Adam Ondra

Even the master of the impossible sometimes faces profane problems. “Get in, I still have to find a parking space,” Adam Ondra tells me when we meet two weeks ago at the agreed place in the centre of the northern Italian city of Trento. The 25-year-old Czech is one of the top stars of a sports festival to which he has travelled with his van from his hometown Brno.

Ondra has been pushing the limits of sport climbing for years. Already at the age of 13, he climbed a route with a 9a degree of difficulty on the French scale which is commonl in the sport climbing scene – which in the rating of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Association (UIAA) corresponds to a route in the eleventh degree. For comparison: Reinhold Messner mastered the seventh degree at his best times as a rock climber. At the end of 2016, Ondra succeeded the first repetition of the “Dawn Wall” route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, which is considered the most difficult big wall route in the world, in just eight days. In September 2017, he mastered an extremely overhanging route in a cave near Flatander in Norway – the world’s first 9c (twelfth degree in the UIAA scale). The climbing world bowed once more to Ondra, nobody doubted his rating.

After guiding Adam to the parking garage in Trento, where my car is parked too, we use the way back to the venue for the interview.

Adam, you’re climbing since you were a little boy. Can you imagine that one day you’ll get tired of it?

Adam in the Route “Silence”

I think this would be a moment being just tired but not necessarily by climbing. Sometimes it’s definitely necessary to recharge the batteries and to feel fresh again. But I think that has nothing to do with climbing. Climbing is so great. And this is why I don’t think I’ll get tired of climbing, because there are so many different disciplines. It’s obviously very different climbing a two-meter- high boulder or a 1,000-meter wall. And by switching these disciplines, I think I can always keep the motivation very high.

What are you doing to relax from climbing?

Every December I take two or three weeks off from climbing. After the whole season of training and climbing a lot, my body needs it. And mentally, as I said, it definitely helps me to change between climbing gym and rock climbing, from competitions to climbing outdoors. All this helps me to be always 100 percent motivated.

Does one have to be a little crazy to climb such amazing routes as you do?

What really motivates me to climb harder and harder is not necessarily that I want to push my limits and be happy about it or show the others who’s the best, but also because climbing harder and harder routes is somehow more fun. The harder routes you climb, the more interesting the climbing gets and the more crazy moves you are forced to figure out. And once you know how it feels to climb a certain grade you don’t really want to go back because you don’t have the same feelings.

Adam Ondra: Somehow more fun to climb harder and harder

You have a climbed the world’s first route in the French grade 9c (UIAA grade 12) in a cave near Flatander in Norway. First you called it “Hard Project”. When you had finished it, you named the route “Silence”. Why did you do that?

Normally when I reach the end of a super hard route I just scream of joy. But that moment the emotion was that strong that I was unable to say anything. And it was one minute of silence.

What was the reason for that?

I don’t know. Maybe I just didn’t realize that it finally happened. If you are working on a single project for fourteen weeks and have trained specifically for it for like two seasons and when it finally comes together, this is what happens.

“It fits my style”

Do you think this route will be repeated? And if yes, when and who might be able to do it?

I don’t know. I wish it could be repeated, but let’s see. There are definitely people like Alex Megos who is in my opinion capable of doing a 9c. At the same time I don’t really think that it fits his style. He would definitely be able to climb 9c on pockets or small crimps. My route “Silence” is very special in terms of style. And I do admit that I chose this route because of its style because I thought that it really fits my advantages.

Adam Ondra: Silence fits my advantages

That’s exactly what Alex told me.What is the special challenge of your route?

It’s the route that took me the most time ever. I did most of the 9b+ routes in the world and I consider that it’s a route that really fits my style. And that’s why I had the courage to say: This is the world’s first 9c. If I wasn’t really sure about it, I would rather step back and call it 9b+. But if it’s ever been downgraded, it will be total embarrassing for me. (laughs).

Ondra at the World Championships in Innsbruck

You also take part in climbing competitions. You took second place in the Combined Olympic Format at the World Championships in Innsbruck last September. Are the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 a goal for you?

Yes, definitely. The next big goal is the Olympics. The next year I am gonna do both World Cups in Boulder and Lead and take it as a preparation for the season 2020 when the Olympics will be the biggest goal.

I remember that you were one of the critics of the Olympic format – the combination of speed climbing, lead and bouldering – when it was decided that sport climbing would become an Olympic discipline for the first time in Tokyo. Have you changed your mind?

In the competition

That I’m still against the format, doesn’t change anything. I always wanted to go for the Olympics, no matter how critical I am towards the format. And I am still critical nevertheless. But I have to accept it, as long as I want to compete in the Olympics. That’s the format, there is no option. The only other option is not taking part.

So it’s the bitter pill you have to swallow.

Yes, exactly.

Can the Olympic Games push climbing in any way?

I would still distinguish the world of competitions and the world of outdoor climbing. I believe it can definitely improve the competitions themselves. They will become bigger, there will be more mainstream media interest. It could even be a better show. At the same time it doesn’t have to have a negative influence on rock climbing because that’s a world for itself. And I don’t believe that the potential disadvantage is that our sport eventually gets just too big and that our climbing spots will be just too crowded. I think as the competitions are getting more popular, there are much more people going into the climbing gym. The number of people climbing outdoors will maybe growing as well but not as significant.

Adam Ondra on the possible effect of the Olympics on climbing

Adam in the route “Dawn Wall” on El Capitan

At the end of 2016, you repeated the route “Dawn Wall” on El Capitan for the first time, in eight days. It took Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, who succeeded the first ascent, 19 days and more than seven years to prepare.

I needed one month all in all.

How was it for you to climb such a difficult big wall route solo?

For me, it was definitely a very new experience because I was a total beginner in terms of big wall climbing. And as one of my first routes I happened to choose the one which is considered the hardest in the world. I learned a lot, but in the end to learn these big wall intricacies might not really be that difficult. The difficult part is really the climbing itself. For sure it’s hard and it took me quite a long time to adept to this specific style. But I finally succeeded. But I must say the reason why it took Tommy and Kevin such a long time and why it’s so impressive is that they first had to find how to climb the wall. For years they were not even sure that it would be possible at all. And that’s why it is super impressive to me. I already knew everything and I just needed to have the climbing level to climb it.

Adam Ondra on climbing Dawn Wall

Pushing the limits until the age of 35

That sounds as if you enjoyed it but not as much as sport climbing.

No, I definitely enjoyed it a lot. But for sure big wall climbing is a lot of work. (laughs) And I don’t think it will be a good idea to only climb on big walls even in terms of training. In order to climb such a route very fast, you first need a very high sport climbing level. And you reach this level most of all by – just sport climbing. And if you have very high physical fitness you can go to Yosemite and try to climb it fast.

Do you think that the 9c grade is the limit for you?

I believe that humans can climb harder. If it’s gonna be me or someone else who will climb 9c+, I don’t know.  It would be nice to climb one day a 9c+ but I am definitely sure that I can never climb a 10a even though I believe that it’s possible. But in like 20, 30 years, I’m pretty sure that there will be 10a routes.

You’re only 25, but the day will come when you notice that your physical strength is weakening.  Have you already thought about what will happen after sport climbing?

I’m pretty sure that I will be sport climbing for as long as I will be able. I am definitely sure that I maybe can push my sport climbing level until I am 35. But then it probably won’t be possible. At the same time I am definitely very interested in trying to bring everything I learned into the bigger walls, not necessarily climbing eight-thousanders but like six-thousanders where the main difficulty will be really rock climbing with bare hands and climbing shoes. That’s something that is very interesting for me in the more distant future.

Adam Ondra: Pushing the limits until I am 35

So you’re not afraid of the cold you’d have to stand on six- or seven-thousanders?

For sure. But that’s part of the game, a little bit of adventure to make the climbing more interesting.

Adam Ondra cheered after his success

What a hotshot! The 23-year-old Czech Adam Ondra succeeded his free climb through the mostly vertical, partly overhanging “Dawn Wall” in the granite of El Capitan within only eight days. It was the only second free ascent of the rock route, which is regarded as the most difficult in the world. At the beginning of 2015, the Americans Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson had “freed” the “Dawn Wall” after 19 days in the approximately 900-meter-high wall, a milestone of climbing history. They had been preparing for it for more than seven years. Ondra spent just two and a half weeks on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Kevin Jorgeson finds the success of the young Czech “totally badass”, as he wrote to the magazine “Rock and Ice”: “For Tommy and I, the question was whether it was even possible. We left lots of room to improve the style and Adam did just that! Super impressive that he was able to adapt to the Dawn Wall’s unique style and sort out so many complex sequences so quickly.” The German climbing scene is also thrilled.

“As if Bolt had won the marathon”

Climbing also in the night

Alexander Huber, aged 47, the younger of the Huber brothers, writes to me, that Ondra’s performance “equates to his ability: masterly, brilliant”. Alexander’s older brother values Adam’s success in a similar way. “This is the statement of the new generation per se,” tells me Thomas Huber (who, by the way, celebrated his 50th birthday on Friday last week): “For me it is the greatest achievement in climbing of our times. Now the bar is high!” Stefan Glowacz is also blown away. “I’ve been climbing for more than 40 years, but this performance is simply unbelievable,” writes the 51-year-old on Facebook. “It is amazing to see how the young generation catapult climbing into ever new dimensions that were hardly thought possible hitherto.” Ondra’s performance is “a kind of fusion of passion, obsession and extraordinary ability, but above all, an unprecedented mental performance,” says Glowacz, pointing out that it was Adam Ondra’s first big wall experience: “Somewhere I read this comparison: It is as if Usain Bolt had won the marathon race too.”

“Dawn Wall” within in 24 hours?

For years already, experts believe Adam Ondra to be the world’s best sports climber. During his climb of the “Dawn Wall” on El Capitan, he was accompanied by his countryman Pavel Blazek and the Austrian photographer Heinz Zak. Ondra led all 32 pitches ofthe route. “The first two days I was as nervous as a cat,” Adam said in an interview with the Czech climbing website emontana. In his words climbing the two key pitches (No. 14 and 15) was “like holding razor blades. But apart from them there are the pitches which I consider to belong among the best ones I have ever climbed.” It is quite possible that Ondra will soon be back on the route. “I would love to climb it a lot faster than this time”, says Adam, putting the bar high: “I think climbing ‘Dawn Wall’ in 24 hours is a nice challenge. It won´t be my ambition for the next year, that´s what I am sure of. I would like to take a mental rest for a few seasons but it would be interesting as a dream for life.” As absurd as this dream may sound, this hotshot could really do it.

Tommy Caldwell in Chamonix

Tommy Caldwell is on a roll. The 36-year-old American and his compatriot Alex Honnold won this year’s Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar for climbers”, for their success in completing the so called “Fitz Traverse” in Patagonia, a more than five kilometers long climbing route over seven summits and some razor sharp ridges. And Tommy is a prime candidate for next year’s award too. Last January he and Kevin Jorgeson free-climbed for the first time the extremely difficult about 900-meter-high route Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite – a real milestone in big wall climbing. I talked to Tommy about both climbs.

Tommy, you and Alex Honnold were awarded the Piolet d’Or for succeeding the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia. How did you experience this outstanding climb?

It was definitely a hard climb for me. It was so outside of everyday life. So if you look back at it, it doesn’t seem real. It wasn’t something I had planned. We went to Patagonia not knowing what we were going to climb. That was one idea, but I thought it was too big, I never thought we could do it. But then there was a big weather window and we decided to just go big.

For Alex, it was the first time that he was on expedition in Patagonia. What was it like for you to climb with him the Fitz Traverse?

It was amazing. He is the ultimate climbing partner. I knew that his skills would transfer from Yosemite to Patagonia really well. He doesn’t like being cold, I was a little worried about that. But since the experience was so intense and amazing, he was okay dealing with the cold a few days.  Sometimes we were going a mile and not even seeing each other because we were on opposite sides of the rope. Our systems are so dialed that we don’t have to say a word to each other.

Tommy and Alex on the Fitz Traverse

Is it possible to compare the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia and the Dawn Wall in Yosemite that you free-climbed in team with Kevin Jorgeson at the turn of the year?

They are so different in style. I trained very hard for the Dawn Wall. For seven years it was on the top of my mind the whole time. That training prepared me for Patagonia well, but the style of climbing was so different. The Fitz Traverse just happened, it wasn’t really a plan. The Dawn Wall was very planned, I focused all my energy into that. There we had people bringing us food and tons of gear when we were up there for all this time. The Fitz Traverse was completely the opposite. We had one 25 liter and one 335 liter backpack, just barely enough food, only one sleeping bag.

Caldwell: So different in style

What does it mean to you to have succeeded free-climbing the Dawn Wall?

It means that this relationship that I have had for seven years is ending. It’s hard actually. A lot of people would think that the end of this goal is a great moment. For me it was good because I reached my goal, but this life driving force that I had for so long is no longer there.

So, are you now going through a valley?

(He laughs) Yeah, probably. I’m working on writing a book now. So I have something to focus my energy into. That’s how I am, I always find a goal and I very intensely pursue that. So right now I have to write a book, but I’m expecting at some point to go through a bit of a valley. I’m sure.

Tommy Caldwell (l.) in the Dawn Wall

You were 19 days in the wall. What was the hardest during this climb?

The hardest part of the Dawn Wall for me was actually the preparation before the climb: trying to figure out ways to better climbing, sometimes feeling like it wasn’t working. Once we got on the wall for that 19-day-push, things went really well for me. My partner on the other hand struggled; he wasn’t nearly as prepared as I was. He struggled pretty hard, so I waited around. I had to become very good support for him, which was fun for me too. I wouldn’t say it was a hard experience, but there were moments where we worried about whether we were going to make it together.

Caldwell: The hardest part was the preparation

When Kevin had problems, did you think for a moment that you would have to do it alone?

Luckily I never had to come to that. I didn’t want to top out without Kevin. I don’t know honestly whether I would have done it if he had given up completely. He might have told me that I have to continue.

If two climbers have done such an amazing thing together, does it change the attitude between them? Are you now another kind of friends?

Every climbing relationship is different. Alex Honnold is the kind of person I would call if I was having a hard time in life. He is like a really close friend. Kevin is also a close friend but in a very different way. We pretty much only talk when we are climbing together. But when we are climbing together, it works so well and it’s so amazing.  I admire Kevin so much, but it’s almost more like a business relationship whereas most of my other climbing partners, it’s like deep friendship, almost like family.

Caldwell about climbing relationships

There was a little bit of criticism about the great media coverage of your climb. Cameramen were hanging in the wall. There was a video live stream during the last days. What would you answer to these critics?

I would say that this media coverage was not something that we sought out at all, it just happened. We were open to it, we allowed it to happen, but it was not by design at all. It was purely because so many people were interested. There was a point when they said: There are going to be a lot of reporters on top when you get up there. And I said: I don’t really want that. But you can’t control it. Yosemite is a public place. People can come if they want.

They did it: Caldwell (l.) and Jorgeson

What do you answer people who say: This man is crazy doing such things?

Nobody says that. (He laughs) The whole process of climbing the Dawn Wall was such a life driving force for me that I think, if you were in my head the whole time you would totally understand it. But most people won’t, so I don’t expect them to understand it.

Did you close the chapter Yosemite after having finished your Dawn Wall project?

Yosemite always has been and will be part of my life. I don’t know if I pursue giant projects like the Dawn Wall anymore, but I am going to continue to go to Yosemite. I live in Colorado physically, but my heart is in Yosemite.

You lost one finger in an accident with a table saw in 2001. How is it possible to do such extreme climbs with only nine fingers?

When I chopped off my finger, I was already a quite serious climber. I didn’t want to lose professionally climbing as my way to live, and so I became very focused and dedicated at a kind of overcoming that injury. It made me mentally stronger. The biggest growth in my climbing I think was right after chopping off my finger. I was a sport climber and a boulderer before and I started to gravitate more towards big wall and mountains, because I knew that I could never be the best competition climber with nine fingers. Big wall climbing is a bit less finger strength intense.

You have also been on expedition to high mountains. In 2000, in Kirghizstan you were kidnapped. Was this an experience that made you avoid expeditions to high mountains?

No. What happened in Kirghizstan had nothing to do with the fact that we were even in the mountains. We got into the middle of a political struggle.

Tommy with his wife Rebecca and son Fitz

But it was very narrow for you.

Yes, but I am still going to save high mountains in the world. I think I don’t go to very high mountains because of avalanche danger. I have 25 friends in my life that have died in high mountains. I am a dad. I want to live a long time. So I pick climbs that I feel that the danger is more controllable.

So, no 8000 meter peaks?

I don’t have it in my plans. But if I find a beautiful route on a 8000 meter peak that I felt like was not in danger of rock fall, big avalanches, big crevasse danger, I would climb it.

You are a husband and father. Has this made you more cautious?

I think I view my life through a lens of having people who rely on me. I feel a lot of responsibility to be there for them. So, as I said, I pick climbs where I feel like the objective hazards are manageable. I don’t want to die in the mountains.

Caldwell:I don’t want to die in the mountains

P.S. I made this interview with Tommy already in April, at the Piolet d’Or celebrations in Chamonix. But when I actually wanted to publish it, the strong earthquake hit Nepal and I had to cover this tragedy…

They did it: Caldwell (l.) and Jorgeson

A milestone in the granite of El Capitan in Yosemite! After 19 days the US climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the top of the extremely difficult, about 900-meter-high Dawn Wall after having climbed it free for the first time. They made climbing history. “I hope it inspires people to find their own Dawn Wall, if you will. We’ve been working on this thing a long time, slowly and surely”, 30-year-old Jorgesan said according to the New York Times. “I think everyone has their own secret Dawn Wall to complete one day, and maybe they can put this project in their own context.” As reported, it had taken Kevin seven days alone to master the extremely difficult 15th of 32 pitches of the route. “I think the larger audience’s conception is that we’re thrill seekers out there for an adrenaline rush. We really aren’t at all. It’s about spending our lives in these beautiful places and forming these incredible bonds”, 36-year-old Caldwell said. “For me, I love to dream big, and I love to find ways to be a bit of an explorer.” Tommy is climbing with only nine full fingers. In 2001 while working with a table saw, he accidentally cut off a part of his left index finger.

Alexander Huber: “Great performance!”

Alexander Huber

“The press tends to use terms like ‘the climb of the century’”, the German top climber Alexander Huber points out, whom I asked to assess the performance of the two US climbers in the Dawn Wall. “Of course we can not know what else will happen in the remaining 85 years of the century. So, if you look at it objectively, the term is exaggerated.” Nevertheless, the younger of the two Huber brothers is delighted. “The route is definitely the most difficult alpine rock climbing route in the world. In this regard, all I can say is: Hats off! Great performance!”, says the 46-year-old.

In 1970, the legendary Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) had opened the route via the Dawn Wall in 27 days. They used more than 300 bolts, what led to some criticism in the climbing community at that time.

Tommy Caldwell (l.) in the Dawn Wall

It’s easy to jump on a train that is already standing in the station. However, the climbing train of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson is still rolling. Pull by pull by pull towards the summit of the legendary granite rock El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Since 27 December, for two weeks and a half now, the two Americans climb and hang in the 900-meter-high, mostly vertical, partly overhanging “Dawn Wall” – so named, because the South-East face of El Cap catches the first sunrays in the morning. Caldwell and Jorgeson are well on the way to free climbing the extremely challenging big wall for the first time. Means: They only use ropes, bolts, nuts or friends to avoid falling, not for climbing. Actually, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. But in this special case I do it and and take my hat off to Tommy and Kevin by now.

Without falling after eleven attempts

Most experts indicate that 36-year-old Caldwell and 30-year-old Jorgeson overcame the biggest difficulties of the wall. It took Jorgeson seven days alone to get past the challenges of pitch 15 (of 32) of the route. After eleven attempts he was finally able to climb that passage without falling. Caldwell had done it a few days earlier and waited patiently until his buddy mastered the extremely challenging part of the route too.

“It was such an intense and incredible thing to witness”, Tommy wrote on Facebook. Kevin was on the limit: “It took everything in my power to stay positive and resolved that I would succeed.” Now the happy end is within reach: Caldwell and Jorgeson are expected to climb up to the top of the wall at some point between Thursday and Sunday.

Thomas Huber:  “Crazy”

Thomas Huber

“I hope they are lucky with the weather”, German top climber Thomas Huber writes to me. He and his brother Alexander added many highlights to climbing in Yosemite. Thomas is following enthusiastically the progress of the two Americans: “Really crazy! I would be so pleased if they are able to complete their life project. Eight years!!!!! This is motivation!” That is how long Caldwell and Jorgeson worked for their dream to “free” the Dawn Wall. It was first climbed in 1970: The legendary Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) needed 28 days to succeed by aid climbing. It says everything about the difficulty of the route.

User joins climbing

Kevin Jorgeson (l.) is happy – and is filmed

This act of pioneering work on El Capitan already caused a sensation in the USA at that time, not only in the climbing scene. Today the whole world can visit Yosemite digitally. Almost daily Caldwell and Jorgeson post pictures and short texts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, in addition videos of their climb (see above) are published on YouTube. “That’s up to you”, Thomas Huber replies to my question, what he thinks about the intense media coverage of the project. “I’m on Facebook too, but I wouldn’t blog continually during an adventure such as this. In this regard I prefer old fashion.  I think, for marketing  it is even better to make people curious and to edit everything perfectly when it’s done. And then … Boooom!”

P.S.: If you want to follow the Dawn Wall Live Stream of gripped.com, here is the link.