Adam Ondra, the only climber in the world to have climbed a 5.15d, has bolted another hard project that will be in that grade range. For his 76th installment of his video series, Ondra demonstrates how to bolt a hard route.
“This episode is about finally deciding to bolt a line that I’ve been looking at for so many years,” said Ondra, “but always thought it was impossible. The line turned out to be possible and pretty hard.”
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Schleier Wasserfall is one of my all-time favourite crags. It sits high above the valley in the picturesque landscape under monumental cliffs of Wilder Kaiser. It is also home to most of the hardest first ascents by Alex Huber @alexander_huberbuam . Alex put up a few routes that belonged to the very hardest at that time. Om 9a (world’s second ot third 9a, depending on Hubble) in Berchtesgaden FA in 1992 (the only repetition by me in 2009) Weisse Rose 9a in Schleier Wasserfall FA in 1994 (repetition by me in 2009, 2nd repetition by @jakob.schubert this year) Open Air (original grade 9a) 9a+ in Schleier Wasserfall FA in 1996 (the only repetition by me in 2008) In 2001, Alex put up Orca 8c+ in the upper tier of Schleier. I tried it in 2008 and then 2009 and could not the crux move, that revolves around pulling from poor right hand pocket far into the distant jug (see photo of Alex). Alex recommended trying his project that goes from the same pocket to the right (my picture), adding quite a lot of hard climbing, but skipping the brutal move. I made the FA of this project calling it Fugu 9a in 2009, and later it was repeated by @roland_hemetzberger In 2017, I found myslef in Schleier again, I repeated another 9a called Mongo and same day we went to take a look again at Orca together with Roland. I found a new beta skipping this pocket and opting for left-hand almost non-existent hold instead. I could not send that day, but I finally returned last week and repeated this “last Alex’s unrepeated sport route” and suggesting an upgrade to 9a. It is possible that over the years, a few spikes might have crumbled inside the right-hand pocket making the Alex’s beta harder, on the other hand, kneepads allowed me to rest right underneath the crux in no-hand-rest. Props to Alex fo putting all these amazing routes and I encourage all strong guys to check his routes out. Especially Om and Weisse Rose are gems that deserve more attention! Photo of Michael Meisl from Fugu, Alex Huber in Orca 9a (his archive) @blackdiamond @lasportivagram @montura_official @mazagrande @gardatrentino
A post shared by Adam Ondra (@adam.ondra) on Jul 23, 2020 at 3:41am PDT
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