UKC

4 October 2012, Adam Ondra made the first ascent of Change, 9b+, in the massive Hanshalleren cave near Flatanger in Norway. This video shows a small part of the story of this groundbreaking ascent.
The rest of the story, and a lot more, will be told in the upcoming movie Change, by Petr Pavlicek,...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67890

In reply to UKC News: Wow, just wow.

In reply to TomGinge:

This

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant. What on earth are those beasts at the beginning, though? Elk?

jcm

In reply to UKC News: I dont have any words....what just happened...

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

They're European Elk AKA Moose.

In reply to UKC News:

Watch him do the crux at 7m 30s - painfull just watching it.

E

In reply to UKC News: Great photography. 'First ascent is ultimate style of climbing for me - even if you're only sport climbing.' Maybe he has ambitions in the world of trad climbing.

In reply to UKC News: It hurts my shoulder just looking at the first crux!

In reply to David Kirsfelds:

Yup, all I could think watching that was that i was about to see a dislocated shoulder... Also as that crux replayed a couple times, my mind started to try and work out an easier way to do that move... Then I started laughing when I realised what I was thinking!

In reply to UKC News:

un-effing-believable some of those sequences!

In reply to UKC News:

When will we see him on some hard Gaskins stuff? He should try VNB to see what really constitutes a hard route. But of course he won't try it as failing on a climb graded 'only' 9a+ wouldn't be good for the sponsors would it?

In reply to UKC News:

Has to be one of the most inspiring climbers in the world right now especially given the way he tells his story.

Love it.

In reply to John2:


He is on record as having ambitions in Yosemite and for routes like Eternal Flame in the Karakorum.


In reply to Andúril:


Ondra took a look at VNB on a wet day on his last trip to the UK. It wouldn't be a complete surprise if he was not particularly inspired by what he saw.

Ondra owes nothing to his sponsors and is happy to discuss the routes he has failed on: http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=39...

As well as being an amazing climber he has a a bit of class to him. Unlike you.

In reply to flaneur:

Indeed, probably more than any climber since the early days of sport climbing (when the likes of Jerry Moffat travelled the world repeating the hard routes) Ondra has shown himself willing to take on any challenges left by other climbers including first repeat of a Sharma 9b, the hardest Huber routes from the 90s, UKs hardest sport routes, unknown quantities like Chilam Balam etct etc.

Great video.

In reply to Andúril:

Has VNB actually been done tho? Nobody really knows.

I reckon if I got to travel wherever I liked to climb for as long as I liked, the last place I would ever go is Giggleswick.

He failed on hubble, thats 8c+. In fact he did a good interview with planet mountain about routes he couldn't do, including hubble. I get the impression that Ondra doesn't need to pander to his sponsers! They will be queueing round the block to sign him up.

In reply to snoop6060:

He failed on Hubble did he, I thought it was wet and he only had a few hours before he went home?

In reply to Andúril:

I'm just going to put myself in Ondra's shoes for a minute. I'm the strongest climber in the world with unlimited sponsorship money to travel the world climbing for the rest of my life.
Irrespective of what people think the status of Hubble is on the British and world climbing scene (if any) Please forgive me for not wanting to spend much of my precious time at Raven Tor or The G-Spot in Yorkshire.

E

In reply to Andúril:

Possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've read on UKC for quite some time!

In reply to xyz:

Indeed, and given the standards of ridiculousness on UKC that's quite an achievment!

In reply to Enty:

Amazing film sequence. Probably more than so than any climbing film ever it gave me a sensation of just how hard it actually is. I found my self tensing up just watching it.

What a savage

In reply to Kemics:

Yes, it looked appaling enough from a distance, but the later close up of the thing he had his fingers in was truly sick!

In reply to johncoxmysteriously: Yep Moose. We get loads around here, in fact we saw a couple last sunday whilst out searching for icefalls. They're rather cute animals, just don't hit them doing 80 in your car - doesn't end well for either party.

It's a good film. Ondra comes over very well.

In reply to Andy Clarke1965:

The link to planetmountain a couple of posts above yours has the answer:

"I've tried it for two days only, once in 2010 after the World Cup in Sheffield and, not being very fresh, I didn't do one move, a match of the underclings where Scottish climber Malcolm Smith could even chalk up for the camera of Heinz Zak! A year later, early one morning on the last day of my England trip, I tried hard and could indeed feel a significant difference thanks to some time spent on the campus board, but despite being close I failed. Strong Britons!"

In reply to Robert Durran:
Yes, it looked appaling enough from a distance, but the later close up of the thing he had his fingers in was truly sick!

That bit made me feel a little bit ill, it didn't look like he had a single 'good' point of contact there and he was in a pretty odd position. If he gets bored of climbing then he could always try competitive yoga.

In reply to UKC News:

This is a great film and a very good represtation of why he is currently the best sport climber in the world. He's just got it all, the strength, endurance, flexibility but also the mental side of things. The tenacity, and a big passion for what he's doing - just listen to that growling, it's primeval.

In reply to Jimbo C:
just listen to that growling, it's primeval.

I heard a rumour local house prices crashed due to rumours that the cave was full of blood thirsty trolls

In reply to UKC News:

<shakes head>, I don't know what to say. Just awesome.

In reply to UKC News:

Quite impressive stuff. It will be intresting to see if he is just the first of a new breed of climber or whether the stuff he's doing now (and will do over the next few year) will be a high water mark for many many years to come.

In reply to JLS:

It will be interesting to see, at the moment Ondra does appear to be in a league of his own. In a 8a.nu style I think he holds the following records (and he's only 20)

only person to have climbed 9b+ (tbc)
most 9b and harder ascents
only person to have repeated 9b on a route (as opposed to boulder problem / route hybrid)
most 9a and above first ascents
only person to have flashed 9a
most 8c+ onsights (by a mile approx 14 vs 1)

In reply to Ian Patterson: has he flashed 9a then? What route was it?

In reply to Double Knee Bar:

southern smoke direct

In reply to AJM: ta

In reply to AJM:

Indeed, flashed with beta particularly for the boulder problem start I believe. Still hasn't managed to do an onsight of a 9a, there's a video going around of him getting very close on some steep roof thing in Spain a few weeks ago.

In reply to Ian Patterson:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=1475

In reply to John2:

Yeah I interrupted it as this. Interesting to see how good of a trad climber he would be! Surely, there's a limit to where sport can get to?

I mean is a 10 possible?

The guy is a machine! Unbelievable focus and determination!

In reply to UKC News: It will be interesting to see who will take on the challenge of the second ascent?

In reply to TomGinge:

And that's just the belayer.

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant, brilliant, brillliant! Well done Adam.

In reply to UKC News:

Beast, amazing young man `the messiah` of sport climbing, this guy wil go on to become the best in the world for years to come, no disrespect to Chris Sharma et al but, he is way ahead and still only 20 !

In reply to Robert Durran:

Very good

In reply to UKC News: Ty Vole !