World's Hardest Flash - Adam Ondra Climbs 5.15 (9a+) First Try

"Flashing" a climb means doing it bottom to top, with no falls, on your first try. Adam Ondra, the best sport climber in the world, set himself an impossible-seeming goal of becoming the first person to flash a route rated 9a+ (5.15a). There were only a few climbs of the grade on the planet that he hadn't yet done or tried. He strategized for years, failed on several of them, and then in 2018 he finally succeeded, sending Alex Megos' route Supercrackinette, in St Leger, France. Luckily our team was there to capture this rare moment.

Be sure to subscribe to Adam's Youtube Channel, @AdamOndra for more great videos from his continuing adventures.

[AdamOndra]

Great job, awesome movie. Thumbs up. AO Production

[chrisryandrew]

Im pretty confident in my ability to flash most staircases

[samshorto]

I see a lot of people asking questions about grades and needing contextualisation for what an achievement this is in the climbing community, so I've broken down what the grades mean. In Europe, climbs are graded on a continuous number and letter scale, from 1a-9c, 1a being the easiest and 9c the hardest. Each number is divided into three letters, 'a' being easier than 'b' being easier than 'c'. You can also add a '+' for a climb that is between letter grades. The hardest grade ever climbed was a 9c route called 'Silence', by Adam Ondra. The grades are open-ended, meaning one day we might see a 9c+ or 10a. Grades are subjective and are agreed on by consensus. There's a famous recent example of another climber, Alex Megos, claiming the second 9c climb ever, which was later downgraded to 9b+ by Stefano Ghisolfi, who climbed it a year or so later. The grades have about this level of difficulty:

1-3 - Basically a ladder - anyone with a very basic level of fitness should be able to get up a climb of this grade no problem. All of the holds will be huge, close together, and easy to hold.
4a-5b - Should still be doable by anyone with a basic level of fitness
5c - Can start to be challenging to newbies with poor technique.
6a - Most reasonably fit newbies would take a month or two to consistently climb at this level.
6b - Naturally strong people with little technique will start to struggle around this grade.
6c - Getting hard now. Requires you to be technically proficient and strong, and have good endurance. The holds start to get quite small or aggressively sloped so that it's much harder to grip them, and you need to have good finger strength and technique to stay on.
7a - This is a major milestone and achievement for many hobbyist climbers (incidentally 7a is my hardest indoor route).
7b-7c - This starts to get into the realm of being a really very good amateur - very few people will achieve this grade. 7c is the overall grade of Freerider, the route Alex Honnold free soloed on El Capitan, although most of the pitches are much easier than this.
8a - Incredibly difficult. In my local area we have some really very good climbers, some of whom are at the level of competing in regional competitions. Maybe four or five of them have even attempted to climb at this grade.
8b-8c - Now getting into the realm of professional climbers. These tend to be the grades at which World Cup/Olympic lead climbs are set. 8b/8b+ are probably the highest grades that the world's very best climbers would expect to have a reasonable chance at flashing. The holds on these grades are either so small as to be basically non-existent (think the width of a finger tip for handholds and a credit card for footholds) or very sloped. These grades, especially in indoor comps, also tend to be on overhangs i.e. the wall is more than vertical.
9a - Getting to an incredibly high level now, with fewer than 600 climbers having ever climbed a route of this grade. The hardest ever onsight, by Alex Megos (onsight is like flash but with the added difficulty that you've never even seen the route or anyone doing any of the moves. Arguably a bigger achievement than Ondra's 9a+ flash). This is also Alex Honnold's highest grade climbed (not free solo haha), after a lot of work, and he's only done it once (I only mention that as Honnold is most laypersons' idea of a great climber after seeing Free Solo, and this illustrates how far ahead Ondra is in terms of pure sports climbing ability).
9a+ - This grade really sets you apart as a world class climber - sending a route of this grade puts you in an elite club. Fewer than 100 people have ever climbed a route of this grade. Hardest ever flash, by Adam Ondra (see this video haha)
9b - Only the best of the best even contemplate attempting climbs of this grade. Only 32 people have climbed a route of this grade, including three women (Julia Chanourdie, Angela Eiter, and Laura Rogora).
9b+ - Only 7 people have ever climbed a route this hard - Adam Ondra, Alex Megos, Stefano Ghisolfi, Chris Sharma, Jakob Schubert, Seb Bouin, and Sean Bailey. Janja Garnbret is currently working on La Dura Dura, the world's first 9b+ ever climbed, and I fully anticipate her achieving it some time in the near future and becoming the first woman to send a climb of this grade.
9c - Until very recently, only Adam Ondra had climbed a 9c, a route he called 'Silence' in Flatanger, Norway. To give some perspective on how much harder it is than the 9a+ in this video, it took him over 5 years from bolting it to actually climbing it. In all, he spent more than 40 days in 2016 and 2017 attempting it before succeeding. Seb Bouin, a French climber, has recently put up another 9c route, called 'DNA'. Like Silence, it's yet to be repeated.

[jraybay]

That primal scream gave me chills. I don't know much about this or the people involved but you could feel how much it meant to him. A dream come true. Beautiful

[Jongo]

That release of emotion at the end was beautiful to see. Can really tell how much it meant to him <3

[brentrebrab]

That scream was primal. Yu could hear him as he turned his dream into reality

[janabelikova]

Fun fact: Adam chose this route partly because Alex Megos rated it as a solid 9a+... So that nobody can say "maybe it's an easy 9a+ or that it should be downgraded".

[mineduggery]

I love how the background music stopped playing as Adam started his challenge. Made it really thrilling. The clarity of mind - Adam must've been 100% focused on every momentary and next grip.

[Spacegoat]

Adam flashes, he's a hero. I flash, i get charged for indecent exposure....

[TrimTab]

The joy experienced at the top makes me happy to be a human.

[dieselrugg]

that celebration was nuts! I mean I thought I was a passionate climber, but I need to up my celebration game...no more silent fist pumps or slapping the rock for me.

[JoshDoes]

Holy crap that excitement of joy reaching the top actually made me cry man. That is more than inspirational. Im working at a climbing gym and have been improving a lot but this makes me want to climb even more.

[ITshumu]

Adam Ondra EXCELS at fighting through pain to succeed. His yell is inspiring. Also, he is not afraid of looking foolish (this is a compliment) with his mental climbing. It makes him look so silly but I wish we all had this confidence and passion. This is one of his strengths that makes him so great. Actually we are the silly ones for being so insecure. That's what success feels like.

[skepptix]

that has to be the most raw emotion i have ever seen in my life. I wish I could find something that gets me that pumped up, Kudos to you brother, you climbers are fucking insane. ❤

[keithprice]

As a non-climber that just looks like wizardry. That wall looks as smooth as marble. At certain points I can't even figure out when he's holding onto.

[thomaskositzki]

PERFECT FLOW.
I came close to that feeling a very few times bycicling under extreme circumstances. I still smile when I think back to those days.
May Adam remember this for the rest of his life. 🙂

[emobakalov]

9:36 the moment Smeagol finally gets the one ring back

[sirixis]

the raw emotion at the end of his climb was so powerful. i could NEVER imagine doing something like this. this man is the definition of keep on keepin on

[jefferypinley]

10:30 "It was just like alien power"
The truth finally comes out. He's not human

[InkcorperatedMusic]

I can only imagine the emotion presented in the end (9:35). That dude was the happiest guy ever for that moment in time. That's a life lesson, do what makes you happy.