Ondra really is the "Usain Bolt" of the climbing world and IMO we have never seen the likes of Ondra before. The speed at which he repeats these hard, cutting edge routes is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The sport climbing world has been revolutionized in recent years by the likes of Sharma, Andrada, Graham and even our own Steve Mac but I think Ondra is set to take things to a whole new level and whatever that level may be I predict it will remain unchallenged for many many years to come!
In reply to UKC News: he is pretty impressive he seems to make very easy work of just about every hard route in the world I mean I don't personally know anyone who can on-sight 8a+ let alone when they where 11 years old
In reply to Smelly Fox:
Good spot Maybe he was just doing single moves for the photos, rather than actually climbing. You would notice before you even got off the ground, wouldn't you ?
> (In reply to Lee Proctor)
> Do you think he realised his chalkbag was shut before he set off? Or is he so strong that he shuts and opens it mid redpoint!?!
I'd be more concerned about the apparent lack of a rope in the second picture
MattDTC15 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC News:
Sounds like it isn't an 'easy' 9b either;
...'About the grade, he says that he considers it "hard 9b", now that a hold has broken on the upper part'
And very typical of a lot of limestone crags (Ceuse is a good example)
In reply to MattDTC:
> Sounds like it isn't an 'easy' 9b either;
>
> ...'About the grade, he says that he considers it "hard 9b", now that a hold has broken on the upper part'
I guess he also didn't find it easy since the crux move (the one he's doing in the second photo in the report) is a massive span. Ondra's pretty short, whereas Sharma's quite a big guy. I normally don't admit to height making a difference, but on this occasion it looked like reach was definitely an issue.
Amazing effort by Ondra, and good to see him persevering with something that takes more than three goes. And also nice to see one of Sharma's hardest routes being repeated and, possibly just as important, the grade actually being confirmed! Seems like there has been a lot of grade-inflation and 'rounding-up' of grades going on at the highest levels; though this may be more common on the bouldering side (and UK trad climbing side - not mentioning any names).
> Better to round up than round down, as rounding down can kill people.
hmmm. in principle i guess. however 'rounding up' by three grades for the purposes of publicity is a different matter entirely. anyway enough of this...
> But yes, good effort.
yes, good effort...
skullgrid16 Mar 2010
Ondra is 1.80m according to his 8a profile and Sharma is 1.84, so they're not that far apart really.
In reply to ali k:
>Ondra's pretty short, whereas Sharma's quite a big guy. I normally don't >admit to height making a difference, but on this occasion it looked like >reach was definitely an issue.
> Ondra is 1.80m according to his 8a profile and Sharma is 1.84, so they're not that far apart really.
Maybe not so much in terms of pure height, but Ondra famously has a negative ape index which would make a difference on this particular move.
Either way, this is getting too nerdy for me. Good effort to both...
![[Adam Ondra on Golpe de Estado, F9b, Siurana, Spain, 3 kb]](http://img.ukclimbing.com/t/139470.jpg "[Adam Ondra on Golpe de Estado, F9b, Siurana, Spain, 3 kb]")
Czech climber and photographer Vojtech Vrzba reports:
