Ondra again demonstrated his exceptionality. He was the first to free climb Macocha
Again he came up with something new and again pushed the boundaries of the possible. Brno climber Adam Ondra managed a free climb of the Macocha chasm in the Moravian Karst. It is the highest, longest and steepest overhang in the Czech Republic. “Macocha, with its 138 meters of depth, is an incredible challenge for climbers, and from the bottom of the cave vault it has never been climbed freely,” Ondra described in a recording for the media.
Adam Ondra was the first to successfully climb the Macocha chasm.
| Photo: © Adam Ondra, author: Petr Chodura
His feat is also exceptional in that, due to nature conservation, you can only enter the abyss with a special permit and only five days a year. “Usually in December when it freezes, which is the only time the vault dries out enough. The rock is condensed most of the year because the cold air of the cave and the warm air from the surroundings collide on the rock and make it unclimbable,” explained the 29-year-old climber.
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According to him, the Macocha vault has been technically climbed since the seventies of the last century, when they not only made sure they were safe, but also used it to go up. “So far, she has resisted all adepts to lie down freely. It was only in 2015 that Dušan Janák and Jan Straka began to attempt its free climb, and they only succeeded in the so-called AF style. This means that they did all the steps, but only free-climbed between the individual belays. They didn’t climb the individual lengths in one piece between the so-called stands, which are places where the police are better or where you can stand well, that’s where the climbers stop,” Ondra described.
For his climb, he chose the Příklepový strop route, which was created in 1986 by a group around the important Moravian climber and first ascent Pavel Weisser. They also chose Janák and Straka here. “My goal was originally to climb the so-called onside style, i.e. a route without changing the length, to try to climb each one on the first try. Unfortunately, I did not succeed, I needed two attempts for both the first and the second length. Even so, this is a very valuable performance for me,” said Ondra, multiple world and European champion in difficulty climbing and bouldering.
In challenging conditions, he climbed probably the largest, longest and most overhanging rock in the Czech Republic. “In my opinion, the wall is roughly 120 meters and the overhang may be up to 70 meters, which in the Czech context has absolutely no period. The first two lengths are graded 8b+,” he added.
He also described that hedging does not inspire much confidence. “Old staples and very unreliable rivets have been there since the 1980s, which all adds to the moral challenge. It was a great adventure and I appreciate this journey very much. I hope that I will visit Macocha for example next year to find a possibly significantly more difficult route, because the potential is definitely still there. The rock is big and I’ve found some line that will be undeniably harder than the Hammer Ceiling,” promised Ondra’s return.
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The sixth man of the combination at the Olympic Games in Tokyo already climbed the most difficult route in the Czech Republic at the end of November, which is called Zvěřinec and is located in the Lidomorna sector of Holštejn in the Moravian Karst. This feat ranks him second in his career just behind the first 9c route in the world called Silence, which he conquered in Norway in 2017.