UKC

Again Adam Ondra delivers. This weekend at Oliana, he first did the first ascent of what used to be Chris Sharma's Shaxi Raxi-project and then onsighted Blanquita, 8c+, at the same crag.
I had the opportunity to talk to Chris about the route the other day. He describes it as very bouldery. Hard...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=61283

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC:

More news from Planet Ondra! cant wait to hear the next news piece from this distant galaxy

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC:

Jizzed my pants.

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC:

Jeez, sounds like sh!t is going down. This is going to be pretty exciting! Keep us updated Pohl

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC: It keeps getting better! Excited to hear about Chilam Bilam - the controversy will at last be settled! Have spoken with some people who know Bernabé Fernández, and are outraged at the negative press he received about this route. For those who dont know about it: http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/andalusiadream/ I expect it will turn out to be hard. Might even bring Bernabe back into the limelight! At this rate, it wont be long until Adam is new routing in the 9b+ range, and a 9a onsight can't be too far off either! Inspirational stuff. Hangboard time.

In reply to jacobjlloyd:

The difficulty of the route was never in question.

In reply to jacobjlloyd: the Chilam Bilam controversy is sad for Bernabe and sad for climbing. Yet I feel he brought it on himself. Also, I'm not sure how this will settle the debate. It will only show whether Ondra and/or Sharma can climb the route now -- a route I understand has gotten considerably harder in the last seven or so years.

Maybe we can arrange a live feed...

In reply to Robertostallioni:

err....doesn't for example:

“I cannot take Bernabé’s proposal seriously as I can’t see any references that would demonstrate his skills of climbing at such a high level — far above the rest of the world,” writes German Alexander Huber

mean that the difficulty of the route was in fact in question?

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC: It would be interesting to see him (or anyone for that matter!) have a go at Akira.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

What was in question was whether he actually climbed it!

In reply to JTatts:

Fernández’s new grade is "a proposition — just that. In the worst case, Fernandez could be very wrong, but as a climber, he has all my respect."

Like with a lot of hard climbs with one ascent, more usually bouldering I suppose, isn't there at least a degree to which the grade is in doubt? I think I'd be more doubtful of the grade then the fact he climbed it.

In reply to JTatts:

at the very least it's a bit of both.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Check your end of the stick. Thats not chocolate.

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC:

Secret belayer <=> fantasist.

Seriously, I cannot understand those who believes that Fernández at the time was much better at red-pointing than for instance Sharma is right now (9b seems to be the living end, multi week efforts for Sharma so 9b+ should be way out of his league for now).

In reply to jwi:
I don't know if he was better(so weird to use this expression) as sharma is right now....I even don't know if he climbed it that day with the unknown belayer (as well I do believe him)...but surely he was seen on several occasions climbing it up to the ultimate 2-3m before top-out, just to fall from that last crux boulder section...seen by well-known humans like david munilla,who took these fotos...at least that is proof enough of his exceptional skills,imho.not speaking of his other prior achievements. peaceout_chris

In reply to bums: Well, for sure Bernabe is very strong and way stronger than many others but even the fact that he was seen by many people falling just below the anchor (for what i know David Munilla said two or three hangs on the rope while he was witnessing)does not proof in any way he succeded in the climb (everybody knows how close one can be in a proyect and doesn't mean nothing take Chris Sharma's First Round ... case for example,he falls many times on the last moves WITHOUT SUCCESS) and his previous achievements are as shady as Chilam to say the least, in my concern i don't belive in any god if they're in need of my strongest faith in order to exist.

In reply to Robertostallioni:

and if it wasn't climbed then the grade could be whatever.....but please let's get stuck on semantics.

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC: Given that Adam Ondra spends most the time with his shirt off, how come he's so pasty?

In reply to Morgan Woods: What isn't semantics?

Strong climbers have been on the route and confirmed its difficulty.

Lets be clear. This is not some 9a/+ that Fernandez climbed and claimed 9b+ for. Its a 9b+ that may/may not have been climbed by Fernandez. World of difference.

In reply to wayno265:

"Given that Adam Ondra spends most the time with his shirt off, how come he's so pasty"?

He oils himself up. Like all boys of his age should.

In reply to progrupicola: well, it was in no way my intention to proof an ascent....in the desnivel-interview back in the days, bernabe states that only the last boulder made him switch the difficulty from 9b to 9b+....so his climbing up to the, well-wittnessed high point was at least comparable to todays climbing limit....and sharma did not succeed in more than the first section of 8c+ after some days of work....we will see what happens this summer...hey,but you are right with that god-thing..that shady part:nothing shady about Harakiri,Mojave..Orujo,ok..some shady parts with these three artificial holds(later on he skipped two of them,but the disappearing holds Andrada was talking about are at least a bit shady......but nowadays he still is climbing strong enough, I suppose...witnessed by your own SteveMcclure..with Duende in Archidona. its about time that Mr.Andersen will re-edit his vhs-video Sur, wherein you see a good part of Chilam climbed by Bernabe...very impressing ...but in the end no proof at all..you are right with that

In reply to Robertostallioni:

I had heard that Sharma and Andrada gave it a go but does that mean they "confirmed" its difficulty? Given that it is in a slightly obscure area ie southern spain i would suggest the grade of the route is the subject of some debate. Without repeats a grade claim is just conjecture.

In reply to wayno265:

A) he climbs everything so quickly that the amount of time he spends topless is minimal.
B) All the routes he climbs are so overhanging the sun doesn't hit them.
C) He's a ghost... he doesn't actually climb the routes, he flies up them screaming as he goes.

In reply to all:

has Orujo been repeated / had the grade confirmed then?

In reply to Morgan Woods: see here the pictures taken by David Munilla from Bernabe and Sharma climbing,at least, parts of Chilam Balam and his side of view about the story...in spanish

http://davidmunilla.desnivel.com/index.php?s=bernabe

In reply to bums: Totally agree with you now,cheers

In reply to bums:

Thanks, I've never seen any proper photos of Chilam Balam. Regardless of the grade it looks like a beautiful route. If anyone is qualified to confirm the grade it's Ondra and Sharma, I look forward to hearing how they get on.

In reply to Dan_Carroll: as I heard it, Bernabe chipped some artificial holds, sent the route, and graded it 9a. Local climbers were doubtful, as they had not seen him make much progress on the route. Then Iker Pou figured out different beta, that let him climb the route without using the artificial holds. He didn't send, though, and when he came back, he learned the natural holds he would use had been chipped away, reportedly by Bernabe.
After all this, Bernabe then proposed the 9a+ grade.

I don't believe anyone else has climbed Orujo, and there are questions as to whether Bernabe did, too.

Ondra seems to be leaving everyone else in his wake

not to take anything away from the guy, coz honestly i'm a big fan!!

but i was just wondering theoretically, there are presumably no limitations to if someone takes performance enhancing drugs to aid there climbing in a non-competitive situations.....

i know there are drug screenings at some comps. does anyone know the extent of these drug screenings and at which events? is it possible for competitors be taking some of the newer drugs that are harder to trace, even when there are drug screenings?

sorry if i sound like i'm trying to accuse the guy but i'm just theoretically interested, he is probably just an exceptionally talented athlete and climber.

its just that top end performers in many main stream sports get drawn to drugs to enhance performance. could it not be the same for some of the top performers in climbing.....

or is the whole idea of taking drugs against the reason for climbing in the first place (e.g. for the challenge)?

But do all climbers hold those values? and who's to say that climbing a F10a on drugs is not as much of a challenge as any other aim in climbing.

sorry to rant on, i was only going to put up a small message and i'v just realized how much i have written (should have probably started a new post

sam

In reply to samrad:

We were debating this the other day, I mean Dave Graham is obviously on drugs but no one really cares TBH

In reply to Quarryboy: I guess you need to define 'on drugs', and differentiate between performance enhancers and recreational use.

In reply to Quarryboy:
quarryboy you are well knowen for your trolling and that was not my intent with this post.

in terms of performance drugs there are many types of drugs that have been banned in mainstream sports that are well knowen to boost performance through various physiological changes and processes. ones that may be useful for climbing performance (though of course i'm no expert) may be a range of steroids and growth hormones. there are so many variations of these drugs that have been developed and some of them a hard to trace useing drug testing.

In reply to samrad:
*known*

In reply to Björn Pohl - UKC: Epic, that boys a thug

In reply to samrad:


vimeo.com/6048642

Enough said

In reply to Quarryboy:

Very good, absolutely fascinating around 29:25...

In reply to Quarryboy:
haha!! see what you mean