Adam Ondra attempts to repeat one of the hardest rock climbs in the world.

Adam Ondra is one of the worlds top sport climbers. Born in 1993 in the Czech Republic, Ondra  started climbing at the young age of six. Ten years later, he competed in the Lead Climbing World Cup for the first time and won. One year later in 2010, he competed in and won the Bouldering World Cup, making Ondra the only person ever to win the Bouldering World Cup and the Lead Climbing World Cup. Adam Ondra can be considered one of the most accomplished climbers in the world. There are only 3 routes in the world given the rating of 5.15c or 9b+ and Ondra is the only person to have completed all of them.

January 14th 2015, climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed what is arguably the most difficult ascent of all time. The Dawn Wall or the Wall Of The Early Morning Light is one of the smoothest tallest rock faces in the world. Located on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, the Dawn Wall is around 3000 feet tall. This route took Caldwell and Jorgeson 7 years to complete. Caldwell described the route as “an ongoing battle.” Completing this route was not only an accomplishment for Tommy and Kevin, but a breakthrough for the climbing community and a stretch to the boundaries on what can be done.

Adam Ondra traveled to Yosemite to try to complete the route in five or six days. Following the route that Caldwell and Jorgeson completed nearly two years ago, having received support and advice from both men, Ondra hoped to complete the nearly 1000m wall very quickly.

“The Dawn Wall  is considered one of the hardest big-wall climbs in the world, daunting for its size, its vertical face and its lack of holds.” On Thursday, it stymied Ondra, at least temporarily.

“Yesterday, I was to climb some of the crux pitches, starting with Pitch 14, which is the hardest,” Ondra said by telephone on Friday morning from his portaledge hanging on the wall of El Capitan. “But I failed to climb it, which was really devastating and really heartbreaking.”” (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/sports/adam-ondra-climbing-dawn-wall-yosemite.html).

Adam Ondra has completed the hardest pitches of the climb on the Dawn Wall up to 5.14d. He only has 11 pitches left. He has downgraded the difficulty of some of the pitches because he sent pitch 18, rated 5.13d, in the dark without much practice.

Ondra is close to completing The Dawn Wall and we wish him the best of luck in his ascent.

Climbing terminology:

Pitch: In the strictest climbing definition, a pitch is considered one rope length 60–70 metres. However, in guide books and route descriptions, a pitch is the portion of a climb between two belay points.

Send: To cleanly complete a route. i.e. on-sight, flash, redpoint.

On sight: A clean ascent, with no prior practice or knowledge of the route.

Flash: To successfully and cleanly complete a climbing route on the first attempt after having received beta of some form.

Redpoint: To complete while placing protection on a lead climb after making previous unsuccessful attempts, done without falling or resting on the rope.

Beta: Advice on how to successfully complete (or protect) a particular climbing route, boulder problem, or crux sequence. Some climbers believe that beta ‘taints’ an ascent.

Crux: The most difficult portion of the climb.