UKC

Adam Ondra has free climbed the 370m F8b+ Tough Enough on his first attempt, succeeding on the route in a single day, on his first day of climbing in Madagascar.

The Czech climbing phenomenon onsighted 8 out of the 10 pitches, and climbed the other 2 pitches on his second attempt.

The route, a blank vertical wall of perfect granite, is highly technical and finger intensive, and has no easy pitches for its entire length...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=58371

In reply to UKC News:

awesome....and thanks for the excellent interview.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Not a bad days climbing.....

In reply to UKC News: F**k. that is a sick effort.

In reply to UKC News:
He still blows my F**king mind!

He is the best climber in the world by such a wide margin and he is only 17!!!

To put it in perspective Steve McClure says that there are about 75 routes in the world which are f9a or more. On Adams 8a account it says he has climbed 42 routes which are f9a or more.

There are probably very few routes out there that he cant do.

In reply to dunkymonkey17:

Well I think I agree, but have you ever sat back and read what you have just typed?

In reply to UKC News:

Did he actually do the whole route clean in a single day?

In reply to UKC News: Ever get the feeling that someone is just getting into their stride?

In reply to UKC News:

The description of 'Monster' does the man an injustice.

In reply to Quarryboy: Not clean if for you clean means "with no falls or rests except at belay stances: He climbed pitches 7 and 9 second go, meaning he fell at forst attempt on these pitches, had some rest at the belay then restarted the pitches from the belay. I believe for such a big wall, it is still considered a single-day-single-push free climb.
Man could argue about the use of the term "onsight" for some of the pitches as he himself admit he saw a video of the route. But it is still one of the strongest effort since Lynn Hill's single push free ascent of the nose.
Some questions still come to mind if you want to start a good troll:
1° What has he done on grit*
2° Pitch 9 has been onsighted previously (Yann Ghesquier). Does it mean he's weaker than Yann?*

*Add multiple smileys there.

In reply to UKC News: Forgive my ignorance, but what is meant by "free-climbed" in the article?? does it mean a free ascent? Is the route not bolted? I thought Ondra didn't do trad?

In reply to Double Knee Bar: It means done without any aid. As in he climbed it with just his own strength etc. no assistance. The route is bolted and the term 'free climbing' can apply to bolted and trad routes.

In reply to AndyJBooth: Thanks for clarifying that.

In reply to QReuCk:

I'm pretty sure he says he went back later and did the lot clean in one day, sitting out the heat of the day on their portaledge. I have to admit though, that the news article and the interview give contradictory accounts of what happened. From the interview, it sounds like he did all the pitches on day 1 (with 2 falls, but got those pitches second go), then descended to sleep on the ledge before ticking the alternative pitch the next morning. Then he had 2 rest days, before blasting up the route in a single day. This isn't exactly what the news article says.

In reply to Monk: It's really not very difficult to understand. He did the whole route in a single push in one day. Came down to the portaledge and worked the 8c pitch. Then had two rest days and went back and redpointed the 8c.

In reply to Stig:

That's how I read it at first as well. But reading it again it could also sound like after 2 days reast he climbed the entire thing free in a day by way of the 8c pitch, resting on the portaledge in the middle of the day.

Not that it makes much difference. Pretty amazing either way.

In reply to Stig:

That may well be true. I think the confusing part is that he mentions his strategy of resting at the ledge for the middle of the day AFTER he is talking about working the 8c pitch and having rest days. From that I inferred that he did his 5.30 am start afterwards, but I concede that may not be the case.

In reply to UKC News:

Awesome wall...wow. One question I have: what is "Antihydral?"

In reply to owensum:

Google sez it is this:

http://foosdirect-store.stores.yahoo.net/antihydral.html

In reply to mattrm:

Okay!... "brought to you from the world of pro foosball"

Why have I never heard of this product before if ondra (and the international foosball community) swears by it?

In reply to owensum:

Antihydral has a lot of drawbacks too. Its only usefull if you can cope with the fact that you have a "skin glove" on your fingertips ( which feels like after you tipped your finger into candle wax ). I heard of people overusing Antihydral who ripped huge flappers into the skin and flesh of their fingers. The skin is too dry. You have to lick the fingers to keep them hydrated and the skin flexible. But nevertheless often the skin is to hard and slick for limestone or sandstone. On such a granit project like Tough Enough it makes sense though.

In reply to sb2006: I think it works fine for a week or so if you apply olive oil once or twice every day. After that... well, my experience is the skin pretty much falls appart...