes like Action. This is amazing stuff we're seeing.

the explosive power bit, these guys are beasts and i'm pretty sure they'll turn their hand to it at some point but then again thats just conjecture as well.

[Jaspersharpe]

are you familiar with the work of iker pou? dave graham or christian bindhammer? i think they are pretty all round amazing climbers in pretty much all departments, like adam.

Hmmm. Very true.     

Time to switch the PC off and go climbing methinks.

[Nibile]

Time to switch the PC off and go climbing methinks.

ohh that's so unfair.

[JohnM]

He may not be motivated to try trad.  Just because someone is climbing at a very high standard does not necessarily mean they want to climb, even at a lower standard, in dangerous situation.  For example, a proffesional road biker would probably not think 'I have all this explosive leg power and endurance I might as well try my hand at dowhill biking or duel slalom!'.     

[slackline]

Aye, very true, was just musing.

[Percy B]

Ondra is climbing better than Iker Pou, Bindhammer and Dave Graham I'm afraid. We just need to get over it and except that this kid is taking climbing to a new level. I've seen him crushing 8b boulder problems, a mate of mine watched him hike Rambla 4th go like he was warming up (Andrada was watching too, and he still hasn't done this route!). At least Adam had the common decency to find Action Direct hard. He is traveling to all the famous areas and dispatching on all rock types - bouldering and routes. Before anybody asks what hes done on grit, he hasn't visited yet (and lets keep it that way to save further embarrassment)!

[Paul B]

Ondra is climbing better than Iker Pou, Bindhammer and Dave Graham I'm afraid. We just need to get over it and except that this kid is taking climbing to a new level.

Done

[eteve]

i seriously hope he does take it to a new level and i am sure he will. the route is 17yrs old though? when he starts doing fa 9bs and up which i am sure he will then he is taking things to a new level.

[richdraws]

Does anyone know how many goes it has taken the previous ascentionists? Has anyone done without specific training?

1. Wolfgang Güllich (1991) - FA
2. Alexander Adler (1995)
3. Iker Pou (2000)
4. Dave Graham (2001)
5. Christian Bindhammer (2003)
6. Richard Simpson (2005)
7. Dai Koyamada (2005)
8. Markus Bock (2005)
9. Kilian Fischhuber (2006)

[north_country_boy]

Graham apparently did it without any specific training, however he did apparently spend a year or so prior doing similar style boulders with dynamic moves on monos etc.....(as i have been told)

[Nibile]

adler: ages. at least six months of specific training and losing 6 kg. he said in an itw to desnivel "every 0,5 kg lost i was doing better"
iker pou: ages. at least two winters i think. second year he was there for many weeks and iirc he fell 16 or so times between last bolt and chain (from desnivel)
graham: one week.

others i dunno.

[Jim]

i seriously hope he does take it to a new level and i am sure he will. the route is 17yrs old though? when he starts doing fa 9bs and up which i am sure he will then he is taking things to a new level.

well put

[Kingy]

I think Marcus Bock spent years trying it back in the day and it became a bit of a mental block. He said it was not the hardest route in the Jura for him and that some of his new 9a routes were harder.

[Houdini]

Come again?

He can't do AD but insists his other routes are harder?!




He's the guy whose hardest boulder problem was crushed by Gaskins then spent ages telling the world that he'd DEFINITELY not done it despite being absent from proceedings.  Am I right?

 

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.



It really doesn't surprise me that this Czech has done AD looking at his gangliness and lack of weight but I do get a renewed sense of what Gullich did, who was darn beefy.

[Ru]

Come again?

He can't do AD but insists his other routes are harder?!

No, Marcus has done AD, and thinks his other routes are harder. It just took him a long time.


Interestingly, Ondra spent 5 days on Unplugged and thought it was one of the hardest things he'd done. When Simpson did it in a couple of sessions he downgraded it to "UK" 8c+.  I don't really think that you can draw any conclusions from that though.

[Houdini]

Stand corrected.

[Jaspersharpe]

You're right about the Gaskins thing though.

[slackline]

Stand corrected.

Why do you stand up when your using a computer/typing?

[r-man]

Videyo-yo

[Nibile]

to be really honest he makes it look so easy that it's ALMOST disappointing. knowing how bad the holds are and how overhanging the route is, it's impressive. impressive.

[Kingy]

Fooking hell, waltzes it.

[north_country_boy]

well he made that look piss! However the camera angle doesn't do it justice, as to how steep the line/butress is....

[Jaspersharpe]

Fucking hell. So this is him finding something really difficult? Great stuff.

[grumpycrumpy]

Fucking hell. So this is him finding something really difficult? Great stuff.

Says the man who warms up on 7b+ 's .....

[Jaspersharpe]

........and fails on 7As if they require any arm strength. Let's keep things in perspective.

I think Percy's points on this thread are the most valid as he's seen the kid's power first hand. But when you look at the list of climbers who've failed on this route and then see how Ondra basically pissed it in 15 tries when it's something way outside his normal remit, well I'm more than impressed. Yes until he pushes the standard then people are right to say we've seen nothing new but seriously, he's 15 years old.

He's pissing EVERY hard route he tries. Does anyone seriously doubt that barring injury (which is less likely as he's built up his strength while he's developing) or a sudden lack of motivation, Ondra will eclipse previous climbing standards within the next couple of years?

Peronally I think it's fucking brilliant. Standards have stagnated in sport climbing for the last 15 years. A kick up the arse to 9b and beyond is what was needed, and now it will come.

[r-man]

Interview here: http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews.lasso?l=2&keyid=36123

[Jim]

9b was done many years ago 

[r-man]

9a onsight, that's the next one.

My mind is boggled.

[Paz]

I wouldn't be surprised if he had a trad head already.  I know there was this supposed conflict between the old guard and the younger generation who wanted more sport routes in the Czech republic (didn't he even have some money docked for using chalk there?), and a lot of things are runout on crazy old big ring bongs, but I'd be surprised if he never did any of the knotted sling trad routes on those sandstone towers.  I mena you would wouldn't you?  But hey, in other areas I could mention strong talented climbers try the local trad, get put off and then find they prefer sport or bouldering.  Maybe he'd get on well with headpointing the top end stuff, like a lot of sport climbers did and do.  I dunno if he's had chance yet - setting up a top rope on a sandstone tower isn't exactly straightforward (they don't all have a tree you can climb up to get on them like that thing at High Rocks.  And they've got that ground up ethic shizzle. 

[slackline]

From the above linked interview....

What about other forms of climbing such as trad?
Hmm, maybe. But I've never placed nuts and friends and I do not know if I’m skilful enough :-)

[Nibile]

i know it's not trad but from what he's done on silbergeier i think he's got a good head as well.

[Jim]

I thought you said he gives good head. upon re-reading I'm no longer interested

[Nibile]