Newsflash 'Hard 8B' flash for Adam Ondra
Adam Ondra has flashed Luftig kö till nålens öga, an 8B boulder at Hultastenen, Kjugekull, Sweden.
Two of the world's most recognisable climbers get together for a wide-ranging conversation covering their individual specialisations, how notoriety has changed their lives and the responsibilities linked to having a large platform at their fingertips.
They discuss their future plans, what kind of trips make them tick and the difficulties of developing sport routes. Overall, it's an interesting conversation between two fascinating climbers at the top of their game.
Comments
That was really good. Such contrasting attitudes to motivation and giving maximum effort. Suspect most folk are in Alex's camp, looking on in awe at Adam.
It may partly be a language issue, but somehow, Adam makes Alex look like the normal, grounded one. It takes a lot to pull that off!
A bit odd that it's billed as 'two of the world's most recognisable climbers.' Why not just say 'two of the world's best climbers'?
Straight away, about one minute in, I can relate to Ondra - even though I climb about 100 grades easier - when he says 'Always when I'm climbing I want to do my best - I want to climb it right, I want to feel good while climbing it.' For at least the last 10 years of my climbing, this was pretty much my philosophy of climbing. It wasn't a matter of 'seeing if I could "get up" a route' but 'seeing just how well I could climb it' (even if it meant dropping my grade slightly). I'm not saying I always achieved it, but that was my goal. I think that's about the wisest tip you can give any beginner, because if you concentrate on climbing well - at whatever standard you're climbing - you're much more likely to make faster progress through the grades.
Well probably because they are very well known publicly as well as being amongst the very best. Not just climbers recognise them.
It adds a different perspective