UKC

Adam Ondra has become the first person to flash Jerry Moffatt's iconic 8B boulder, The Ace, at Stanage Plantation.

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When 8B isn't that hard anymore and 8A is approaching a rest

Shouldn't he be working Hubble and not pissing about bouldering?

he did, it was the first thing he went for on tuesday but it was wet

Isn't hubble a boulder problem with bolts anyway? 🙃

That's some effort. His views on the grade of TPS would be interesting.

I think the answer would be 'easy' 🤣

Yeah, but what's he done on.... Oh. 

It's obvious that AO is going to dispense with modern power technical moves, honestly, not even newsworthy. I propose some routes on Stanege that might give him a problem.

As a start, on a foul February day in the rain and CCF boots:

The Vice, Curving Chimney 

Flashing 9a on Mediterranean Limestone won't help, IMHO...

youtube.com/watch?v=K8jPTUEHBiI&

Yeah, but there isn't a grumpy geography teacher micromanaging the ascent as he struggles with a medieval crystal filled offwidth. I think you'll find that Mr Ondra may not have had the full benefit of a British climbing education.

Yeah, but what's he done on...er...Lewisian gneiss?

I think there’s a sneaky tribute to Big Ron and Careless Torque in this story, pre mats and all that.

Is this still reckoned to be 8B with the edges improving? 

Looking forward to the various YouTube offerings soon to appear.

Hmmm, epic run outs above knotted rope slings on technical sandstone with a bolt every 10m or so.. yeah ok I stand corrected..

And more amazingly than any of these ascents is that he's managed to get away with wearing a pair of bright yellow trousers 😁

People who have logged it (relatively) recently on 8a still seem to think 8B https://www.8a.nu/crags/bouldering/united-kingdom/stanage/sectors/unknown-s...

Adam Ondra also did the second ascent of some route in Yosemite called The Dawn Wall. Apparently it's known for being very very hard and very very run-out, certainly not "Mediterranean Limestone".

Surely that is a nod to the glory days of the first ascentionist.

Thanks Remus 

I'd certainly agree!

How many attempts did it take for the O-dawg to do careless torque??

Other channel says 4/5th go...

Don't you dare to climb on wet sandstone.

Event that your comment is shit talking it's actually even too shit for that.

He lost balance a few times while standing up but once he was established he did the top first go. I was talking someone else who was there and they thought more like 6 attempts so I might have miscounted.

Having nearly onsighted Salathe Wall, I don't reckon The Vice would give him much trouble tbf! 

IIRC, it was an Salathe onsight in a day try. And I think the headwall is the crux (Atleast that is where AO fell), which comes After quite a bit of climbing…

On Instagram, OA also said he did: "some of the most old-school routes ever in Stoney Middleton"

Any idea what he got up to at good old Stoney?

I initially read this as you having nearly onsighted Salathe.

FWIW, I don't think The Vice would give you too much trouble either

Little Plum surely?

I can't wait to see him on Rays Roof though, which seems to be what the Wide Boys had him on. 

Following on from this, if you could choose one route for him to get on - what would it be?

I know there's been a fair few folk who want to see him back on Hubble, and whilst it would be good to see him get that done, it probably isn't my number one choice. I'd be much more intrigued to see him (or anyone else for that matter) on Total Eclipse (8c+) at Malham, simply because there's an air of mystery around it. 

The other thing I'd love to see (even though it's completely the wrong season for it) is some hard trad onsight/flash ascents, because I've no doubt that if you did line him up underneath something hard in Pembroke - he'd give it a good go!! Something sporty like The Big Issue would surely have his name written all over it.

Alas, we'll have to settle with with what we've got, but here's to hoping he comes back...and reads this thread before he does... 😅

As much of a funny rib it was, I wouldn’t have gone for Ray’s Roof in gopping connies, of all the things to point him at.  Smiling Buttress comes to mind. Perhaps a deep history of grit wizardry is required, but maybe not when you’re Adam Ondra. 

Poke him up Choronzon to see if we could have the first genuine E10 onsight.

8b+ onsight whilst fiddling in gear should be ok if you can onsight 9a.

I'll have to try harder to flag when I'm talking nonsense ...

I always thought he’d already tried total eclipse. And pretty much did it bar it being wet somewhere. Something like that anyway

That was my understanding as well

When Adam did the Boulder World Cup inSheffield in 2011 (or was it 2010) we got a picture of him in the isolation/warm up area (The Climbing Works) reading Big Ron's book, Adam bought it in our shop.

That was my memory too. Guess I just want to see it actually repeated. Curious as to why it doesn’t see that much attention compared to the various other top end routes. Maybe it’s just not as good, but I’d have thought getting the second ascent would be a big prize for whoever got it.

Not got a lot of interest in flash but onsight or ground-up could be interesting...

OK, how's about Longhope Direct (E10 7a) or The Usual Suspects (E9 7a)? Both fairly safe on the hard bits and the latter permadry!

Second ascent, onsight, of dangermouse at wimberry? He’s done loads of safe, hard stuff. Time to step his game up . 
 

He could have bought it direct from Ron himself that weekend, and had it signed! I did.

That’s a great film. Thanks

Ondra climbing on gear and wearing a helmet(maybe that bit was for the sponsors)

I think this is the first comment I've wanted to both Up arrow and Down arrow with equal measure

I'm surprised you haven't developed a line of code to specifically allow this  

Nice work 💪 I like the way Jerry is there hands in pockets, yeh I'm still the man, not gonna bother spotting the young pretender!

Just out of interest. If you spent a bit of time on The Joker (f8A) first and then you went on to do The Ace (f8B). Would it still count as a flash?

No.

Quite some rubbish talk from my side as well, touché.

Climbing on wet sandstone is a sore topic for me though.

Leading to one of my favourite Ondra moments where he kicks the wall in rage and screams mightily to a pitiless sky: 

"It's f**king hundred million degrees!" 

Iconic. 

You would be sore if you keep falling off.

Haha, amazing! Dark horse level cranked up to 11!