Ondra on the Dawn Wall

Game is on!

Today at 3am Adam Ondra started the push!

Tomorrow going for the push! First two days of heat and climbing the first 13 pitches, then one restday of rain and then perfect conditions for the crux pitches on day 4. Starting tomorrow at 3 AM to get done as many pitches as possible before the remorseless sun hits the wall.

In the mean time, Jorg Verhoeven freed Dihedral wall. Ain't too shabby either!

"Free Dihedral Wall!! After an exhausting 5 day push I managed to make the first repeat 12 years after Tommy Caldwell put this beast up. 14a crux, two 13d's, three 13c's, three 13b's, a 12+ off width and the rest filled with 5.12 climbing. All slabs and pin scarred dihedrals...Huge thanks to Katharina Saurwein for being there with me, but also to @jonglassberg and @dustin.moore.007 for help and gear shuttling on the wall.
@marmot_mountain_europe @la sportiva Petzl #lt11 #yosemite #elcapitan"

And last week Katharina Saurwein (Jorg is her husband) did some crazy freeclimbing too:

"Wohooo! I finished my project of this Yosemite trip today! So happy about it Final Frontier 5.13b (8a) on Fifi Buttress took all I have, although everything went smooth, I took no falls and got scared only once! "

First 9 pitches are done! He's steaming up nicely. Pitch 8 ( if I remember correctly) took a few tries.

There are some short videos on the Black diamond feed on Instagram.

Way to go, Adam. Thanks for posting, Kees. Too many armchair climbers (Tim, Marc, Sanllan, rging...) on this thread. Adam should invite them up on the Dawn Wall to manage the poop tube and a few laughs.

No problem, when I'm sitting in the train in the morning I've got nothing better to do then checking out what's up and posting a short update.

It looks like the "official" websites are on the ball now too, like UKClimbing.com.

Oh boy, the suspense is killing me! Ondra's plan was to do pitch 10 - 13, but there is no news yet.

Edit: Finally news came through. Pitch 10-13 are in the bag. It took him quite some effort. Pitch 10 (5.14a) went in 2 tries. And pitch 12 (5.14b) took 4 tries!

I can't say for 100% sure, but I understand from the messages that he is pulling the rope on each failed try until he sends. So, every pitch is being done redpoint on lead.Terrific effort so far.

Pretty incredible if he sends in one season!

The level of climbing being done these days is pretty crazy. It wasn't that long ago that a single pitch 14a would get major coverage - now these guys are stringing them together one after another on a big wall. Impressive!

Latest update was a good one. He is up to pitch 14 and has a nice long rest day in the rain. Back at it tomorrow.

Although I think most climbs will be more unknown and private until they happen this has been a really fun adventure to be a part of from miles away.

Pavel: Here is what Adam said about today:

"Damn! Climbed super poorly, so much pressure, so nervous! Needed 7 tries to make it through the first boulderproblem on pitch 14, a boulderproblem that i never really found very hard before, but somehow felt really hard today. I slipped on my first try, then on my second try, then just freaked out and felt so insecure with my feet trying to climb as carefully as possible but kept slipping nevertheless. Then, on my 7th try, I did the boulderproblem, and fell from the last move.
Hard to find some optimism, but I will try it again.
Tomorrow and hopefully with better mindset.
Thanks everyone for encouragement! I am sorry for today, hopefully there is still the chance."
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I think I was fortunate enough to experience quite a lot in my life so far. Good and bad. I've been rock climbing for about 25 years now - surviving 13 metres fall and "just" breaking 3 vertebral disks (lucky I'm still walking), trying my luck with winter expeditions like crossing on foot 650 km long frozen lake Baikal in Siberia - experiencing minus 40 degrees celsius or walking 45 km a day pulling 100 kg sled with food and equipment or hiking unforgiving taiga for weeks in search of former Stalin labor camps - the gulags - getting stuck on slow moving river 200 km from closest setlement on our return journey when the engine in our small boat blew up...
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BUT! I have never experienced so much presure, so many scary moments, seen so much pain and frustration as here during the last few weeks. The rock climbing at Adams level is way, way harder than me or I think most of us can even imagine.
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The shoes Adam is putting on are 38,5 - his normal hiking shoes are 44! I feel the pain just watching him every time he needs to put them on...

experiencing minus 40 degrees celsius

Side note. -40F = -40C. This is the point scales meet at.

Shoes are downsized 5.5 from street shoe? Interesting - crazy - but interesting.

Anyone know how far Caldwell downsized his TC Pros?

You got this ADAM... It must be crazy knowing how many people are following you moves every day! Even the haters on this website are probably secretly impressed an cheering you on..

Pitch 14 and 15 are in the bag!

14 went in one go. Then he fell on the last move of pitch 15. But he had just enough energy and skin left to give it one more try. And sent it!

Tomorrow he will continue. Probably the loop pitch and the rest is easy peasy ;-)

Jeez...downsized 5 sizes in Katana Laces?! I couldn't wear those downsized 2.5 sizes without permanently damaging my feet.

Kees wrote:...the rest is easy peasy ;-)

Relatively...
But at this point barring some sort of major mishap like weather or injury I imaging he's got this thing in the bag.

Pitch 16 is still an obstacle. On UKclimbing someone thought that he is linking the loop pitch plus the next one as a more logical thing. That would still be 8c+.

I still can't believe how he did about 3 9a's in a row yesterday. Pitch 14 in one go, pitch 15 almost to the end and then again to send it. To compare, I was working on my "project" this week and after one try I was completely wasted and couldn't really do anything worthwhile anymore. Those youngsters have some serious stamina.

Step 1: Apply hand jammies. Step 2: Struggle up Generator crack. Step 3: Send the Dawn Wall and prove all the haters wrong!

To answer a question above, I don't know how small Tommy sized his shoes, but I have heard he had multiple pairs of TC pros for different pitches.

Patrick Vernon wrote:Step 1: Apply hand jammies. Step 2: Struggle up Generator crack. Step 3: Send the Dawn Wall and prove all the haters wrong! To answer a question above, I don't know how small Tommy sized his shoes, but I have heard he had multiple pairs of TC pros for different pitches.

Kevin did a twitter Q&A while on the wall. If memory serves during the Q&A he said they each took up five pairs of TC Pros, mostly to always have have fresh soles.