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Adam Ondra Tips His Hat to Yosemite Senders

Adam Ondra is now part of Yosemite’s history. After six weeks of committing himself to some of the most challenging rock climbing pitches in America, he is returning home to Europe. He made the second free ascent of Dawn Wall in 31 pitches at 5.14d and was the first person to lead and send every pitch in one push. He climbed The Nose with his dad and onsighted most of the difficult pitches, but not the Great Roof or Changing Corners.

On his Instagram, Ondra said, “Yosemite climbing is hard. Like really hard. The Free Nose is even harder. Lynn Hill’s achievement is one the most radical achievements in the climbing history, in my opinion, still not fully appreciated. Hats off. The Dawn Wall is the hardest. I am proud to have done it. Possibly my proudest achievement in climbing. Nevertheless, the effort I had to make is incomparable to what Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson had to go through, not knowing where to climb and if it is climbable. I think they can be way prouder than me for what they did. El Cap is bad ass. That is the fact. No choss.”

Ondra quieted critics who questioned the ability of the world’s top sport climbers to adapt to big wall climbing. This fall saw a number of strong comp and sport climbers send some of the hardest routes in Yosemite. The future is bright for big wall free climbing.

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