#5.15c

New Post has been published on http://www.davidaaronyoung.com/357/

Thanks to Climbing.com via Big UP Productions for the killer news!

2/7/13 – Adam Ondra has finally made the first ascent of La Dura Dura in Oliana, Spain. This route was a joint project by Ondra and Chris Sharma, and was featured in the latest Reel Rock Film Tour (video below). La Dura Dura (“The Hard Hard”) is thought to be 5.15c—and one of the world’s hardest sport routes. Ondra made at least five trips to Spain devoted solely to La Dura Dura, and after nine weeks of effort, he grabbed the FA. While training for this climb, Ondra called the route his “obsession.” Looks like all that hard work paid off! In October, Ondra made the first ascent of The Change in Flatlanger, Norway. It’s yet to be repeated, but he believes it is solid 5.15c (which would be the world’s first of the grade). Yesterday, Sharma announced that he had finished one of his other projects in Santa Linya, Spain, that he called Stoking the Fire and called 5.15b. It’s been a big week for hard sport climbing.

I just a have a bit of rant to get out. Respond however you see fit.

Full disclosure: I honestly have never liked Adam Ondra all that much. When he came on the professional scene I was instantly turned off by his approach to climbing. His "demonic" approach to climbing (paraphrase of RR7) and his emotional outrage at failure were impossible for me to reconcile with my approach to climbing. I get frustrated when I fall, I sometimes grunt on hard moves, and long term projects get inside my head, but the only screaming you'll hear is when I finally top out.

Call me nostalgic, but I have always been a fan of Sharma and his very calm approach to long term goals. His catch phrase has been "maybe someday." He will try hundreds of times, and you can see and hear that he gives his all on every burn, but his attempts are not painful to watch. Chris has sent projects that he's tried repeatedly for 3+ years! Realization (First 9a+/15a) was a project he tried when he was 16 and didn't complete until he was 19 or 20. He just sent Stoking the Fire (9b+/15b) after trying it for years. Most of Chris' projects in Spain have been multi-year efforts. I could list them, but there's so many that it shouldn't be necessary.

Adam is no doubt at the top of the sport climbing and bouldering scene, and possibly not even the top of his game yet, but that doesn't justify an approach that just seems so dark and ill founded. I think he has a very strong passion for climbing, but I don't think he has found how to cope with failure, which is crucial for a top level climber.

On to grading. Reel Rock 7 (narrated by Jonathan Thesenga (Sp?)) claims that there are two V16s in the world. Adam's own Terranova, and Christian Core's Gioia. Although technically true, it makes no mention of the history of V16. Several climbs (The Game, Lucid Dreaming) were originally given V16, but later downgraded. Although Ondra explains his reasoning for calling Terranova V16, it is unrepeated, so there is no consensus. Although being unrepeated is grounds for calling it hard, there are numerous projects that took years to complete that are now V15/8C, as well as V15 and even V14s that remain unrepeated. On to Gioia. First climbed by Christian Core, quietly and behind the professional scene I might add, he tentatively rated it V15. Adam later did the second ascent, calling it V16. This also is not grounds for an established grade. In the words of Carlo Traversi "No, I gave it [established grade]. Who upgrades?" Overall, I think that V16/8C+ is still unconsolidated, as well as unconfirmed as a grade.

As for 5.15c/9b+, I'll say it again, Adam is a very talented climber, possibly the most talented now, with an incredible tick list. Dozens of 9a/+ ascents and plenty of 8B/+ boulders. To me, this does not justify the ascent of Change (9b+) as a legitimate grade, although I'm more inclined to believe La Dura Dura is the true first 5.15c/9b+ sport route in the world. Change is unrepeated, and relatively untried as far as I understand, with Adam making a quick FA of it while in Norway. Maybe he really is that talented, but only time and repeats will create a consensus.

I hate to rant, but my opinion of Adam Ondra has not changed from the first clips of him I saw. I've written this mostly to vent frustration, but I hope it causes honest reflection on peoples personal aspirations and goals as well as their methods and approach to climbing. If you have a response: be honest, I'm open to hear what you think.

Finally, none of it matters. In the wise words of a seasoned hard climber, and expert in both failure and success: "Never think you’re that cool — you’re still just climbing rocks…in the woods… with bugs… and everyone thinks you’re crazy."