Final Words From Adam Ondra On His Rocklands Trip

Final Words From Adam Ondra On His Rocklands Trip

Adam Ondra is back writing for the Black Diamond journal about the 2nd half of his most recent trip to Rocklands, South Africa.  In case we were starting to think that there were no climbs in the world that could stymie Ondra, he provides two examples.  The first is Nalle Hukkataival’s unrepeated V15 Livin’ Large:

First couple of tries [that day] were not successful, the worse was I split my fingertip. I kept trying though with the tape and 5th go I managed to make it through the crux move. From there, it is not extremely difficult, could be 7C+, but finicky, insecure and bold…Getting closer to the top, 3 moves below the lip, there is high step and I slipped at the very moment of bringing my foot up. I was falling backwards, far off the wall and hit the ground hard on the single thin pad. OUCH.

And the other problem was the unrepeated Fred Nicole testpiece named Oliphant’s Dawn:

It consists of three moves on incredibly small crimps on a 30-degree overhang and after one hour of sessioning I walked away having done none of the moves. And I heard that bunch of people walked away with same result. All my esteem to you, Fred!

Check out the full write-up for more on those problems as well as the numerous other hard lines he did complete.

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6 Responses to Final Words From Adam Ondra On His Rocklands Trip

  1. sean miller September 12, 2011 at 1:19 pm #

    Are there any pics / vids of Oliphants dawn?

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    • Greg Davis September 12, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

      ^THIS

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  2. David R September 12, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    http://27crags.com/crags/riverside/topos/olifants-dawn

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  3. Crownmountain Cole September 13, 2011 at 1:02 am #

    probably the best post iv read on adam.

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  4. Brian Antheunisse September 13, 2011 at 6:06 am #

    i felt the start holds on that thing every time i walked by it. i could only really tell where one start hold was really, and it was strange and small, only allowing a 2 finger stack, or a weird thumb crimp, and i couldnt even fathom how one pulls off the ground. i couldnt really tell where the holds after that were either from looking at it….it was silly how hard it looked. i honestly don’t see it ever being repeated. Mayyybe by Arjan but i still doubt even he would have the patience for it, considering its baking in the sun all day long, so the window of time for conditions on it is short.

    its a very pretty wall though! it may just remain as sort of a memoir, reminding us of Fred’s vision of new lines and raw finger strength.

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    • Narc September 13, 2011 at 11:15 am #

      Thanks for the info Brian!

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