Ondra on the Dawn Wall

instagram.com/adam.ondra/

This is probably as close to something like watching a football match as we'll ever get in rock climbing. Exciting stuff, I'll certainly look forward to what the youth is going to accomplish overthere.

Yes - would like live updates on twitter or elsewhere!

A snippet of news:

rockandice.com/climbing-new…

And the instagram from one of his crew explains how this is a reconnaisance trip, fixing the ropes, trying the moves etc.

instagram.com/pavelblazek/

Ho-hum

Wow! Exciting news, Kees. Thank you for the post. Great that Ondra is giving the Dawn Wall and long traditional routes a shot. Sounds like he's making great progress, especially in light of the fact that it took Tommy and Kevin seven years. Granted they were scoping the route and installing hardware, but that's awesome news. Kevin...ho hum?...Anything but Ho-hum.

After fixing lines up to the 16th pitch and checking out the moves, he came down again.

Next on the list seems to be the Nose together with his father, on monday or tuesday.

All this from Instagram. Kind of funny how I am reporting this from 5500 miles away on an American forum ;-) I've never even been in Western USA.

Yup ho-hum. 3000' sport climb.Scope the route, fix lines practice, bring your team and poop bag guys. What Caldwell and Honnald did on the Fitzroy traverse was much more impressive than the circus on the Dawn Wall

It's sporty but it sure the hell aint a sport route.

Haters gonna hate...at least these days I only hear crickets from those who surmise Ondra couldn't climb a 5.8 crack. Really can't take anybody who can't even correctly spell Honnold's name seriously. One is more impress than the other? Ask Tommy .Not sure anybody else is qualified to compare the 2.

Kevinmurray wrote:Yup ho-hum. 3000' sport climb.Scope the route, fix lines practice, bring your team and poop bag guys. What Caldwell and Honnald did on the Fitzroy traverse was much more impressive than the circus on the Dawn Wall

Does writing that somehow make you feel superior or allay your insecurities about climbing?

Very secure about climbing and my abilities but I am not one who cares about the new pinch crimp 5. whatever or who does what. These guys are good climbers but a lot of people here get woodies when some of these name climbers get mentioned.You have to admit,seven years,pre-placing pro,rehearsing,support crew, room service,poop service, it lessens climbing.I don't care how long Caldwell spent on his ascent last year it was nothing compared to Harding on the first ascent. 27 days no support, storms, no backing down, no rehearsal.

Kees wrote:After fixing lines up to the 16th pitch and checking out the moves, he came down again. Next on the list seems to be the Nose together with his father, on monday or tuesday. All this from Instagram. Kind of funny how I am reporting this from 5500 miles away on an American forum ;-) I've never even been in Western USA.

I can confirm that he is indeed down. He was jumping on Bircheff-Williams as I came down from Central Pillar of Frenzy yesterday....

Not that I care. I would even have known it was him but for my partner commenting that he thought he was on the Dawn wall today.

patto wrote: I can confirm that he is indeed down. He was jumping on Bircheff-Williams as I came down from Central Pillar of Frenzy yesterday.... Not that I care. I would even have known it was him but for my partner commenting that he thought he was on the Dawn wall today.

Life under a rock must be so liberating.

Ha, I see, the mountain project circus is alife, complete with real trolls and haters. You gotta love it!

BTW, I don't get a woodie when looking at Ondra. He's a superb climber of course, but to be honest he sure is ugly! Now, if Sharma was up there....

Here's a statement from Ondra himself from the BD facebook page:

“Yesterday was another day on the Dawn Wall. We had our fixed-lines on the top of pitch 10 and we wanted to move as high as possible. But we would face some of the crux pitches of the whole climb. Fortunately, the pitches were better protected and it was not such a big problem to climb through the next five pitches, including the crux traverses. I would like to emphasize that I am not free climbing everything yet. The goal right now is only to go ground-up to the top, free-climbing and using a little bit of aid climbing, to fix the whole line with ropes and start working on the pitches properly to have them ready for the final free push later. So if the crux is around the protection, I just touch the holds to see how the sequence would be and continue. The first crux-pitch looked definitely super hard to free climb. Almost impossible. I will have to take a look at all these razorblades more closely.
“Finally, already in the dark, I was pushing through pitch 16 (Dyno Pitch), but I was stopped by the final bold section of the route, where I felt I needed the light for climbing this tiny layback high above bad protection. So we just called it a day and went down back to Camp 4. Now it’s two days of rest to heal my skin and I will try the Nose.”
–BD Ambassador Adam Ondra, Oct. 21, 2016.

Kevinmurray wrote:Very secure about climbing and my abilities but I am not one who cares about the new pinch crimp 5. whatever or who does what. These guys are good climbers but a lot of people here get woodies when some of these name climbers get mentioned.You have to admit,seven years,pre-placing pro,rehearsing,support crew, room service,poop service, it lessens climbing.I don't care how long Caldwell spent on his ascent last year it was nothing compared to Harding on the first ascent. 27 days no support, storms, no backing down, no rehearsal.

Have to agree with the above. Patagonia was a true onsight and great adventure . Dawn Wall "free" I guess is fun but what ever way you look at it its sport with lunch provided.

While it's definitely less dangerous/committing, it's also several thousand feet of 5.12-14d climbing. I don't know if there will ever be someone who could climb that onsight in a single push...Ondra would have been the one. Each feat is impressive, but for entirely different reasons. The fact that Tommy C did both gives him the crown for me, but Ondra is still an amazingly talented technical climber.

Ted Pinson wrote:While it's definitely less dangerous/committing, it's also several thousand feet of 5.12-14d climbing. I don't know if there will ever be someone who could climb that onsight in a single push...Ondra would have been the one.

This is the key bit the people denigrating the tactics up-thread are missing. Right now and for the foreseeable future, this is the way the hardest (for now) big wall route in the world is going to be done. Perhaps when there are a handful of folks regularly redpointing 5.16d on the third attempt the Dawn will be done in a single push without fixing and rehearsing. Recall the miles of fixed ropes, years of effort, rolling cart to haul supplies up to the lead team, and other siege tactics that were used on the 95% aid FA of The Nose.

As a reminder, here's the pitch by pitch grading of the Dawn:

Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d)
Pitch 1 (5.12b)
Pitch 2 (5.13a)
Pitch 3 (5.13c)
Pitch 4 (5.12b)
Pitch 5 (5.12d) – Anchorage Ledge
Pitch 6 (5.13c)
Pitch 7 (5.14a)
Pitch 8 (5.13d)
Pitch 9 (5.13c)
Pitch 10 (5.14a)
PORTALEDGE CAMP
Pitch 11 (5.13c)
Pitch 12 (5.14b) – Molar Traverse
Pitch 13 (5.13b)
Pitch 14 (5.14d)
Pitch 15 (5.14d)
Pitch 16 (5.14a) – The Loop Pitch
OR
Pitch 17 (5.14c) – The Dyno Pitch (5.14c)
Pitch 18 (5.14a)
Pitch 19 (5.13c)
Pitch 20 (5.13b) – The Canoe
Pitch 21 (5.13d)
Pitch 22 (5.13d) – Wino Tower
Pitch 23 (5.10)
Pitch 24 (5.11)
Pitch 25 (5.11)
Pitch 26 (5.11d)
Pitch 27 (5.11c)
Pitch 28 (5.12c) – Ship’s Prow
Pitch 29 (5.12b)
Pitch 30 (5.12b)
Pitch 31 (5.13a)
Pitch 32 (5.12b)

Marc801 wrote: This is the key bit the people denigrating the tactics up-thread are missing. Right now and for the foreseeable future, this is the way the hardest (for now) big wall route in the world is going to be done. Perhaps when there are a handful of folks regularly redpointing 5.16d on the third attempt the Dawn will be done in a single push without fixing and rehearsing. Recall the miles of fixed ropes, years of effort, rolling cart to haul supplies up to the lead team, and other siege tactics that were used on the 95% aid FA of The Nose. As a reminder, here's the pitch by pitch grading of the Dawn: Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d) Pitch 1 (5.12b) Pitch 2 (5.13a) Pitch 3 (5.13c) Pitch 4 (5.12b) Pitch 5 (5.12d) – Anchorage Ledge Pitch 6 (5.13c) Pitch 7 (5.14a) Pitch 8 (5.13d) Pitch 9 (5.13c) Pitch 10 (5.14a) PORTALEDGE CAMP Pitch 11 (5.13c) Pitch 12 (5.14b) – Molar Traverse Pitch 13 (5.13b) Pitch 14 (5.14d) Pitch 15 (5.14d) Pitch 16 (5.14a) – The Loop Pitch OR Pitch 17 (5.14c) – The Dyno Pitch (5.14c) Pitch 18 (5.14a) Pitch 19 (5.13c) Pitch 20 (5.13b) – The Canoe Pitch 21 (5.13d) Pitch 22 (5.13d) – Wino Tower Pitch 23 (5.10) Pitch 24 (5.11) Pitch 25 (5.11) Pitch 26 (5.11d) Pitch 27 (5.11c) Pitch 28 (5.12c) – Ship’s Prow Pitch 29 (5.12b) Pitch 30 (5.12b) Pitch 31 (5.13a) Pitch 32 (5.12b)

Yes but the Nose FA did not top rope ..it was on sight with relatively primitive gear ... no jumars for a start.Plus the original Dawn Wall guys did not come down for cocktails ... Adventure and endurance (even if it is aid) is just if not as equal to working a route to death which as we see still uses aid techniques .

I completely agree, it's not as "adventurous" as could be, like one of those crazy mixed faces in Alaska or in the Himalayas. But it is also denigrating to say it's just a very long sports climb. For starters, it's not protected like a regular sports climb. It's also rediculously difficult. It's way out there in difficulty. A 9a crux combined with length after length of 8c's 8b's and the rest ain't easy either. It sure is an adventure in that the outcome is not secure. Freeclimbing all those lengths in one push, even with all the support, is going to be almost impossible, also for Ondra.

You...do realize that Ondra is basically just scouting the route, right? What he is doing is essentially what Tommy and Kevin did for 7 years. I imagine when he goes for the free attempt, he probably will not head down for cocktails in between pitches.

USBRIT wrote: Plus the original Dawn Wall guys did not come down for cocktails

That's because Harding was a sauce junkie and wouldn't leave the ground without a few bottles of
E and J...