UKC

Our Friday Night Video this week is the live premiere of the film that features Adam Ondra's ascent of the world's hardest sport climb: Silence, 9c. There will be an introduction from Adam, as well as from special guest Jerry Moffatt. Adam completed Silence in September 2017 and it was the first route in the world to be given 9c. 

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In reply to UKC News:

What time is it starting?

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant ending!  I guess the future of world sport climbing is in that cave.

Mick

In reply to UKC News:

Wow! What a fight

In reply to UKC News:

I really enjoyed that! Excellent film.

In reply to UKC News:

My first comment is - I have only watched a mere fraction of it so far - what a superb interviewer! ... And sadly (again, so far!) what a soggy audience. I was amazed they didn't respond, let alone clap, after Ondra's first eloquent statement about the 'art' of climbing harder and harder.

In reply to UKC News:

I was actually a bit disappointed with the interview, I found myself impatiently waiting for the film. Which was breathtaking - especially that final shot.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

One possible reason, Gordon, is that perhaps the majority of the audience didn't speak English, at least not to the level required to keep up with Ondra and the interviewer, who were both completely fluent.  Jerry's English wasn't bad either....

 

In reply to UKC News:

Have I missed something? The film is fascinating but seems to be only 17 minutes long and doesn't feature the full ascent?

In reply to ericinbristol:

Ye was disappointing as climbing films go.

In reply to Neil Foster:

Ah, good point. Where was the premiere?

In reply to UKC News:

Skipped the interview but enjoyed the film, great audio on the climb footage.

In reply to UKC News:

I thought the film was great (haven’t watched the interviews yet) and really showed the lengths he went to  for success. 

It would be interesting to know what’s above Silence, looks like plenty of room to extend the route in future if anyone was ever strong enough. 

In reply to ericinbristol:

Yeah I felt the same, had to go back and watch the ascent again cause I assumed it was gonna be a failed attempt as part of the story. Beautiful film though, the last shot was incredible. The background to the ascent probably adds some fuel to the fire of the 9th grade being compressed when you compare how quick Ondra climbs 9b’s...

And that last shot clearly showed that this route is just the warm up for the mega extension!

In reply to Matt Vigg:

Does anybody know whether skipping a grade has ever happened in the past when people have been opening up new grades? i.e. Did anyone ever claim, say, an 8a when the hardest route in the world at the time was 7c?

I guess the question could apply to other grade scales too. Did anyone ever jump over an E-grade because they thought they'd exceeded the existing standard so much? I always wondered whether Dave MacLeod's refusal to grade Echo Wall sprang partly from thinking that perhaps it should be E13 but that wouldn't be accepted. Speaking of which, has anybody shown any interest in repeating it yet?

In reply to Luke90:

I think there's an argument Ben Moon opened Hubble at 8c+ when later consensus is that it's 9a. At the time 8c was the hardest grade. So in theory he did make the double grade jump but didn't declare it? 

The only time some has proposed multiple grade jumps in climbing (that I can think of) is Tim Emmett and Will Gadd (I think?) climbed a water ice route with horizontal ice and proposed something like WI10 when the current max was WI6... Im a bit fuzzy about the details ...

 

 

I found this video insanely impressive. Most times when watching wads climbing it's super relatable because they're basically doing the same thing on steeper rock with smaller holds but watching this was like watching an entirely separate activity to what I call climbing 

In reply to Luke90:

Dunno if Tony Yaniro on Grand Illusion at 5.13b might be an example. That was *the* historical breakthrough - in terms of tactics & attitude he essentially invented modern sport climbing there & then, even though the route was done on removable gear.

In reply to Kemics:

 

Ondra suggested 9a. Has anybody else?

In reply to UKC News:

Small point - I'm fascinated as to why he climbs in a different shoe on each foot. Are the left/right footholds/heelhooks so different as to require different shoes, or is it just a psychological/comfort thing?

Big point - the first 50 minutes. Er, why?

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/is_hubble_the_world's_first_9a-489992 - In the comments someone also suggested Dave Graham thought it was 9a.. but tbh i thought more people had agreed. Maybe not? 

In reply to Kemics:

Didn't know about Dave Graham. Megos seemed cagey on the grade, can't remember his words but he was pretty clear that AD is harder in his opinion, whatever that means. Not sure about others.

 

I'll have a read of that thread, thanks.

 

Slightly derailing things, but found this out about Dave Graham...

"Born in 1981 and originating from Maine, New England he started climbing in 1997 at the age of 16. Within a year he had climbed the US grade of 5.14a (F8b+)"

Amazing progression. Pity he was a late starter.

In reply to Kemics:

Oh, yeah, that crazy spray ice cave by the waterfall. I remember it but hadn't remembered the massive grading jump. Looked it up and you're spot on. It was Tim Emmett and Will Gadd, they called it Spray On and graded it WI10 which was apparently three grades harder than the hardest existing ice grade. Presumably they were grading it by comparison with mixed or dry-tooling grades.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Interesting. That hint led me to this list of "firsts" through climbing history.

https://web.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/hard.htm

Looks like Grand Illusion and the previous hardest route both get given slash grades so whether or not it jumped a grade depends on how you interpret those.

According to that list, nobody did a 9a+ between 9a and 9b (though the 9b in question is Akira, which I realise is controversial on several levels!).

In reply to Southvillain:

The former, I think. It's not all that uncommon for serious types who spend ludicrous amounts of time working a route or problem to find that mismatched shoes work best. I've seen it in videos a few times. Specifically, I can remember James Pearson doing it on The Groove.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=3101

In reply to UKC News:

Begs the question, why isn't Megos doing any of this routes if he onsighted 9a years ago? Seems like Ondra is all on his own in this trail blazing journey, which makes it even more impressive as it shows a lot of mental fortitude and true vision

In reply to Ramon Marin:

Maybe he's not into spending months or more on a single route? My top redpoint grade is probably 2 grades down from what I might have achieved were I to have been more focused on longer-term redpointing, and I certainly don't regret having had other priorities with that time rather than chasing big redpoint numbers. Each to their own.

In reply to Ramon Marin:

Alex Megos has publicly mentioned in his dislike of long-term projects, but perhaps he will change his opinion as he gets older and start knocking out the really big numbers.

In reply to Mick Ward:

Looks like it does need a 2nd pitch!