Adam Ondra claims world’s first 9a+ flash at St. Léger

At Saint Léger in France Adam Ondra has made a flash ascent of Super Crackinette, at praniania sector, just before nightfall. This is the first time a 9a+ has successfully been flashed.

Just the other day Adam Ondra announced that he was waiting for Saint-Léger du Ventoux in France to dry out so that he could concentrate on bigger projects. But no one could have imagined what lay in store: the flash of a 9a+ sport climb. Ondra achieved this on Super Crackinette, a route freed by Alexander Megos in 2016 after three days of work.

Craquinette was bolted by Laurent Triay and was freed by Gerome Pouvreau, who proposed 8b+/8c. After that, Quentin Chastagnier found a direct start, straight in the overhang, driving directly to the crux of Craquinette. Super Crackinette was born ! A 20m crimpy fest 😉

This is the first time in climbing history that a 9a+ has been climbed in this style, i.e. first go and knowing something about the climb, and even if details at present are missing, it’s clear that the 25-year-old Czech has raised the bar once again. Maybe the first 9a+ on sight is coming soon 😉

It’s worth remembering that in the past Ondra has onsighted the 9a’s Cabane au Canada at Rawyl in Switzerland (2013) and Il Domani at Baltzola in Spain (2014), as well as flashing the former 9a+ Southern Smoke Direct at Red River Gorge, USA (2012).

Few days ago, we presented you an article about Adam Ondra’s work on visualization, using it for better performances. No doubt that this kind of approach is the good one 😉 Obviously, Adam Ondra trains incredibly hard and no one can climb 5.15 without being strong. However, establishing routes on the cutting edge of the sport requires a lot more than strong fingers.

Source