UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => news => Topic started by: remus on March 30, 2023, 07:24:21 pm
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https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqbAk3UMzqj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= (https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqbAk3UMzqj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)
Climbing Magazine are reporting it in an “exclusive interview”
Some classic American reporting there...
The man who brought 5.15a and 5.15b to the world, and did the second ascent of the world’s first 5.15c...
conveniently omitting Open Air which was climbed 6 years before Biographie and seems likely to be the first 15a in the world (if Ondra's grade-o-meter is accurate) and Change which Ondra climbed 6 months before La Dura Dura.
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Some classic American reporting there...
The man who brought 5.15a and 5.15b to the world, and did the second ascent of the world’s first 5.15c...
conveniently omitting Open Air which was climbed 6 years before Biographie and seems likely to be the first 15a in the world (if Ondra's grade-o-meter is accurate) and Change which Ondra climbed 6 months before La Dura Dura.
It's a sliding scale, innit? Biographie was not the first to be announced at 9a+ or harder, but the first to be announced at the grade without being met by widespread disbelief/ridicule. But it seems like a few routes by Alex Huber from the late 90s might be just as hard... Jumbo Love was the fourth 9b announced, but Akira was recently found to be rather 9a "soft", Chilam Balam 9a+/b and probably never freed until Ondra did the first "repeat", and Alí-Hulk sit start extension is maybe only considered 9a+ with knee-pads now? Change is still 9b+, but Seb has brought the grade into question (9b/+ with kneepads?).
But it would be curmudgeonous to suggest something else than that Sharma was the leading light of sport climbing during the mid 00s to mid 10s.
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But it would be curmudgeonous to suggest something else than that Sharma was the leading light of sport climbing during the mid 00s to mid 10s.
Totally agree with that. My point is that I don't think they need to resort to these half-truths to get the point across, and this lazy journalism muddies the historical waters. Change has been around for 11 years now and has had 3 ascents (9b+, 9b+ and 9b/+ being the suggestions), it's not controversial to say it is the first 9b+.
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All agreed. For me, studiously ingnoring Open Air being the first 9a+ in 1996, when Ondra's upgrade is well known, seems revisionist.
If we're splitting hairs, 'brought 5.15a to the world' could be interpreted as bringing the second 15a into the world but most people would probably agree it means brought the first one of the grade.
Not the mention Mutation 9a+'s upgrade recently by Will Bosi (from 1998), making Realisation the third? 15a.
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But it would be curmudgeonous to suggest something else than that Sharma was the leading light of sport climbing during the mid 00s to mid 10s.
Don't let facts get in the way of good story, especially when Team 'Merica (fuck yeah) is involved.
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Another contender for 1st or 2nd 9a+ in the world is Stefan Furst's Qui, repeated by Ondra and Roland Hemetzberger which Ondra suggested as 'something in the region of 9a+'
https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/adam-ondra-crushes-qui-first-repeat-stefan-furst-1996-masterpiece.html (https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/adam-ondra-crushes-qui-first-repeat-stefan-furst-1996-masterpiece.html)
For Ondra, whilst acknowledging that some holds on Qui have broken since the FA, for him, these were 'insignificant to the overall difficulties'.
Worth a thread split for this sub-debate? Take nothing away from Sharma's new masterpiece! :bow:
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Technically correct, as none of the Euros considered or were forced to answer the question "So do you think it's 5.15?"