He has been called a child prodigy, predicted to be the future of . In October he made the fi rst ascent of the hardest sport route in the world in a cave in . The 19-year old Czech, , 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 archipelago. fi nal round of the World Cup in , 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 , 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 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 . 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 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 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- 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 . 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. At this point climbing and never liked to use too much his schooling. When he travelled the I fully realize how hard the reality is for time working on one single route. ”By most,most, hhee mmissedissed aaboutbout a tthirdhird ooff hhisis thosethose wwhoho ppushush tthemselveshemselves ttoo ttheirheir climbingclimbing oon-sight,n-sight, I llearnedearned a llotot mmoreore iinn classes.classes. WWhenhen hhee ccameame hhomeome aafterfter absoluteabsolute llimit.imit. TThehe eeffortffort aatt tthishis llevelevel iiss lessless ttime.ime. I ddevelopedeveloped a sspecialpecial aabilitybility ttoo a trip,trip, hhee ssometimesometimes hhadad ttoo ccatchatch uupp soso sstressfultressful fforor hhisis bbodyody tthathat jjustust oonene quicklyquickly aanalyzenalyze tterrainerrain aabovebove aandnd mmakeake severalseveral wweekseeks ooff sstudying.tudying. ””EverythingEverything attemptattempt a ddayay iiss mmeaningful.eaningful. AAdamdam iiss split-secondsplit-second ddecisions.”ecisions.” AAdam’sdam’s sspeedypeedy waswas aallll aaboutbout cclimbinglimbing aandnd sschool.chool. deeplydeeply ddisappointedisappointed aandnd fforcedorced ttoo rreturneturn tactictactic ccanan bbee rriskyisky bbecauseecause ssometimesometimes NothingNothing eelselse hhadad a pplacelace iinn mmyy llife,ife, homehome wwithoutithout hhavingaving aachievedchieved hhisis ggoal.oal. hehe missesmisses a hhold,old, bbutut tthehe wworstorst tthinghing butbut iitt wwasas ddefiefi nnitelyitely wworthorth iit,t, ttoo ggetet tthehe InIn SSeptember,eptember, I ooncence aagaingain mmeeteet uupp whenwhen oon-sightingn-sighting iiss wwhenhen yyouou ggetet sstucktuck opportunityopportunity ttoo ttravelravel aandnd ddevoteevote mmyselfyself withwith hhimim fforor nnewew eeffortsfforts aandnd ttoo fi nnishish andand wwasteaste ttimeime ssearchingearching fforor hholdsolds tthathat toto whatwhat I lloveove tthehe mmost.”ost.” AAdamdam sseemseems whatwhat hhee hhasas sstarted.tarted. SSinceince llastast ttimeime simplysimply aarere nnotot tthere.here.

16 JanuarJanuaryy 2013 wwwwww.c.climberlimber.co.uk.co.uk Adam Ondra

Adam is still only 19 years old and some people believe that it is just a matter of time before he becomes the fi rst person in the world to climb a F9a on sight. There are a limited number of F9a routes in the world that would be suitable for on-sighting and he only gets one chance, one small mistake and it’s all over. He has already on-sighted 12 F8c+ routes and made a couple of serious attempts on F9a. ”Of course, it would be a great dream, but it is also a dilemma. Should I decide that the time has come for a certain route, or wait and hope to get stronger with higher chances of sending it?” Adam has many F9a routes he is saving for future on-sighting, but chances are that there will also be another fi rst ascent of F9b+ in December. Adam and will reunite to tackle the project in . Even though Adam can fi nally live his dream as a professional climber, he plans to return to school next autumn to study economics at university. He believes that it is healthier to have his life revolve around more than just one thing. ”If you only live the lifestyle of the pure climber, your mood depends so much on how you climb. When the climbing is not going well, you easily get in a bad mood because you lack other sources of happiness.” Those are the words of a wise man and I cannot think of a better role model for young climbers – or older for that matter. I just have to agree with Petr Pavlícek opinion about Adam after spending so much time together: ”Adam is modest, intelligent and warm-hearted. Although he is a big star, he’s got his feet on the ground. For me there is nothing greater,” says Petr. It has been a long time since Adam held his fi rst slide show at the World Cup in Brno. Nowadays, it is a much more self-confi dent young man who gives presentations. Although his sympathetic modesty would never allow him to use these words, I take the liberty to say that Adam passed his examination in Hanshelleren. He is no longer an apprentice. The next time he enters the stage to do a presentation about his F9b+ fi rst ascent, he does so as the leader of the whole sport. Adam Ondra is now offi cially the ’Wizard of Climbing’.

awesome walls].indd 1 26/11/2012 11:40:18 Adam chalks up for the last moves below the fi rst anchor on Change (F9b+).

www.climber.co.uk January 2013 17