What a Desperate Crux! Adam Ondra Climbs Chicken Nose 5.15a
The hard first ascent was one of many for Ondra this autumn season
On November 4, Adam Ondra made the first ascent of Chicken Nose 5.15a (9a+) at the Isenfluh crag in Switzerland. Originally bolted by Stephan Siegrist, a Swiss pro alpinist and climber, Chicken Nose extends a previously established 5.13a upwards through a giant roof. Surmounting this roof is the obvious crux of the route, requiring marginal kneebars, poor feet, and the use of some terrible slopey pinches and tiny crimps through shouldery moves. After the roof, the upper section is still totally droppable, keeping the climbing tense to the chains.
Ondra worked the line with Jakob Schubert in Spring 2023 but the pair ended up breaking a key hold, which made the sequence unclimbable without kneepads. On his trip this fall, Ondra unlocked the sequence using a poor kneebar and made the first ascent of the route. He graded it 5.15a and didn’t give it a name right away. He has since decided to name the line Chicken Nose. Ondra just released a video detailing his first ascent of the route, which you can watch below.
Ondra had a successful autumn season of outdoor climbing in Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia, Switzerland, and Spain. After making the first ascents of Ratatouille 5.14d and Filantrop L2 5.14c in Slovakia in late September, he went on to FA B je to! 5.15b and To je to! 5.14b in Croatia.
Hopping over to Slovenia, he then onsighted Inferno do Vrha 5.14b and Kingslayer 5.14b, flashed Peščena Ura 5.14d, and FA’d Fantazija 5.15a. After making the first ascent of Chicken Nose 5.15a and onsighting a few 5.14s in Switzerland, he travelled to Spain, where his highlights included a first ascent of El Maquinista 5.15a/b and an onsight of El Gran Bellanco 5.14c/d.
Adam Ondra makes first ascent of Chicken Nose 5.15a
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