UKC

Adam Ondara, the amazing 11 year old Czech climber, has broken another record by becoming the youngest person to have ever climbed an 8c. The route is called Mascherina and can be found in the Grotta dell Aeronauta.
This completes a remarkable sequence of ascents made over the last 12 months. In March he onsighted 2 8a+'s in France; in April he onsighted some more 8a+'s and did an 8b; in June he became the youngest person to climb 8b+ and now he has added an 8c to the list. Adam is currently rated 10th in the 8a.nu rankings. Who knows what will happen when he starts developing some real muscles as a teenager!

Source - http://www.8a.nu/site2/

UKC News - http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

In reply to UKC News:

Oh great! Thanks for posting that. Now I feel more of a punter than before.


I hope he doesn't get distracted by other teenage problems and keeps climbing.

In reply to UKC News:

So my on-sight flash of a 6b+ at the wall last night wasn't that impressive then?

In reply to JonC:

well done , not quite 8c but if you enjoyed it

Phil

In reply to lost1977:

I wasn't looking for thanks (it was intended as a joke) but thanks anyway

More to the point, how can an 11 year old climb 8c? I'd have thought any power to weight ratio advantage would easily be outweighed by other physical factors. Or is he 6ft tall and pumping weights already? And wouldn't all that training (I assume) be bad for him in the long-term?

In reply to UKC News:
Very impressive, but what's he ever done on grit

(someone had to say it...)

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Hopefully he'll bever come near it, could be embarrassing!

In reply to JonC:


Clearly not ! maybe supleness and flexibility count for a lot more than we realise ?

Another thing to watch is whether his motivation can be maintained once he discovers being a teenager ..

In reply to GrahamD:

Possibly it's a 300 mile long overhanging wall, where stamina may be of some use.

In reply to UKC News:

Wait until his fingers grow and what is now a jug becomes a 2 finger pocket!

In reply to DaveC at Work:

Bet he can't jam to save his life.

In reply to UKC News: Oh god, just when we thought we were improving...

In reply to UKC News: Reminds me of World Champs in Birmingham, this muscular Romainslovachgarian climbed brilliantly, then after he finished, he came down into the seating area, he was only about 5 feet tall?

Bahhhhhhhhhhhhh


Stu

In reply to Stu Tyrrell:
Before anyone else asks..what's he done on gritstone...or for that matter shale?

In reply to UKC News:
Either he is a one off or the future of hard climbing will be seen more and more in people of his age.

In reply to GrahamD:

Surely flexibility is cheating?!

In reply to Murdy:

In my book, anybody who can climb 8C has to be cheating somehow

In reply to UKC News:

Lets turn this on its head, what about Oldest person to climb a grade??

Anyone over 60s climbing High E grades?

I say good luck to the little fella. x

In reply to UKC News: Why do people always say something about strength to weight ratios when talking about kids climbing. Surely strength to weight ratio improves with puberty? I know mine did.

In reply to UKC News:
Photos and video of this ascent are on http://www.czechclimbing.com/
Enjoy...

In reply to UKC News: Here is video - http://www.czechclimbing.com/fotos/clanky/bokula05/zatopek.mov

In reply to UKC News:

he's a midget!!

fingers that small count as aid in my book.

In reply to EsT:

I imagine that's it's because people assume that strenght is a squared function of linear dimensions, and that weight is cubed function (this is perfectly logical). Of course, you would also have to assume that small people are just scaled down versions of big people, which seems less likely

Mark.

In reply to Anonymous: Don't understand the maths, well I do understand the maths, but don't see why this makes sense. The biology says that when you hit puberty, especially as a bloke, the proportion of your body that is muscle increases significantly, hence your strength to weight ratio increases. That's why sprinters are faster at 25 than 12, and why male gymnasts are better at 25 than 12.

In reply to EsT:

It's because the strength of a muscle is proportional to it's cross sectional area (i.e. number of muscle fibre) and hence it's area, whilst weight is proportional to volume.


Exactly, that's why I would question the assumption that small people are simply scaled up versions of big people.


I'd agree with you about the gymnast (although I don't know how much of gymnastic success is due to strength). The sprinter example isn't really valid because you're still comparing absolute times rather than scaled times.

I'm sure someone must have looked at power to weight in different age groups.

Mark