Adam Ondra Repeats Bon Voyage 5.14d Trad
One of the world's best climbers has confirmed this is the first E12 ever climbed
Adam Ondra has made the second ascent of Bon Voyage, a 5.14d trad route in Annot, France. It was first climbed in February 2023 by James Pearson – watch the FA below.
It took Ondra three days of projecting and he said that it could be the hardest pitch of trad climbing in the world. Pearson was initially reluctant to offer a grade for the route but decided to give it E12 in December – read his story about the grading here. Steve McClure, one of the world’s most accomplished climbers, attempted Bon Voyage last year, and said, “If this route is not E12 I’ll be amazed, just for the pure difficulty, never mind the scary big fall potential.”
In 2008, Pearson famously made the first ascent of The Walk of Life and graded it E12 7a, the hardest grade ever given to a route. Dave MacLeod made the second ascent and down-graded it to E9. Pearson was subject to ridicule by countless armchair climbers who berated his over grading. Ondra not only confirmed the 5.14d grade of Bon Voyage, but also the E12 grade. For Pearson to now have a route that is the world’s first E12, 15 years after The Walk of Life, is surely one of the best comeback stories in the history of rock climbing.
Ondra needs little introduction as he’s not only one of the best sport climbers in the world (8a.nu just reported that he has nearly 100 onsights of climbs 5.14b and harder), but he also made the second ascent of Dawn Wall, a 36-pitch 5.14d on El Capitan, in 2016 – read about it here.
Bon Voyage FA
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