He Has Been Called a Child Prodigy, Predicted to Be the Future of Climbing
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He has been called a child prodigy, predicted to be the future of climbing. In October he made the fi rst ascent of the hardest sport route in the world in a cave in Norway. The 19-year old Czech, Adam Ondra, has grown up to become the brightest star of rock-climbing. By Lars Larsson The scenery at Hanshelleren is It is Saturday 10th of November 2007 and stage to make his fi rst public appearance since he stopped wearing glasses, after stunning with beautiful views the awards ceremony after the fi nals, in the in front of a large audience. His name is having laser surgery, the comparison over the Flatanger archipelago. fi nal round of the World Cup in Bouldering, Adam Ondra and the title of his slide show is less heard. He looks like an ordinary Here Adam has just passed has just ended in Brno Exhibition Centre, is ’The Wizard’s Apprentice’ referring to a teenager and is very easy to talk to. the fi rst lip on Change (F9b+) a modernist exhibition palace built during route of the same name fi rst climbed by In May Adam fi nished school, entering a not-as-steep section. the interwar period. A 14-year old boy his father’s climbing partner Tomáš Pilka, which was a signifi cant change in his with glasses and dark curly hair enters the and now repeated by Adam himself. climbing life, because thus far he has Despite the nervousness all goes well and only been focused on repeating routes, it is obvious to Adam that this is something since bolting and opening new ones Adam Ondra. he needs to get used to if he wants to takes so much time. ”Finally I have achieve his big dream – to become a the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of professional climber. curiosity I get when I bolt, clean and try Five years later, Adam lives his dream a new route for the fi rst time. Looking for on a six-week Scandinavian road trip holds and fi guring out the movements along with fi lmmaker, Petr Pavlícek. is a very exciting feeling.” Before Adam The main goal of the trip is the gigantic chose the route he decided to bolt, he and mysterious cave of Hanshelleren in ticked off all the already established Flatanger, on the west coast of Norway. hard routes in the cave in only three The team fi rst arrives in the cave in July days. He linked the fi rst two pitches of and Adam bolts a possible F9b+ route Magnus Midtbø’s huge project, naming he names Change. I meet up with him in the fi rst ascent Thor’s Hammer, the beginning of August when he only has a fi rst F9a+ in Scandinavia. After resting few days left of the trip. We sit down in the half an hour after his feat, he went on afternoon sun on the porch of the Strøm to tackle Odin’s Eye, a fi erce F8c+ that farm, close to Hanshelleren. Adam is Ethan Pringle had made the fi rst ascent wearing a green hoody and his dark curly of in competition with Dani Andrada hair sticks out from beneath his knitted and Magnus Midtbø during a climbing cap. When he was younger random festival held in June. The spectators people would stop him on the street and could not believe their eyes when Adam tell him he looked like Harry Potter, but climbed the same route on-sight. 14 January 2013 www.climber.co.uk Destination www.climber.co.uk January 2013 15 we were there the birches have turned yellow and the desolate cave feels like a cathedral invoking a feeling of reverence. The temperature is rather chilly but perfect for really hard sport climbing. Adam quietly takes off his down jacket and fi res up. He is normally quite timid, but when Adam climbs he shows another side of his personality. He is fast, aggressive and growls like an animal when he gets close to his limit. Adam climbing Thor’s Hammer (F9a+) ”It is important while I climb to get into a route he made the fi rst ascent of in July. my own world. When everything is going well and I do not make any mistakes, it is just me and those couple of square centimetres around me. Nothing else ”Odin’s Eye is the on-sight I value the to be very purposeful when it comes to exists in that moment.” most ever, because it was very tricky and climbing hard routes. How can he keep The hardest crux comes after just the sequence of the crux is not obvious. his motivation? ”There are two aspects eight metres, a dihedral where the roof is Even so, I managed to pick the right of climbing that I like; the challenge of so steep that it even slopes downwards sequence and execute it perfectly.” The climbing and the beauty of climbing. a short distance. With a roar he pushes following day he climbed the 55m long The challenge is about climbing as hard his body up into the dihedral. Every endurance test Nordic Flower with 30 routes as possible, while the beauty single muscle fi bre is recruited and his quickdraws around his waist and, later, is all about climbing easier routes, body trembles in exertion. I am holding Muy Verdes both on-sight and graded just enjoying the movements. If I only my breath because I have seen him fail F8c +. This means that Adam in total climbed hard routes I would be bored so many times at this point. He drops his during his career has climbed 12 F8c+ and vice versa. For me, both aspects are knee like it was made of rubber, bends routes on-sight. Only two other climbers equally important.” backwards and stabs two fi ngertips in the world have climbed at least one Later in the day, I get an example into a narrow crack behind his head. He single F8c+ on-sight: Spaniards Ramón of what he means. After a hard day in sticks it and this might be the craziest Julián Puigblanque and Paxti Usobiaga. the cave Adam and his girlfriend, Inka crux ever climbed. Adam has never done Where does Adam’s skill come from? Matoušková, go to Sandmælen, a newly anything quite like it before. One week Adam and his girlfriend, For the bystander it looks like magic, but developed crag just beside the Strøm later he sends the whole route in a single Inka Matoušková, study an a more plausible answer is many years farm. Bathing in the late afternoon sun push and climbing history is written. ”I interesting line in the roof of the cave. of training and early adaptation. Adam they climb a very beautiful line that could not believe it was true, the feelings started climbing as a three-year old by consists of four pitches of grade F6a were overwhelming, a huge relief.” hanging in the ropes and using them and easier. I feel like a real paparazzi When Adam climbs at his best, it is as swing. When he was six he climbed when I watch them from half a kilometre like he is in some kind of demonic trance. grade F6a and came third in his fi rst away in my 400millimetre lens. It is Inka’s He has climbed fi ve days a week since competition. It whetted his appetite and fi rst multi-pitch ever and I can see the he was six years old and his movements ever since he has climbed fi ve times a happiness when they kiss after reaching have become almost completely week. ”Climbing is my passion and it the top anchor. This is in contrast to automatic. This frees up resources in the has always been so. I’m so glad that the incredibly hard efforts Adam puts brain that instead can be used to analyze I can still feel the same passion now into sending his project in the cave. It is the next sequence of holds. ”When I as when I climbed at the age of six.” August 6th and the time in Norway is climb really well, it even feels like it is not His parents are also climbers and have running out. Adam goes quiet in the lead myself or my own consciousness that always been there for him, but he never along the path towards Hanshelleren. is executing those moves, it is more like felt any pressure from their side. On the He knows that today is his last chance I am a toy and everything that I have contrary, his parents often felt they had to climb the route before they go home. learned after so many years of climbing, to persuade him to train less. He has After hours of preparation, where Petr gives the instructions to my body to never really seen it as training though. deploys cameras from four angles, we perform everything as fl uently and as ”I do not go training, I go climbing. The are all ready. I painfully watch Adam fall effi cient as possible.” The unique and difference is huge.” once more at the fi rst and most diffi cult intuitive style Adam has comes to its Adam is extremely disciplined, crux. A deeply disappointed Adam fi res full rights when on-sighting. Since early something that has been a necessity off a tirade of Czech swear words that childhood he has focused on this type of to be able to combine climbing with echo between the walls.