Adam Ondra Climbs a Skyscraper, Grades it 5.14c

Adam Ondra recently got the chance to climb the Filadelfie building in Prague, Czechia. Ondra top-roped up a 70-metre sharp arete using continuous sidepull crimps and barefoot smears to work his way up the metal structure. A video was just released of his climb, which you can watch below.

“Usually I’m not very attracted to buildings because usually it’s either impossible or it’s just relatively easy and very repetitive,” he said. “But in general I’m very attracted to aretes in climbing, and this is one of the best aretes I’ve seen. This is just perfect.”

To reach the top, Ondra had to use the same set of moves over and over again. Pumpy sidepull crimps on slick metal rails and froggy-style barefoot smears on either side of the less-than-90-degree arete. He knew the same monotonous moves were going to build a serious pump in the legs.

“It’s going to be a total horror,” said Ondra after doing a short warm-up on the first three floors of the building. “I think at a certain point I will reach a certain state of fatigue that will [make it] very hard to continue, but at the same time it will be difficult to fall off. I think in this perspective, it’s kind of like offwidth climbing. Offwidth climbing, when it gets hard, it’s just really difficult to continue but you can kind of just keep hanging there for almost forever, which is kind of unlike normal climbing. In normal climbing you never really reach this brutal state of fatigue.”

Ondra climbed without falling until the top of the last floor. After the final floor, there’s a big gap in climbable features to the top. He tried crimping an 8mm vertical slot to reach the final ledge. However, the final jug ledge was covered in spikes to deter pigeons. Ondra grabbed the rail tentatively in order to not stab his hand, and ended up falling.

“It’s just this massive pump that is unbelievable,” he said after the climb. “I’ve never really seen it anywhere else. It’s very similar to crack climbing, it’s just maybe even a bit more complex for the whole body. It’s rad. I feel a little bit disappointed I didn’t top it out. I might come back one day. It’s worth it.”

He had this to say about the grade: “Maybe we can call [reaching] the last floor the first anchor – I think that’s it’s a [5.14b] route. And going to the top is [5.14c].”

It’s simply a perfect route,” added Ondra in Czech. “I am applauding the architect that he came up with such an idea because the edge is just perfect for climbing. It’s a great challenge! I am surprised that it was climbable.”