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Watch Adam Ondra on His New Naturalmente 5.15a

Adam Ondra made two big first ascents in Camaiore, Italy, last week. One being La Terza Eta 5.14d after four attempts and Naturalmente 5.15a.

After his Naturalmente send, Ondra said, “One of the best routes I can imagine. Slightly overhanging wall, tiny crimps, undercuts, shitty feet, resistant, bullet-proof rock. Tried for two days three weeks ago, now it went down after checking the moves. Rather high-end 9a+ [5.15a] I would say.”

The sends came during Ondra’s current big send spree where he has ticked two 5.15bs, two 5.15as and two 5.14ds. On

Ondra is the most accomplished climber when it comes to sends over 5.14d and in the competition world he is a great all around competitor. In a 2010 interview, Ondra was asked, “You are from Brno and many other famous strong climbers are from your city. What is the reason of that? Are there some special conditions for development in Brno compared with the other cities of Czech Republic?”

And he answered, “I do not know if this is the main reason for this trend, but we are more or less the only city in the country which has relatively good limestone area in its surrounding. Moravsky kras. The rest of country is full of sandstone, but most of it is not good for sport climbing, although it is wonderful.

“Moravsky kras is a very good school (but tough indeed) to start climbing because it is a very weird and awkward type of climbing. The rock is very smooth, frictionless, and footholds very slippery. One really gets used to putting your feet precisely on the rock.”

Ondra started climbing very young, as he once stated, “My parents have been climbing for 30 years and they have been bringing me on the rocks since I was baby. Naturally I was very curious to try it as well.

“At age of three or four I used to swing on the rope when parents climbed some overhanging route, and I really loved it. Soon afterwards I tried to climb as well, but maybe once a month, one route on the rocks. I was simply too short. Since the age of six I have been climbing frequently, when I grew a little bit and was tall enough to climb at least 6a.”

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