UKC

Adam Ondra has made the fourth ascent of Simon Lorenzi's 9A boulder The Big Island (assis)/Soudain Seul, in Fontainebleau, France.

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Looks like Adam is back to his best shape. No doubt has B.I.G. plans for the summer…

Is 5 sessions faster than anyone else has managed a 9A? Seems ludicrous to think that he decided this winter to climb at the top level of the sport having sat it out for a few years. 
It also speaks volumes of his modesty that he talks about how the climb suited him when he could equally have played on the fact this was not a rock type he’s spent a great deal of time on. 

So presumably this means Ondra joins the elite group of four who have done 9b+ and 9A. And the elite group of two who have climbed 9c and 9A? 

Good to know he is now in some sort of elite anyway.

it also reinforces his stance on terranova’s grade: when soudain seul suited him very well and still felt harder than any of his 8C+es, he’s really not there for will bosi’s feeling that he’s working too hard on terranova for it to be ‘just’ 8C+.

Adam talking about the send…

https://youtu.be/b2HSEKx6zus?si=Xph8Gp5h8ZjrZTP3

(not the send video)

I had doubts whether he was the GOAT, but now he's done: Silence (9c), Bon Voyage (9a), The Free Dawn Wall (5.14d), The Big Island (assis) / Soudain Seul (f9A), flashed Super Crackinette (9a+), and done many more notable ascents. yes he's maybe not as good as Will Bosi in bouldering specifically, or James Pearson at trad, but by grade, I think we can safely say he is the greatest all round climber to ever have lived. I'm open to any objections, with better ideas of the GOAT, but I don't think there are any.

He's also been at the forefront of at least one climbing discipline (by age, if not absolute grade), for around 20 years - 9a at 13, and from wiki...

"the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in lead & bouldering disciplines in the same year (2014) and is one of the two male athletes to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines (lead climbing in 2009, 2015, and 2019 and bouldering in 2010)...Rock & Ice noted that by 2011, he was "onsighting 5.14c's by the handful", and by 2013, had "more or less repeated every hard route in the world—easily""

He is Charlton Chestwig.

Well he climbed 9A in fewer sessions than Bosi, and Pearson’s hardest route in short order (as well as the hardest big wall), without dedicating a huge amount of time to either discipline, so one could probably argue the opposite!

But what's he ever done on grit ?

(Yes, I know what he's done but I thought it time to revive the tired old trope)

You'll have to explain to the younger people on here who that is, and maybe the story behind it.

If only modern climbing guides had those fantastic 'historical notes' sections in the back, like guidebooks of 60/70/80/90s.

They were great reading when on the 'pan' and planning out your next climbing day.

Climbing is much better in many ways nowadays,  but poorer in others. I must be getting old.

Yeah, I used to love reading the first ascents and amusing anecdotes section at the back of the book.

Has he not also flashed 8B+/8C recently? Has anyone else?

How is Ondra's trad onsighting?

Bosi has done more 9A's than anyone else though and Ondra did climb Terranova a long time ago. 

I would say that Bosi's opinion is pretty valid

He's done E7 o/s IIRC.

Some of that Czech sandstone stuff he’s done would probably get pretty big e grades! 

oh, of course it is! absolutely no debate on that. bosi says he is confident that terranova is clearly harder than adam’s 8C+ brutal rider there – they’re both said to be long problems of an 8B into an 8C, terranova’s 8C section was much harder for him than brutal rider’s (8 vs 2 sessions), and that you don’t get a rest between the two on terranova while you get one on brutal rider. that sounds like as clear a case for 9A he can have, given that he hasn’t sent it yet.

adam, on the other hand, told will that terranova isn’t that bad once you learn it, and now that soudain seul is harder than all his 8C+s, including terranova. that’s also a solid judgement.

i’d be absolutely fine with their assessments differing, and neither of them budging. but also, it could just as easily happen that will unlocks it next time he pulls on and agrees with 8C+, or that adam tries it again and says ‘you know, nevermind, this feels much harder than i remembered.’

it’s not like any of this can be resolved by objective measurement. and a consensus based on a large number of ascents is also not easily achieved at those grades.

Do you think he's the one having the most fun?

Interesting to hear him mention the ethics of using a fan. Maybe I've missed it but I'm really surprised there hasn't been more questions asked over their use. 

Why is it questionable? The extended knee pad, if anything seems dodgier to me, given that, in principle it could be made as big as you like to fit the route.

<Clean Hand Gang enter the chat>

I've always thought of using conditions as part of the game, and it's a bit controversial if people are able to create perfect conditions whenever they want using a machine. It just seems to be a step away from climbing being an outdoor sport. I'm just surprised there hasn't been more debate about the ethics of using them. 

Similarly to kneepads, there was plenty of debate when fans started to become commonplace. 

Much like with kneepads, the overwhelming majority agreed that fans are fair game and they have become accepted as standard tools that most boulderers will use when they think they will help.

Fair enough, I just found Ondra's quote interesting. 

'To finish, I did it with no book in the kneepad (I don't need it as I am tall enough, but I find the invention of Simon absolutely genius and don't find it controversial at all). But I did it with a fan pointing straight into the crux sloper (like Simon and Camille. Nico has very dry skin and did not need it). That is very game-changing for me and much more controversial, in my opinion'.

I think it’s very much this fan on a stick, directly pointing at a hold set up, rather than fans in general that Ondra is talking about.
Whereas, despite what others might say, it seems somewhat unlikely that someone will be strapping on half the Encyclopaedia Britannica so they can kneebar Peapod, you can imagine a situation with like 4-5 fans tied off at strategic points on a sport route quite easily. 

If I was a sponsored hero, I'd make friends with the Fire Service and project something roadside.  Arrange for a smoke clearance fan  ("Positive Pressure Ventilation" unit) on an Aerial Ladder Platform to follow me up the crag.

I think it was in the Ali Baba cave where a few climbers have had someone carrying a fan as the climber goes, so they have a fan covering the entire route until they get to the headwall.

You could cover your boulder project in a tent and run fans and air conditioning to reduce the temperature to 4C, the humidity to 12%, and keep the sun off the slopey top-out.

We are still at the beginning of conditions manipulation. 

Whilst conditions manipulation will by fine for your average punter on Stanage, pros will be wheeling their Moon board to the Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL) or the Nevado Huascarán summit (Peru). Low gravity locations are next-gen tactics.

E7 onsight and let's be real, if Ondra woke up one morning and thought "I simply must onsight E8" he would, he's onsighted 9a after all. He's flashed god knows how many 8B+s. He's as good at onsighting and flashing as he is redpointing and he's arguably the best red pointer there is.

I think that there probably is no area of rock climbing he would not be best in the world in if he wanted to, or isn't already. Maybe, maybe you could argue that he isn't the best at solo-ing big walls (because he has said its not worth the risk for him) but if you held a gun to his head could he solo free-rider? Yeah probably? And he's done really death-y stuff on the sandstone...

Ondra is the GOAT imo. Or if anyone is, it's him.

Until this thread I had never heard of this fan thing.

I wonder whether people will start putting them on those magic invisible sticks that cameras are sometimes put on so that their fans on Instagram don't know they are using questionable tactics.

I think this is misunderstanding the whole psychology of soloing. Most people could solo way harder than they would choose to if the alternative were certain death. The whole point is that some people are confident enough to choose to solo quite close to their limit when they could just go to the pub or whatever.

"you can imagine a situation with like 4-5 fans tied off at strategic points on a sport route quite easily. "

I cant wait to turn up at Horseshoe Quarry and someone has done this on a no star 5C in the toilet sector.

It's a turn of phrase, my point is that I think it is within his psychological and physical capability he just refuses to solo generally due to it's risk. But he has done some very dangerous climbing with seemingly zero hesitation before. Big wall solo-ing as I said though maybe one area he isn't the best in the world but like could he be if he wanted to, yeah I think so.

Like a tent-like structure (similar to a builder's rubble/skip tube), in which humidity is tightly controlled and holds are protected from the sun and rain .....almost like climbing indoors.

OutdoorIndoor climbing could be the next big thing!

GOAT? Yes, almost certainly.

But if you go down the "I'd/he'd be the best if I/he wanted to" it get's a bit silly. Yes, he's the best at what he does. Beyond that he's not because he doesn't do it. There his performance is at best 'undefined'.

But what's he ever done at Slawston bridge?

At least as much as me.

Alex Megos onsighted 9a, as has Ondra though Alex was first. 

Very true, but there's a HUGE difference between sport 9a (which is still absurdly hard but no longer cutting edge) and boulder 9A (which are the hardest of the hard).

Yes but AO flashed 9a+, or 5.15a. Grades are arbitrary but Ondra was the first (and only?) to flash 5.15.

I may be missing your point, but onsighting 9a is definitely cutting edge.

They do. The Froggatt to Black Rocks BMC guide as well as Yorkshire Grit Vols 1 & 2 are riddled with stories, interviews, history and context. They’re from 2010, 2013 & 2014 respectively and they’re the only ones I can name off the top of my head, I’m sure there are others.

Do they qualify as "modern climbing guides" in 2025?

flashed the ace (8b)