Ondra Redpoints Legendary Swiss Multipitch

The teenage Czech climber Adam Ondra has done the first redpoint ascent of WoGü (5.14), a super-sustained mini–big wall of limestone in the mountains of Switzerland. WoGü, named after the late German climber Wolfgang Güllich, has seven pitches of 5.13 or harder, including two pitches of 5.14b and one of 5.14a, with substantial run-outs.

Austrian Beat Kammerlander and various partners put up WoGü in 1997 on the seventh Kirchlispitze in the Rätikon mountains, but he never redpointed the full line. Like other Kammerlander routes in the Rätikon, WoGü was established ground-up, and the compact rock left few stances for drilling protection bolts, even when hanging from hooks. Consequently, WoGü has serious run-outs, with potential for 20-meter falls, and passages of mandatory free climbing up to 5.13c.

Ondra’s father wrote on Lezec.cz that his son had confirmed the difficulty of WoGü: “According to Beat there are two pitches of 8c [5.14b], one of 8b+ [5.14a], one 8b [5.13d], one 8a+ [5.13c], and two of 7c+ [5.13a]. Adam suggests small changes of classification, somewhere up, somewhere down, but in global it matches.”

Last summer, Ondra made a rapid free ascent of Silbergeier (8b+/5.14a), another Kammerlander multipitch testpiece at the Rätikon. The 15-year-old has climbed as hard as 5.15a on shorter routes.

Date of Ascent: July 2008

Sources: Czechclimbing.com, Climbandmore.com, 8a.nu, Alpinist

Comment on this story