Newsflash 'Hard 8B' flash for Adam Ondra
Adam Ondra has flashed Luftig kö till nålens öga, an 8B boulder at Hultastenen, Kjugekull, Sweden.
Adam Ondra is in fine bouldering form at the moment and has climbed a new Font 8C+ at Moravian Karst in the Czech Republic. This is his second Font 8C+ after emerging from lockdown in May and both problems are likely to be some of the hardest in the world.
The problem which Ondra has named Ledoborec is another limestone link-up and 28 moves in total. It links Blatant (Font 8B) with a few extra moves into Iceburg (Font 8C). Ondra described the problem as 'consistently intense' and nearly impossible, finding that he could only make it climbable with a tough kneebar 'that looked impossible to release the hands at first, but everything is trainable.' Eventually, he described the kneebar as 'like sitting on the couch.'
The video of the ascent is below and is a fantastic, detailed account of the new problem:
The 27-year-old has climbed four problems with the grade of 8C+ in total: Gioia in Varazze, Terranova in Holstejn, Brutal Rider at Sloup and now Ledoborec.
Ondra is taking time out of his long-term competition training to take advantage of the good limestone conditions. He is set to compete in the Olympics next summer.
Comments
Clearly the lad needs to get on something harder! Burden of Dreams must surely be on his radar?
I think I'll stick with the couch my arse is on at the moment rather than the kneebar one.
Just loves climbing doesn't he?
The fact that overall he's the best climber in the world is almost irrelevant.
In the interests of discussion only....
Surely though we don't know whether this is a correct grade for the climb as he doesn't attempt many of the US boulderers routes and they don't do his. He hasn't gone for Burden of Dreams or a third attempt on No Kpote Only so we don't know if his boulder grading is spot on. I reckon if he gets on Sleepwalker and some of the others that Webb, Huckkataival and Woods have put up then we'll know for sure that his routes are on par with those boys.
Just seems to me there is a lot of 8C+ being thrown around at the moment.
One thing I do know is its great to watch when he does put up a new route.
So the past bouldering world champion doesn’t know when a problem is at the cutting edge. I guess you learn something everyday.