Ondra, Koyamada on a Roll in Switzerland

10/5/11 - Adam Ondra has had a successful trip to Switzerland despite not-so-perfect weather conditions. Last week, he repeated Practice of the Wild (V15) that Chris Sharma established in Magic Wood in 2004.

Practice took Ondra three days of work, including "one day in terrible conditions, another one while being tired," he said on his scorecard. "Very hard to say concerning the grade; easier than In Search of Time Lost [V15 by Daniel Woods in Magic Wood], but harder than the rest of other V14s."

He also repeated two V14s, Dark Matter (see below) and Remembrance of Things Past, even though Remembrance was "completely my anti-style," he said.

Meanwhile, also in Switzerland, Japanese climber Dai Koyamada established a few hard problems in Sustenpass, where conditions were better, including Paradise Lost, which he's calling V13/14, and Daedalus Direct, which he thinks is V14/15.

Earlier in September, he established the aforementioned Dark Matter in the Darkness Roof in Magic Wood. Dark Matter is a 15-meter link-up of Woods' In Search of Time Lost and From Darkness to Sunshine that has around 30 moves. He told UKClimbing that he felt it was "V14/15 or easy V15. I would like to have an opinion from a repeater." Seems as though Ondra feels V14 is appropriate.

Dates of ascents: September-October 2011

Sources: 8a.nu, koyamada.dai.hiho.jp, ukclimbing.com