Seb Bouin Works Adam Ondra’s ‘Project Big’

On a recent trip to Flatanger’s Hanshelleren cave in Norway, Seb Bouin began working the moves of “Project Big”, a huge overhanging line through the cave first envisioned by Adam Ondra. It’s the king line of the crag, and the last hard project that has not yet seen a first ascent. Bouin just released a short film of him working sections of the climb.

Ondra bolted “Project Big” during the same period in which he bolted Silence 5.15d, one of the world’s two routes at the grade. Before he sent Silence, Ondra referred to the climb as “Project Hard”, due to it’s fierce boulder problems. He left “Project Big” for a later date as he knew the lengthy route would take a lot of time to compete. It’s possible that it’s as hard or harder than Silence.

There are now three of world’s best sport climbers who have “Project Big” on their project list: Bouin, Ondra, and Jakob Schubert. Bouin has success in the past with hard repeats and FAs in Flatanger. In 2019, he repeated Ondra’s Move, upgrading it from 5.15b to 5.15c. Last summer, he made the first ascent of Nordic Marathon, a 130m 5.15b/c that winds its way through the steepest parts of the cave.

Seb Bouin Works ‘Project Big’

For more history on “Project Big” as well as Ondra’s previous Flatanger projects, check out this video previously released by Ondra: