2009 GOLDEN PITON AWARDS

Sport

ADAM ONDRA

When Chris Sharma, Dave Graham, Ethan Pringle et al. in the 1990s shot up through the ranks as off-the-charts teen prodigies, the “elder” generations (folks in their 20s, 30s, and 40s) couldn’t help but notice. Suddenly, longstanding projects that had resisted — like Necessary Evil (5.14c), climbed by Sharma in 1997; and The Fly (5.14d), climbed by Graham in 2000 — went down, and sport-climbing standards were again on the uphill march. With these 90s prodigies now in their late 20s but just as strong as ever, it’s amazing to think that a generation is coming up below them. But when you look at Adam Ondra, 16, of the Czech Republic, you see the future of sport climbing.

Wherever Ondra goes, he demolishes. To wit: 12 5.14d redpoints in 2009, including a repeat of the Alex Huber testpiece Om. And, most impressively in the same year, four 5.15a ascents, including the long-awaited first repeat of Huber’s hardest, the 5.15a Open Air; a repeat of Chris Sharma’s power-endurance-till-you-puke Oliana, Spain, route Papichulo (5.15a); an eight-try ascent of Markus Bock’s thin-pocket climb Corona (5.15a), said to be the hardest in the Frankenjura; and then, the icing on the cake — Ondra’s Sardinia, Italy, first ascent Marina Superstar, which he gave 5.15a/b. As Ondra wrote on his scorecard: “Beautiful line 35m line in very steep cave. It took me 4 days this year and 3 goes last year.

So happy to have some really hard FA! Well, I am not sure about the grade. Definitely [sic] my hardest yet, but probably not 9b, thus I go for 9a+/b.” Ondra then adds, “I have to try more routes from Chris to compare.”

This year, Ondra also flashed two V13s — The Vice and Armed Response — at Rocklands, as well as onsighted a slew of 5.14s. With his thin, lanky frame, constant-motion, loose-and-easy dynamic style, and a European-sport CV perhaps unparalleled in history (he did his first 5.14 at age 11 and has been ticking consistently since then), Ondra has already taken our sport to the next level.

Honorable Mentions:

• Charlotte Durif, of France, for establishing two 5.14c’s in a month, then going on, with a 100-meter rope, to string together the first four pitches (5.13c, 5.13b, 5.13c, 5.13a) of the Verdon Gorge’s Ultime Démence, rending a 5.14a mega-pitch done onsight.
• Enzo Oddo, 14, of France, for bringing an Adam Ondra-like game to the European sport world, ticking three 5.14d’s in less than two weeks, the second ascent of Dai Koyamada’s Inga (5.14d; Gorges du Loup), and the likely second ascent of the V13/14 traverse Katharsis, Fontainebleau.