UPDATED: 4/26/11 - A day after his first ascent of La Planta de Shiva (5.15b)—and on his last day in Spain—Adam Ondra casually added several more 5.14s to his résumé.
Ondra rounded out his mind-blowing trip with Carbunco ("the crux was hard!") and Kalliste ("amazing one"), both 5.14b, and Carbono 14 ("incredible fight, possibly 5.14b) and Orujito ("final route of the trip"), 5.14a. To put his trip into some kind of perspective, he climbed at least 20 5.14b's or harder while in Spain this spring.
To date, Ondra's 5.15b ascents include:
- La Planta de Shiva (4/22/11; FA; "obsession about this route; one of my hardest so far; pure endurance climbing with few rests")
- Chilam Balam (4/13/11; potential FA; "so glad to repeat this mysterious route; ... a monster, so long that your knees tremble from the view")
- Chaxi Raxi (3/27/11; FA; "took 8 days of work; V14 boulder problem into 5.14d/5.15a")
- La Capella (2/16/11; FA; "sent it last try of last day of the trip; an extremely bouldery route which took 7 days this trip and 2 days last year")
- Golpe de Estado (3/13/10; "HUGE relief for me; mission accomplished despite notoriously strong wind, injury, flu, and stomach ache; proved to be really hard and mischievous; 29 tries during 14 days")
4/25/11 - Adam Ondra has put up another potential 5.15b at Villanueva del Rosa rio in southern Spain. The 150-foot La Planta de Shiva links two existing pitches, bolted by Jose Irigoyen and Manolo del Castillo. He reportedly needed only 14 attempts to finish the route.
Planta sits at the same crag as Chilam Balam, which Ondra climbed just two weeks ago. This marks his fifth Spanish 5.15 in 2011, including Chilam Balam, Chaxi Raxi (FA; Oliana), La Capella (FA; Siurana), and Obrint el Sistema (FA; Santa Ana). (Don't forget his 5.14c onsight slaughter earlier this spring.)
Below is a video of Ondra working Planta.
Be sure to pick up the next issue of Urban Climber (May 2011, #48), on sale in mid-May, to read a full-length feature interview with Ondra!
Date of ascent: April 22, 2011
Source: 9b, climbing.com, 8a.nu
