OPEN INTERVIEW to ... ADAM ONDRA

[9b]

" Es como de otro planeta ".
( It's as if he's from another planet ).

Dani Andrada dixit.

All climbers know who is Adam Ondra.
His palmares at 8a.nu ( routes and boulders ), at his age, is just crazy.

" It's finished for us guys ! This kid is the new school " Tony Lamiche said at Melloblocco.
He is re-defining sport climbing standards.
And breaking barriers.

Adam is also an open minded person, so he accepted a different kind of interview.
Why different ?
Because, WE, climbers, climbing journalists AND NOT, we all can ... write here our questions for him !

I was so happy when reading his following words:
" I totally agree with your questions and questions from you readers. That is for sure good idea to ask what climbers want to know. "
Thank You Adam :-) !

Lot of cooperative and partecipative power occurs to interview Adam, so, what would YOU ask to him ?

No problem if You are a 10-15 years old climber: You can write here Your questions, may be Yours will be the best ones !

Please, in order to help Adam, just give a number to Your questions between others, thanks.


(Adam on Martin Krpan 9a, Misja Pec)


Let's start.

Dear Adam,

first of all, THANK YOU !

here are my questions.

To answer the questions, You can register here, take Your profile as a kind of "pre-interview" and then write Your answers directly on comments' space of this post .

You can choose everything:

- the questions You like to answer or not
- when write Your answers
- if write all the answers together or not (may be the best is 1 answer a day, then another answer another day and so on).

It's totally up to You.

"WHY SO STRONG" questions:

1 - for sure You are a climbing wizard, do You like to be called " Harry Potter " :-) ?

2 - Which are Your secrets ? How did You improve so fast ?

3 - Cleverness, technical skills, weight, training, power of mind, travelling, age, ... etc, God ? :-): can You try to give a value, if not a percentage, to the various components, to explain us Your performances ?

4 - How is Your training ? Is it true that You don't use neither hanging board nor pan gullich ?

5 - How would You suggest to other climbers to train to have some good results ?

Adam Ondra in Spain ||| February 07
Caricato da jardcs

(Adam in Catalunya, Spain, 2007)


6 - Pete O'Donovan wrote about a new "dynamic technique": not just the " odd lunge, but move after move of calculated and accurate dynos ": what do you think about it ?
In Your opinion, is this so effective to minimize power expenditure ?

7 - On La Rambla, in order to reduce rope-drag, You missed out several of the clips on the upper section, risking big falls if You came off: it seems You like the “climb more clip less “ style :-) ! Isn'it ?

8 - Recently, You onsighted "The snatch" (7c) a serious highball in Cresciano: how do You fight (and win ...) against Your fears and risks ?

"TRAVELLING & languages CLIMBING " questions:

9 - I see You are a " traveller climber ": how much is important to travel for Your climbing ?

10 - Did You know many foreigner climbers in Your climbing travels ? How was Your feeling with them, their culture and languages ?

(Adam in Santa Linya, Spain, speaking with Chris Sharma and climbing "Fuck the system", 9a)

11 - How much is important for You and Your climbing practicing foreigner languages ?


"Past, present, FUTURE" questions:

12 - Do You know some of the climbing pioneers and legends ? Which inspire You the most ? Why ?

13 - Which are the climbers in the world who are now inspiring and impressing You the most ? Why ?

14 - You recently said: “definitely todays hardest routes are far below the human maximum”, then I read You think is possible to climb 9c after work and 9a onsight.
In which way You imagine a 9c route ?
Which grade do You think is possible to reach in bouldering ?
In sport multipitches ?


( "final" boulder, 7c+/8a, on the outdoor bouldering competition Hudy Boulder Cup 2007)

15 - You said now You would like to climb some bouldery 9as and we see You are " training " (!?) on super fast super hard boulder ascents, in Melloblocco too:

After Action Directe and other bouldery 9a routes, which other routes are You interested to climb ? Biographie-Realization ? Coupe de grace ? Neanderthal ? Akira ? Ali Hulk sit start ? Chilam Balam ? Which other routes are You dreaming ? (updated sep. '08: Jumbo love ? :-)
Or You prefer to open a new project from Yours close to Your house ?

16 - What do You think about the proposal to share and confirm a 9b route ? ;-)

17 - I read You said: “ Terribly hard is to compare endurance routes with bouldery ones, so one cannot compare Moravian Karst and Spain too much. Generally I think following:
in Spain you need only power and knowledge of how to depump on a jug (some better technique makes it only a bit easier).
In the Frankenjura you need brutal power (a lot more than in Spain), you have to figure out how to climb it.
And in Karst you need power, learn how to climb it and in addition you have to be able to stand on slippery footholds.
In the conclusion it looks that you feel the same in every route with the only difference - in Spain you do on 2nd attempt, in Jura on 10th one, in Karst on 20th.. ":
if You do two routes of the "same" grade and to climb the first one You need 2 tries (updated nov. 08), the second one 20 tries ... I guess the second route is ... harder than the first one ... is it right ? One million dollars question ...


("Sanjski par", 9a, Misja pec, Slovenia)

18 - What about vertical, technical, fingerpower "old school" walls ?
May You write here Your sensations about La Rambla and " La Via de l'Alzina " (the 8b route You tried to on-sight after You climbed La Rambla) ?

19 - Which is the best rock You saw and/or climbed ?

" PERSONAL" questions:

20 - at the beginning, how was born Your desire to climb ?

21 - And now ? Can You explain why climbing is so fun for You ? Which is the most important thing in Your climbing ?

22 - Which are Your main interests if not sport ?

23 - You are a student: what do You learn from the rock that school doesn't teach You ?

Adam Ondra Zatopek
Caricato da berlang

(Adam on Zatopek, 8b+, Grotta dell'Areonauta, Italy)

24 - If You really would have the magic wand:
would You just climb all the time ?
Which place on earth You would choose to go live and climb ?
Or You would prefer just travel around the world ?

25 - Is there someone special You want to thank for helping You in reaching Your climbing goals ? How much were/are important Your parents and/or family to realize Your goals ?

26 - Would You like to visit some crags here around in Lombardia ?


The "final" route, european championships, Prague, 18 mai 2008



So, Adam,

that's all from me:
many questions, I know, too many if added to questions from others, but You are totally free to select the questions You like to answer OR NOT and take all Your time, MONTHS too :-)

Thank You again.

If You like, for sure You can upload here some other photos from Yours.
Sorry for my poor questions and my bad english.

Thanks in advance also to all cooperative and partecipative climbers for their questions.

Anybody who likes to translate this interview in other languages is welcome.
Just write in the comments space Your translations.

If You want to put this interview in Your sites or blogs ... of course, You can do it: please, just put the link to this 9b source, thanks !


Ciao from Italy !
:-)

P.s. photos from Mr. Petr Piechowicz, thank You Petr !

[Marcelo Rosa]

27- I believe that the development to become a good climber can help us to develop in personal and professional (in case you are not a professional climber) life. I think all the characteristics of a good climber as confidence, security, training, discipline,... when given the correct attention can lead us to improvements in life outside of climbing. It's amazing to see a young climber such as good as you. How do you feel that climbing affected your personality and life in general?

[9b]

"Climb as much as possible outdoors":

[Adam Ondra]

Hi readers of this web! I have finally taken some time to answer on a few questions...

1 - for sure You are a climbing wizard, do You like to be called " Harry Potter " :-) ?
I does not really matter me, but i cannot say that I am super super happy for having this nickname... I am not copy, I am original :-))) (joking) Fortunately nobody have ever told me:"Hey Harry, how are you? I am Voldemort and I will kill you..."

2 - Which are Your secrets ? How did You improve so fast ?
I would not say I have bocome better fast. I have been getting stronger more or less the same level a year since I was 8. In my early steps in climbing I climbed just onsights and sometimes 10 routes a day.

3 - Cleverness, technical skills, weight, training, power of mind, travelling, age, ... etc, God ? :-): can You try to give a value, if not a percentage, to the various components, to explain us Your performances ?
Wow, impossible to say. I think the most important is being "mad" to climbing. You have to really love climbing, otherwise you wil give up with climbing after some time.

4 - How is Your training ? Is it true that You don't use neither hanging board nor pan gullich ?
Yeah, I train just in winter on small bouldering walls. The only exception when I go climbing indoor is time before Europen Youth Series and Youth World Championship.

5 - How would You suggest to other climbers to train to have some good results ?
If they start climbing, to climb many easy routes on the rocks on sight to get good technique. It is hard to get tecnique when you can do 10 one-arm pull-ups. Better to train power later. For exceptional climber it is hard to advise. It depens on what you want train. But for sure it is important to have some base.

[9b]

Original love for climbing.
" Train less climb more" :-)

Thank You Adam.

[Adam Ondra]

Another three questions...
6 - Pete O'Donovan wrote about a new "dynamic technique": not just the " odd lunge, but move after move of calculated and accurate dynos ": what do you think about it ? In Your opinion, is this so effective to minimize power expenditure ?
Well, I have such feelings that Wolfgang Gullich had already said something very similar like Pete. I suppose if this will even ever happen, it must be route which you would work for whole life on! Gullich achived of this in Action Directe (he climbed 50 seconds a hold two finger pockets rather just by one finger because it was faster), but on low level. Pushing it on higher level would mean to climb untill you get mad. I am not sure if something is even capable of it. Anyway, using it on that lower level (it means spending shorter on the wall and being less pumped) is useful in my opinion.

7 - On La Rambla, in order to reduce rope-drag, You missed out several of the clips on the upper section, risking big falls if You came off: it seems You like the “climb more clip less “ style :-) ! Isn'it ?
:-) It has several big adventages! You are less pumped, and if you fell, you wou would have at least some experience in resemblance of that fall! Great, isn't?
These routes have adventages that they are so steep that it cannot happen you anything though you can fall 20 meters.

8 - Recently, You onsighted "The snatch" (7c) a serious highball in Cresciano: how do You fight (and win ...) against Your fears and risks ?
Hard to say. When I am on the rock, I feel fear rarely, when I know it is safe. The best thing is to enjoy safe runouts. I do not climb really dangerous stuffs, it is not worth of it. I am not big fan of free soloing and such stuffs. You can feel brave and feel no fear, everything is OK, you feel like master of world, but just untill the time something will happen... Hard to say if we should admire these people...

To Marcelo Rosa: I think you are right. I think I learnt from climbing to concentrate on certain goal and sacrifice myself for it. To stand stiffer on floor.

[9b]

Some other answers from Adam.

[Massimo Acerbis]

Ciao Adam
jak se mate ?

first question
do you think there are enough girl in the climbing community ?

[Massimo Acerbis]

during your climbing days do you spend time with people of your age ?

[Massimo Acerbis]

what climbers (present , past of future, famous or unknown) are of most inspiration to you ?

[Massimo Acerbis]

which are you favourite climbing places in Czech ?
anywhere to recommend ?