Ondra in Granitgrottan/Scandinavia

FA of an 8c+

Petr Pavlíèek who made the movie - The Wizard´s Apprentice

3 minutes in morning news in Swedish Television

Ondra at Granitgrottan - First impressions don't last, by Alvaro Susena

Adam Ondra rocks. He and a movie crew are on a six weeks long road trip up north, destination Flatanger and Lofoten, with a few stops along the way. On Tuesday they arrived to Gothenburg and made their first stop at one of the finest crags the Swedish west coast city has to offer, Hylteberg. He had turned on the "easy" mode and climbed just a few routes onsight, nothing hard enough to be mentioned, but was happy with the pit stop.
– This is a nice spot with a lot of variation. The climbing on granite is different, you have to think a lot, it's harder to onsight here, Adam says.


At Hylteberg, Adam and the crew met up with 8a founder Jens Larssen and they continued the trip to the promise land of traditional climbing Bohuslän, but to the sport climbing area of Granitgrottan, where Jens Larssen has bolted a number of projects. One of them aiming for the title of Swedish' hardest route. But, the Scandinavian spring has been rainy and due to the amount of precipitation the previous week, the projected 9a route had some wet key holds.
– Honestly, I was not impressed by the open cave of Granitgrottan at the first look, Adam commented, and the fact that the 9a project was unclimbable made it worse. When Jens pointed out the 8c+ project it didn't look so good but I wanted to give it a try anyway.


But first impressions didn't last. Right after the first go, Adam had changed his mind.
– The route starts with a very easy section, then you get to the roof and there's a boulder section of highest quality. Would it be on the ground it's around 8A+. If this boulder had been located in Ticino, there would always have been a long queue for it, Adam says.
– There's so many shapes of holds and features, you really have to figure out the best way to get them. It's a big difference, when you climb on lime stone, if you have the power you make the move. Here, you must get into right position. It makes it really hard to onsight.


As a matter of fact, the hardest registered onsight ascent in Sweden is 8a, despite of that a lot of climbers with the capacity to onsight harder abroad has tried to do that. Climbing on granite is complicated, but that just motivated Adam even more. He did the first ascent of the 8c+ on his third attempt, name of the route still to come. He's second attempt was a very good one, but Adam felt some rope drag while passing the lip of the roof and called it off.
– I got my leg somehow tangled into the rope and I wanted a clean ascent, he said putting the ethics high as usual.
On his third attempt, Adam just did some amazing heel-hooks and hard bouldering moves going smooth over the crux, while a team from Swedish broadcast station TV4 was recording for their news show.


After a one hour break, he wanted to put the record straight and tried to onsight a project assumed to be around 8b+. It was a good try but granite routes are in fact hard to read. He sent the route on the second go and Adam realize it's a 8c route, name still to come.
– I'm a little bit disappointed that the 9a project was wet, but it was an amazing day. Adapting to a new climbing style and having fun with good friends.


Adam looks forward for the coming season. He aims for the world championship in Paris and after that he will spend some time working on a few projects he has. Just 19 years old (he has being in the game for so long that it's easy to forget he's still very young) Adam finished school and he's now taking one year off before he moves on to university and economic studies.
– For the first time I have the freedom to focused completely on climbing. Now, when I come home from training, I can stretch a little and cool down, instead of doing home work. I think this will make a great difference in my climbing, Adam says.
– I will train for a month before the comps in Paris and I hope I'll get in good shape and keep it for the autumn season. When the temperatures drop I feel good, it is like my body wakes up and I can perform my best.


We at 8a.nu look really forward to the first season that Adam would dedicated completely to climbing.