Adam Ondra Calls World’s Hardest Route ‘Silence’

Adam Ondra has put the finishing touch on his historic 5.15d send at Flatanger in Norway. Everyone was wondering if he would leave it as Project Hard, but he has given it the official name of Silence.

If you know anything about Ondra, he likes to scream. A few days after his climb, he wrote an almost poetic Instagram post:

“When I was climbing through the crux of this route, I felt like if I was in my own world, with my mind in complete silence, my body relaxed and flowing up the moves in complete harmony despite the extreme difficulty of the moves.

“When I reached the anchor, I wanted to scream, but I could not. Too overwhelmed to break the silence.”

Silence 9c, Flatanger, Norway. (formerly known as Project Hard). When I was climbing through the crux of this route, I felt like if I was in my own world, with my mind in complete silence, my body relaxed and flowing up the moves in complete harmony despite the extreme difficulty of the moves. When I reached the anchor, I wanted to scream, but I could not. Too overwhelmed to break the silence. pic by @bernardo_gimenez @climbflatanger @montura_official @lasportivagram @blackdiamond @mytendon @chimpbars @gardatrentino @ivavejmolova @pavelblazek

A post shared by Adam Ondra (@adam.ondra) on Sep 8, 2017 at 3:00am PDT

Too see what Ondra had to say about his hard send, see here. And for a big of history on the route and hard grades see here.

While Ondra was silenced on his 5.15d first ascent, there are many times in the past when he was anything but silent.

Remember La Dura Dura, the world’s first 5.15c that Ondra nabbed the first ascent of. Watch him giver in the clip below.

Ondra repeated the 30-pitch Dawn Wall 5.14+ on El Cap this year, climbed V16 and upped the bar of single-pitch difficulty. Can’t wait to see what else he has in store for the climbing world.