UKC

Adam Ondra has made the first repeat of James Pearson's E12 route Bon Voyage, in Annot, France.

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In reply to UKC News:

Correction: Adam Ondra repeats Bon Voyage O3

In reply to UKC News:

Awesome to see this! Ondra must have the most unbalanced top heavy trad  route climbing pyramid ever!  Dawn wall, Bon Voyage and a bit of czech sandstone. 

In reply to climbercool:

Possibly. He's done others

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2014/05/what_has_ondra_ever_done_on_grit_3_...

In reply to morpcat:

O3?

The route is hugely impressive and it's good to see James' view of the route vindicated. The area also looks pretty fantastic and if I get back to form I may need to collar a partner for a trip there!

In reply to spenser:

This was Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall’s tongue in cheek proposal for O grades, O meaning Ondra. Check it out it kind of stacks up. I think it’s presented first in their training cellar video with Adam. 

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant news, and what a great photo of Ondra on lead. The "Hands down, one of the best routes I have ever climbed" comment is as cool to read as his thoughts on the difficulty of this futuristic line.

In reply to UKC News:

E12, 9c AND 8C+

Not a bad CV...

In reply to UKC News:

It's a shame Empath has the bolts going on as it makes it hard to define 'hardest' trad route. James says this might be physically the hardest trad route in the world but if it's 9a and Empath is 9a+ then is it? The gear on Empath also sometimes looked dreadful. 

Anyway, love Ondra getting on the trad. That's what sets him apart from other strong climbers like Jacob. Sure, you've climbed 9c and 9A but what have you done on gear? Sport climbing is neither! 

In reply to PaulJepson:

I thought Empath was tending toward 5.14d and Connor Herson said the gear was 'more than enough'? And, I suppose sadly, with bolts available on the way up, the 'danger' level is perhaps reduced some more.

This ascent is a fantastic story though, and must feel redemptive for James.. 

In reply to timparkin:

He said for him ("with a pinch of salt") it was 14c on bolts, 14d to place the gear. So in the context of this discussion where we're mostly looking for a grade purely for the climbing, 14c. Although it sounded potentially like it was a bit morpho

In reply to PaulJepson:

Wouldn't be UKC without someone trotting out some absolute nonsense about sport climbing eh? Who's going to email Jakob, Sharma, Schubert etc and let them know they aren't real climbers?

In reply to Andrew Wells:

Anyone got a contact for them?

In reply to climbercool:

It’s what he grew up on. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, get a load of this:

https://youtu.be/dnSnd-xGtNI?si=6rzt-BheY69HSdSa

Ondra trying to kill Pete Whittaker on horrendous Czech sandstone cracks. The guy‘s got an incredible head for dangerous runouts; my favourite line: Pete: why don’t you ever place any slings? Adam: Can‘t be bothered, I‘d rather just climb from ring to ring (the rings on this potential death route are around 20m apart …).

In reply to PaulJepson:

You are right. This really does seem to set him apart from his nearest rivals. But your last sentence is pretty silly

In reply to PaulJepson:

I laughed out loud at that. Good ripost.