Adam Ondra Flashed 5.15a Six Years Ago
Watch as the world's best sport climber makes the first-ever flash of a route harder than 5.14d
In 2018, Adam Ondra became the first climber ever to flash a 5.15a, and to date it’s the only time anyone has ever flashed anything harder than 5.14d.
“Flashing” means doing a climb bottom to top, with no falls, on your first try. Ondra, the best sport climber in the world by the numbers, set himself an impossible-seeming goal of becoming the first person to flash a route at 5.15a. There were only a few climbs of the grade on the planet that he hadn’t yet done or tried.
He strategized for years, failed on several of them, and then in 2018 he finally succeeded, sending Alex Megos’s route Supercrackinette in St. Leger, France. He belayed Quentin Chastagnier on the route before going for the flash, so he could see the beta. There are about 30 moves through a steep overhang on low-percentage holds – watch below.
This year, Ondra flahsed a 5.14d called Peščena Ura, which you can read about here. It’s anyone’s guess when the next 5.15a flash will be, but with the number of strong climbers out there it might not be too far away.
First 5.15a Flash
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