UKC

Adam Ondra continues to out perform everyone else which he demonstrated by winning the lastest Worldcup event in Puurs in Belgium. In the final he made an astonishing 4 minute 30 second ascent of the route - report here


Belclimb has published an interview with Adam which has been translated...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=49556

youtube.com/watch?v=tYhZtRq4-is&

In reply to UKC News:

"I made my first moves when I was 4 years old but really started climbing when I was 6."

late starter then.

In reply to thumger:

There's an even better video by Udo Neumann which I have added to the news item now - http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=49556

Thanks for finding that other one.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

You beat me to it, I just watched that on youtube:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_eu-OGlzeM&NR=1

It really highlights the importance of fast decision making on harder routes.

In reply to UKC News: Ondra just makes it look effortless! The first "stopper" move of the red triangular feature Adam left two minutes before the other two. Awesome!

In reply to UKC News:
Any idea of the grade of that climb? Not that grades matter...

"I wouldn’t say that I’m stronger now. It’s just that I was not that tall right then."


Wow that surprises me. How hard did he climb 5 years ago.
Such an impressive performance from all of them.
Good video UKC.
James

In reply to birthers:

no idea but at a guess probably somewhere in the region of 8b-8c.

In reply to thumger:

This version you can watch in HD.

Udo Neumann excellent book on Rock Climbing highlighted the differences in a competition between Francois Legrand and second place Yuji Hirayama and concluded the the best climber was the one that made the fewest mistakes.

This is a very interesting way to learn about climbing and I hope he does more vids like this one.

Ondra's fast style is impressive. I think that just being stronger allows faster climbing because you have more options to do each move so don't have to waste time figuring out the one and only way that's possible for you. Tomas Mazerek has said Ondra was a lot stronger that he was.

As for the grade of the route since both Ondra and Usobiaga have apparently onsighted 8c+ now I'd imagine the routesetters wouldn't have made it any easier than that for fear getting a tie.

In reply to UKC News:
Do you have to be a similar standard climber to set a route of this standard?
These routes look brilliant, well set and imaginative but who set them? Surely you must climb at a similar standard in order to understand the how it is climbed and the nuances of the movement?
Hope my question made sense!
James

In reply to james oswald:

The routesetters have to be pretty tuned in to the abilities of the the top climbers in order to set a route where, ideally, one completes the route and everyone else fails. To do this they need to be able to judge the difficulty of the route very carefully and the only way to do that is to climb pretty near the standards of the top climbers.

In reply to UKC News:

Was the women's superfinal the same as the men's final? Didn't appear to be very different. If so Johanna Ernst got further than second place man Paxti Usobiaga!!

In reply to stp: i think it said it was slightly modified.

In reply to stp:
The experience I have of seeing world cup setters forerun a route doesn't back this up.
They had a mare, neither topped out on the demo of the men's or the women's routes, several moves were dogged through and the competitors were too busy laughing (with the route setters) to absorb much beta for the flash.
Good routes though.
I usually find people set the best routes at their tope end grade.
International route setters are a different breed, far more skill and experience and can set almost anything well.
D

In reply to dirtbag1:

Routesetting is, esp in comps, is an exhausting process. It's not just the physical effort of bolting on all the holds. They have to try moves and sequences of moves over and over again fine tuning the route to route to get it right. They may never climb the routes in one go but they will certainly have done it in sections a number of times. Compared to the competitors they do a lot more climbing.

The routesetters for this latest comp at Puurs included Christian Bindhammer and Adam Pustelnik both 8c+ or 9a climbers.