Adam Ondra Sends Book of Hate 5.13d Trad in Yosemite
Adam Ondra is fresh off winning the Czech national championships, sending new 5.15s in Europe and competing at the World Championships, so naturally he’s now projecting hard routes in Yosemite.
This is El Capitan season and many of the world’s top climbers are heading to the valley for the next few weeks to work on hard routes before it snows.
Ondra, who made the second ascent of the 31-pitch Dawn Wall 5.14d and the first ascent of Silence 5.15d in the past few years, is back in Yosemite with big goals. On day one, he ticked Book of Hate 5.13d.
The 35-metre pitch was first climbed by Randy Leavitt and involves delicate and strenuous stemming in a fantastic dihedral and is said to be one of the best and hardest corner climbs in the park.
In 2016, Yosemite climber and historian Ken Yager said there is no doubt that Ondra is the strongest climber alive today. Yager credited Caldwell for taking years to chart the path up the Dawn Wall.
“Hopefully, Adam, with his skills, will come back and pioneer his own route,” Yager said. “He can push it to his own level. He’s got the skills to. It’s whether he has the desire, too.”
Ondra has not said what his goals in Yosemite are, but there’s a good chance he’s looking to leave his mark with a potentially new free route/variation.
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