Adam Ondra Climbing Soudain Seul V17
Lots of classic Ondra power screams in the newly released send film of his first V17
On February 8, Adam Ondra made the fourth ascent of Soudain Seul V17 (9A) in Fontainebleau, France, topping the sandstone problem on just his fifth day of effort. The line is his hardest bouldering send to date, and his first of the grade. He has four V16s to his name, three of which were first ascents near his home: Brutal Rider, Ledoborec, and Terranova. The day after topping Soudain Seul, Ondra flashed both Ubik Assis V13 and La Ligne de Bête V14. Ondra just released an 18-minute film about his Soudain Seul send, which you can watch below.
Soudain Seul is a sit start to Dave Graham’s The Island V14, established in 2008. A couple years later, Vincent Pochon started lower on the problem, naming it The Big Island and giving it a grade of V15. It wasn’t until 2021 that the sit start was climbed by Simon Lorenzi. Naming the line Soudain Seul, the Belgian climber took 25 sessions to unlock the problem, suggesting V17 which made it the second of the grade in the world.
The month after Lorenzi’s FA, Nico Pelorson topped the problem, suggesting a downgrade to V16. Camille Coudert made the third ascent in February 2022, suggesting low-end V17. Lorenzi went on to repeat Alphane V17 in December 2022, stating after that Soudain Seul was more difficult. He’s since also completed Burden of Dreams V17. Ondra has called Soudain Seul V17, albeit soft for the grade.
“This winter, I really wanted to dedicate myself a bit more seriously to bouldering, and obviously, I was thinking about which 9A/V17 could fit my style the best,” said Ondra on Instagram. “Fontainebleau is a bouldering place where I climbed very little in the past and I almost feel ashamed about it, considering its relevance for our sport. On top of that, it is the bouldering place where I had enjoyed climbing the most. So Soudain Seul [V17] was an obvious goal. On my 3rd try of the day (5 days in total) I put up some of the most memorable fights and made it to the top.
“I feel very happy and proud about this send, it means particularly a lot to me especially after the last few seasons when I always felt very close to doing some relevant ascents, but it never really quite happened. Sending this in 5th session is the icing on the cake. But I know very lucky with perfect conditions every day, with beta videos available from many different climbers and most importantly [Lucien Martinez] who was sessioning with me on Big Island [V15] who insisted that I should keep trying with “squeezing with the feet” beta. Watching him doing the moves with this beta (as we are the same height and arm-span) made me believe that it could be good beta for me too. Also having the sessions spread into different trips with very good training sessions in between helped me a lot too.”
Ondra had this to say about the grade of Soudain Seul on his website: “I don’t feel like I am an expert when it comes to high-end bouldering grades. Most of the hard boulders 8C/V15 or harder I did at my homecrag and most of them are first ascents. It feels like the hardest problem I have ever done. I honestly feel strong at the moment, the problem fits my style perfectly. And it still feels harder than my [V16] first ascents at my homecrag (Terranova, Brutal Rider, Ledoborec). Soudain Seul is definitely power endurance boulderproblem and that is why it fits a sport climber like me.
“So my suggestion is that it feels harder than [V16], but if it is [V16/17] or soft [V17], I really don’t know. It is also difficult with grade proposition as the boulder has a lot different moves where you need a lot of different skills and also size of the climber is important. And none of the skills has to be on the “9A boulder level”, but it is rare to have everything. Plus, the start is definitely morphological, while the top has many different betas that unlock the problem for short climbers too.”
Ondra has been on a bouldering tear lately. At the end of January, he flashed El Elegido in La Pedriza, Spain. Originally graded V14/15, Ondra suggested V14 for the problem. It was the Czech climber’s second flash ascent of the grade. In 2015, he flashed Jade V14 in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. The day after completing Soudain Seul, he flashed his third V14, La Ligne de Bête. He’s flashed fifteen V13 problems, several of which were proposed V14s that he downgraded post-flash.
Adam Ondra climbing Soudain Seul V17
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