UKC

Ondra At It Again - 'Om' F9aVideo

© Bernartwood
photo
Adam Ondra warming up - screen shot from video
© Bernartwood

Alex Huber on the first ascent of Om - F9a  © Heinz Zak
Alex Huber on the first ascent of Om - F9a
© Heinz Zak
Back in 1992 Alex Huber climbed Om at Endstal in Germany. Huber graded it F8c+, keeping it in line with the famous route by Wolfgang Gullich; Action Directe, which he also considered to be F8c+. Om waited 17 years for a repeat.

On the 14th of June 2009, 16 year old Adam Ondra, the Czech youngster who has taken World climbing by storm, made a very fast ascent of Om, the only repeat since Huber forged the line back in 1992. Ondra confirmed what many had suspected, Om is F9a, and seemingly quite tough for the grade.

Ondra has now repeated all three of Huber's super-routes; Om (F9a), Weiße Rose (F9a) and Open Air (F9a+). Alex Huber climbed Open Air at Austria's Schleierwasserfall back in 1996, making it one of the very hardest routes in the world for around a decade.

Ondra teamed up with Huber for his recent ascent of Om. Commenting on the Italian website Planet Mountain, Huber said:

"We climbed together last Saturday and Sunday. What should I say: it's taken a long time! But now one can really say that climbers like Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma embody a generation of climbers who have breached a new degree of difficulty. Although Adam hasn't climbed anything harder than I did at the start and in the middle of the '90's, he is repeating these routes in sovereign style which proves that today he's climbing on a completely different level than the best were during my time."


Adam Ondra on his recent ascent of Corona, 11+ (F9a+) , Frankenjura  © Vojtech Vrzba
Adam Ondra on his recent ascent of Corona, 11+ (F9a+) , Frankenjura
© Vojtech Vrzba
Endstal is a 500 metre high limestone cliff situated in Southern Germany. It isn't a popular cliff due to a delicate access situation. The crag is located somewhere in the Berchtesgaden National Park where climbing is tolerated but isn't officially allowed. The routes are mainly crimpy and vertical/slightly overhanging.

Om is 45m long, 18m of which is hard climbing.

For many, Ondra remains largely an unknown quantity in climbing. Videos and video interviews with him are still fairly scarce, and the British climbing media hasn't really gone nuts over his ascents. This could be because European sport climbing attracts less interest over here than say, a good old British headpoint, but the reality is that, in terms of World climbing standards, Ondra's achievements are a significant step forward and an E9 headpoint isn't. You can read a bit more about Adam in this UKC Interview - Your Questions for Adam Ondra

For those wanting to catch a glimpse of the boy-wonder in action, below is a clip of Adam warming up on a boulder traverse then climbing Kosititras Nesmrtelny (Boneshaker Immortal) F8c+/9a in the Czech Republic.

The clip is taken from a film soon to be released by Bernartwood. You can find out more on his Vimeo Page.

VIDEO: Adam Ondra Kosititras Nesmrtelny F8c+/9a

Missing video!

Adam Ondra is sponsored by La Sportiva , Beal

Additional thanks go to Sarah Burmester of Klettern.de for info on this report.


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Born in the Czech Republic, Adam Ondra has built up a decorated career since his early competitions, winning his first World Championships medal in 2009 in lead climbing. He was a favourite for Tokyo 2020 gold, but an...

Adam's Athlete Page 140 posts 51 videos



22 Jun, 2009
Good video. He looks quite handy.
22 Jun, 2009
I enjoyed the vid too. I like the uncut (well it looked pretty uncut) stuff on the traverse. I wonder how hard that traverse is? Jack
22 Jun, 2009
This is unbelievable stuff. I am sure Ondra will now raise the bar of the very hardest level after these superfast repeats. Its cool that Ondra (and Sharma) get the thumbs up from Huber as Huber has not always been the most charitable of advocates of climbers like Bernabez Fernandez and Fred Rouhling who he has both publically doubted in terms of their own 9b ascents and whether he considered them as representing a breakthrough to the next difficutly level (which he didn't).
22 Jun, 2009
i think its 8c+/9a according to the text?
22 Jun, 2009
Great video, love the way he climbs in slow motion... must be hard to do that! Adds a grade at least... Oh and his mum/belayer is hot!!!
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