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Adam Ondra Climbs The Nose in a Day with Dad, Almost Sends

On Oct. 24, Adam Ondra attempted to onsight The Nose in a day with his dad belaying. Ondra onsighted everything to the Great Roof 5.13, which he attempted a few times but never sent. Ondra and his father continued at night to the top, Ondra onsighted everything except the 5.14 Changing Corners pitches. They topped out at midnight to a rain storm and had to bivy on the top of El Cap.

A photo posted by @blackdiamond on

The following is a statement from Ondra through Black Diamond: “Yesterday was probably the longest climbing day of my life. We went with my dad up on The Nose, wanting to free it in a day. We started at first light and up to the Great Roof it was going well, onsighting all of the pitches in a few hours. But the Great Roof shut me down. I had a pretty good flash go, got the beta, lowered and gave it a second shot thinking I would fire it off easily, but I had not realized how important the feet are on this climb.

“After climbing so many pitches and taking no rest after my flash, they were super shaky and weak. I fell, gave it even a third go and fell in the end of the traverse. There was no point in giving it more tries and we just wanted to top out. Time to switch to night climbing and onsighting all of the pitches except for Changing Corner, topping out at midnight in the starting rain.

“Full alpine experience, as we did not find the descent route in the pissing rain, and had a wet and cold bivy in the little cave, before we finally got to the car at 9 a.m. The Nose is one of the most famous climbs in the world and I am super glad to have climbed it with my dad, even though not free. A big day out.”⠀Ondra has a month left in Yosemite and noted that he wanted to attempt to onsight Salathe Wall 5.13b and to try to repeat the Dawn Wall.

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