UKC

At Santa Linya in Spain, Adam Ondra redpointed La Novena Enmienda (9a+) and onsighted Digital System (8c) during the same day.

The next day, Ondra redpointed F*ck the System (9a), then, four days later, the young Czech repeated La Rambla (9a+) at Siurana in just five tries.

Read More: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

In reply to Jack Geldard - Assistant Editor: UKC on teh ball with the news reports as usual....

Why don't 8a.nu or the Czech climbing federation/association pay to get this lad over to the UK on one of Steve's routes this spring.....

In reply to north country boy:

Just wondering why its acceptable to have the route F uck the System (9a/5.14d) properly named in the news front page link but not in the forum page here?

In reply to nz Cragrat:

i think because the route was named by spaniards it is vaguely amusing.


in a manuel kind of way.

In reply to nz Cragrat:

Presumably becuase the forum has some automatic 'thing' that prevents swearing but is not applied to the news pages as these are not publicly editable.

In reply to north country boy:


Erm, why would they? It's a pity that these routes are unlikely to get any decent attention (mind you Chris Sharma is in the country soon....) but if they were I'd imagine it'd be because of pull factors rather than push. Maybe another Petzl Roc trip co-incinding with good conditions.

In reply to Tyler: because he is paid by the czech federation already....

Conditions is the big thing, plus whoever comes and tries them has most likely everything to lose and little to gain....the only one to benefit would be Steve from seeing people trying his routes....which are potentially harder than his grades suggest...

In reply to Jack Geldard - Assistant Editor:
having read a few articles on UKclimbing discussing the effect of extreme training on young bodies, does anyone else think this kid is going to be knackered but the time he's 25? not trying to take anything away from some terrific climbing.
Gethin.

In reply to north country boy:

Yeah but like you say there is little in it for him or them. There are loads of routes of 9a and up around Europe which probably don't involve complicated Malham-esque sequences, seepage 70% of the year, soapy conditions when dry and extortionate accomodation prices!! Personally I'd love some foreign wad to come over and ratify the grades of these routes but I remeber thinking the same thing in 1997 when Big Bang was done, we're still waiting!

In reply to north country boy:

then shouldn't Steve pay him?

In reply to Jack Geldard - Assistant Editor:

My sources suggest Ondra is half-Czech and half-Sherpa by blood. Anyone know if there's any truth in this? Would seem to be rather a handy genetic mix.

jcm

In reply to Tyler:


Not even a Brit has taken the time to repeat the Big Bang, right?

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

don't you mean David Lama....half austrian, half nepali....100% mutant.

In reply to Morgan Woods:


Yes I think that is the cause of John's confusion. Though .. perhaps there are roving bands of sherpas/ sherpanis throughout Central Europe spawning rock gods?

In reply to tobyfk:


As far as I know no one has put much time into trying to repeat it but poeople have been on it and apparently may well deserve its given grade. Just goes to show what an under rated ascent it was at the time, by an under rated climber.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Dunno. Did I? Source, where are you?

jcm

In reply to tobyfk:

Well, it is a bit of a walk, you know! Not to mention the fact the pegs are no doubt rusted to hell.

jcm

In reply to tobyfk:

would it be fair to assume that the 'central european' aspect is pretty irrelevant, as it's the 'nepali/sherpa' element that's got the strength/power/etc?

as for the achievement - mind-boggling, and it makes me wonder what he'll be able to do in the future if he's already working at this level. I do hope he's made time for his half-term homework though...

In reply to CJD:



You have obviously not climbed with any Czechs.

In reply to tobyfk:

no, I haven't, but I'm of czech stock so I was wondering if I should be checking myself for genetic mutations.

In reply to tobyfk:

and could you expand on your answer, please? *why* are czechs, in particular, so strong/powerful/etc?

In reply to CJD:

I think tenacious (and mad) is the usual generalisation rather than strong exactly. Something to do with those long years of defying the soviets in a cool surrealistic way?

In reply to tobyfk:

that fits with what I know of the general Czech mindset, yes (if one was to be so lazy as to stereotype nations like that, but hey, I guess these things happen).

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:


Aside from mundane things like googling, there's a profile of David Lama in Peter Mortimer's excellent "First Ascent" film.

In reply to tobyfk:

I've just tried 'Adam Ondra genetic make-up', and it doesn't help. My source was a UKC poster in a pub last night, so I wasn't doing very rigorous research. I mean, googling - whaddaya think I am, a PhD student or something?

jcm

In reply to tobyfk:

As generilisation goes my experience would say it was quite a good one. Was in Siurana a few year ago, weather was freezing, they'd had 6 inches of snow at the weekend and we were seriously pleased that we'd got a cabin rather than camping. Met some Chech guys at Falco who were bivying in a cave at Arboli! One of them warmed up, then flashed the 7b+ I'd been doing, and as we left was quite happily repeatedly chucking himself 30 foot off a runout cruxy looking 8a.

In reply to tobyfk:

or just going out and climbing hard rather than worrying about "getting solid at VS".

In reply to Ian Patterson:

As another generalisation if you are dossing then you have to climb hard to justify, and make up for, the misery.

Staying in cabins makes you soft and reduces your grade.

In reply to CJD: but I'm of czech stock so I was wondering if I should be checking myself for genetic mutations


You possess world class stamina when it comes to posting

In reply to Simon Lee:

guffaw!

In reply to CJD:

Stunning, cunning punning.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Is that where the expression "The Czech's in the post" came from?

In reply to Serpico:

That is the expressed ethnic origin of the original poster girl but I dont know if its the origin of the expression.

In reply to Ian Patterson:

I have observed roughly the same at Siurana as well.

Aside from various astonishing lunacy that I have witnessed on Czech sandstone, my moment of greatest Czech-inspired awe was when a bunch of us from Mile End (the class of '89) took a random Prague teenager we'd met at the wall out to Pembroke. He led Sunlover Direct as his first trad route - with no discernable difficulty nor apparent worry when most of his gear dropped out.

I have stayed in touch and saw him in Prague a few months ago. He was raving about some local winter variant on kitesurfing he'd got into - essentially snowboarding cross-country pulled by a kite. He admitted that regular collisions with walls, houses, etc along the way were normal but dismissed it as inconsequential ...

In reply to Simon Lee:

You could well have a point there! Looks like its all downhill for me.

In reply to tobyfk:

That'll be snow kiting! It's a bit of a craze here in Minnesota at the moment.

In reply to tobyfk:

Going slightly off the topic here, but my favourite act of Czech lunacy so far took place at Ton Sai in Thailand just before Christmas. This guy made a bet with an american girl that he'd lead this F7b (or was it F7b+?) before her.

Anyway, he lost the bet as she lead it succesfully the next day and as he hadn't even tried it yet, in the style specified in the bet, he then gave it a go. He came off once, but pulled himself up and finished off the climb, leading it from start to finish wearing diving fins instead of rock shoes!

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
Your sources are wrong, both Adam's parents are Czech.

As for doing some hard UK routes - I would not count on it. There are enough routes in areas which are cheaper/easier to get to/with better weather. OTOH Adam has sort of a similar problem. He keeps opening/climbing many new routes in his local area called "Moravsky Kras" (or just Kras for short, limestone) near Brno, Czechia. I do not think anybody from abroad has confirmed the grades of some of these routes yet. As Adam is a notorious downgrader (let's wait what he says about La Rabmla ), the running joke is that there is already 9b+ in Kras, but it is graded 8c+

For his next routes, the rumour I heard is that Adam wants to do the Underground in OS style once he feels ready for it (he claims not watching any videos of this route for this very reason).

A last fact for those who do not know it yet - Adam did some pretty good multi-pitch climbs last year. Check http://www.czechclimbing.com/clanky.php?xtem=&key=6118

Some LaRambla gossip:
Adam climbed the route the Ramon way (skipping the controversial hold)
Adam's comments just after climbing the route: "I haven't even got pumped ..."

In reply to corax:

Argh - I'm sure it's in here somewhere but how old is Adam? What a machine!

In reply to kiwianna: I think he is 15 odd, just wait till the little scrote gets older and isnt so skinny. Sharma was awesome in his youth but he wasnt bred for climbing like ondra. This kid has been groomed to be a rockclimber from an early age. Id much rather watch someone like graham, sharma or loskot because the way they climb is good to watch.

Am I the only one who doesnt love watching a 15 year old 7 stone kid walking up routes because he has been climbing for 9 years by the time he is 15.

I admire what the boy has achieved but I personally think that he is climbing below his limit. If he can walk up la rambla without a pump then he needs to start working harder routes and not resting on the fact he can do 9a easily. I admire people who climb hard for their ability not just the grade they climb.

I dont see too much difference between someone climbing a 7a at their absolute limit and someone doing a 9b that is absolutely at their limit.

Little scrote

In reply to mctrials23:

We have an article coming up about Ondra and Sharma which does discuss some of things you are talking about.