Ondra Has Climbed 25 Routes 5.15b or Harder, This Was His First

In mid-March 2010, Adam Ondra sent his first 5.15b. He’s now arguably the world’s greatest climber with the only 5.15a onsight ever recorded, the first ascent of the only suggested 5.15d with Silence and the only repeat of  Dawn Wall 5.14d 32p on El Capitan.

In an impressive display of climbing mastery, Ondra has quickly repeated Golpe de Estado 5.15b in Siurana on March 13. Ondra had originally tried the route four weeks prior, but a tweaked a tendon forced him to abandon the climb. After resting a few weeks, Ondra returned to Spain and bagged the repeat after only 10 more days of effort.

Golpe de Estado was opened by Chris Sharma at the end of 2008 and is the direct start to Estado Critico 5.14d, established by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2004. It took Ondra 29 attempts to make the second ascent, of which he said, “It was psychologically very demanding for me to try something for such a long time, especially since I knew I was quite close to the send on the second or third day.”

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The 17-year-old Ondra had already climbed 34 routes graded 5.14d or harder with 16 of those climbs being done within a year of his first 5.15b.

Back in 2010, social media wasn’t what it is today and athletes didn’t have Instagram to share their news. Photographer Vojtech Vrzba was the first to share photos of Ondra on the 5.15b, which you can still see on his site Climb For Fun here.

Adam Ondra’s 25 Hardest Climbs

Silence 5.15d
Vasil Vasil 5.15c
La Dura Dura 5.15c
Change 5.15c
Bomba 5.15b
The Lonely Mountain 5.15b
Taurus 5.15b
Erebor 5.15b
Neanderthal 5.15b
Disbelief 5.15b ?
Eagle-4 5.15b
One Slap 5.15b
Move Hard 5.15b
Queen Line 5.15b
Mamichula 5.15b
Robin Ud 5.15b
Stoking the Fire 5.15b
C.R.S. 5.15b
First Round, First Minute 5.15b
Move 5.15b
Iron Curtain 5.15b
Fight or Flight 5.15b
La Planta de Shiva 5.15b
Chaxi Raxi 5.15b
Golpe de Estado 5.15b

Adam Ondra Projecting Golpe de Estado