Time for some Feats of Strength
March 16, 2018 11:07 AM Subscribe
On September 3rd, 2017, Adam Ondra became the first person to climb Silence, currently considered to be the most difficult rock climbing route in the world with a proposed rating of 5.15d / 9c. A 17 minute film by Bernardo Giménez documents Ondra's process and the successful climb (you can skip to the actual ascent at 10:56). Shortly thereafter, on October 22nd, Angela Eiter became the first woman to climb a route rated 5.15b / 9b and one of only three people in the world (including Ondra) to have completed that particular route, La planta de Shiva.
Yea, this guy is far from silent.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:21 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:21 AM on March 16, 2018
So I watched the whole climb and I'm still not sure which way gravity was pointing. I mean I have a guess from how the carabiners are hanging, but if I'm right then what I saw is clearly impossible.
posted by Nelson at 11:24 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 11:24 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
That happens to me too, honestly it's good and bad because it looks, weak word is weak, cool but damn do I wish I had a better perspective on my... perspective in those vids.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:27 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:27 AM on March 16, 2018
Yea, this guy is far from silent.
tbf if any of us tried it we'd make just as much noise, it would just end a lot quicker and more abruptly.
posted by howfar at 11:32 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
tbf if any of us tried it we'd make just as much noise, it would just end a lot quicker and more abruptly.
posted by howfar at 11:32 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I just want to know who the hell goes through and plants all those carabiners these people keep clipping their ropes to as they proceed along these absurdly impractical paths across the rock.
posted by egypturnash at 11:34 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 11:34 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
the fuck is with all the yelling?
I've never been a fan of sport climbing. I like when people begin at the bottom of things and climb up them, setting protection as they go. I've always felt having protection already install that one just clips into is cheating. I guess I'm just a purist. I like climbing that is self-contained.
That said, the skill and athleticism involved in something like this is beyond my ability to comprehend. There's a point where he sticks one shoe in a crack and releases all other points of contact and hangs upside down to, I guess rest, and it is probably one of the most impressive things I've ever seen anyone do.
posted by bondcliff at 11:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've never been a fan of sport climbing. I like when people begin at the bottom of things and climb up them, setting protection as they go. I've always felt having protection already install that one just clips into is cheating. I guess I'm just a purist. I like climbing that is self-contained.
That said, the skill and athleticism involved in something like this is beyond my ability to comprehend. There's a point where he sticks one shoe in a crack and releases all other points of contact and hangs upside down to, I guess rest, and it is probably one of the most impressive things I've ever seen anyone do.
posted by bondcliff at 11:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I am suddenly reminded that I was going to make a post about Mike Hoover.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:37 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by elsietheeel at 11:37 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just want to know who the hell goes through and plants all those carabiners these people keep clipping their ropes to as they proceed along these absurdly impractical paths across the rock.
For routes like this, that protection is usually placed by top-roped climbers, who rappel down from the top of the route and place the carabiners and slings and suchlike.
posted by scrump at 11:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
For routes like this, that protection is usually placed by top-roped climbers, who rappel down from the top of the route and place the carabiners and slings and suchlike.
posted by scrump at 11:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I also jumped straight to the ascent portion and thought it was being filmed at a weird angle, before realizing holy flying shit what is that guy doing and how did he manage to not break every ankle and knee he owns doing that?
Truly impressive. I assume the yelling is because it's just very, very hard to do what he's doing. I yell when I stub my toe, while I'm wearing shoes. He was resting while hanging upside-down from one foot he stuck in a crack in the rock.
posted by mrgoat at 11:40 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Truly impressive. I assume the yelling is because it's just very, very hard to do what he's doing. I yell when I stub my toe, while I'm wearing shoes. He was resting while hanging upside-down from one foot he stuck in a crack in the rock.
posted by mrgoat at 11:40 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yea, top rope guys come down on bombproof anchors and plant the protection nuts and/or drill into the rock.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not judging his noise making one iota. He's resting hanging upside down from a toe to knee jam, that's yoda levels of rock climbing right there.
Sidenote, if you think you might like it at all outdoor rock climbing is a helluva lot of fun. I only do toprope (aka, not planting protection as you go such that your risk of a bad fall is practically zero, sure you might bash a hand/head but you won't plummet 20+ feet) stuff but it's miles and miles better than indoor rock climbing. If the latter was go-kart racing then the latter would be Formula One, it's so much more intriguing and fun to me. What this guy is doing is like being an experimental air plane race pilot or something. Folks that do climbs without any rope or protection are the BASE/wingsuit jumpers of the sport, seriously.... different.
Thanks for the post, my first comment wasn't meant negatively.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:46 AM on March 16, 2018
And don't get me wrong, I'm not judging his noise making one iota. He's resting hanging upside down from a toe to knee jam, that's yoda levels of rock climbing right there.
Sidenote, if you think you might like it at all outdoor rock climbing is a helluva lot of fun. I only do toprope (aka, not planting protection as you go such that your risk of a bad fall is practically zero, sure you might bash a hand/head but you won't plummet 20+ feet) stuff but it's miles and miles better than indoor rock climbing. If the latter was go-kart racing then the latter would be Formula One, it's so much more intriguing and fun to me. What this guy is doing is like being an experimental air plane race pilot or something. Folks that do climbs without any rope or protection are the BASE/wingsuit jumpers of the sport, seriously.... different.
Thanks for the post, my first comment wasn't meant negatively.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:46 AM on March 16, 2018
There is a need for single take wide angle climb videos. Even if the climber is just a tiny dot, it helps put things in perspective.
In my twenties I hung out with a group that was into photography, rock climbing and entheogens. I was not a good climber and just a passable photographer, but I was good at carrying heavy stuff on very long hikes.
One time my friends spent weeks sleeping in a cave in a mountain and using hand tools to open a new route on a rock gave. I would haul food and cigarettes up the mountain every couple days and spend the night.
They would spend some 10 hours a day on the rock setting up anchors, starting from the bottom. The way they would do it would be to climb a few meters up an easy route and hand drill and hammer an anchor. Then they would use that anchor as a safety to climb some distance up the difficult route and set up another anchor. Repeat this for a couple of weeks and you end up with a few good routes.
A dog wandered into camp one day and became our friend. Once the rains started we would have to wait for the sun to dry up the wall before climbing. This is when the dog showed us it had an amazing ability to lead us to mushrooms in exchange of belly rubs. Rainy days were not wasted.
I forget where this story was going...
I think the important part is that once they finished setting up anchors they spent a many days just figuring out a single difficult overhang that took four moves to conquer. The route in the video is like miles and miles of this one overhang.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 11:48 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
In my twenties I hung out with a group that was into photography, rock climbing and entheogens. I was not a good climber and just a passable photographer, but I was good at carrying heavy stuff on very long hikes.
One time my friends spent weeks sleeping in a cave in a mountain and using hand tools to open a new route on a rock gave. I would haul food and cigarettes up the mountain every couple days and spend the night.
They would spend some 10 hours a day on the rock setting up anchors, starting from the bottom. The way they would do it would be to climb a few meters up an easy route and hand drill and hammer an anchor. Then they would use that anchor as a safety to climb some distance up the difficult route and set up another anchor. Repeat this for a couple of weeks and you end up with a few good routes.
A dog wandered into camp one day and became our friend. Once the rains started we would have to wait for the sun to dry up the wall before climbing. This is when the dog showed us it had an amazing ability to lead us to mushrooms in exchange of belly rubs. Rainy days were not wasted.
I forget where this story was going...
I think the important part is that once they finished setting up anchors they spent a many days just figuring out a single difficult overhang that took four moves to conquer. The route in the video is like miles and miles of this one overhang.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 11:48 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
This seems like a real world analogy of video games like Super Meat Boy, or vice versa; where failure and death doesn’t equate Game Over - instead it is the expected result, until you finally succeed.
posted by delegeferenda at 11:50 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by delegeferenda at 11:50 AM on March 16, 2018
the fuck is with all the yelling?
Part of it is psychological, part of it is to force a complete exhalation. Remembering to breathe through physically or technically difficult sections of a climb can often be the difference between success and failure.
I've never been a fan of sport climbing. I like when people begin at the bottom of things and climb up them, setting protection as they go. I've always felt having protection already install that one just clips into is cheating. I guess I'm just a purist. I like climbing that is self-contained.
As a sport climber, I agree with you to a point. I prefer using permanent bolts and bringing up my own draws rather than having permanent or pre-hung draws. But full-on traditional climbing tips the balance too far toward "needlessly dangerous" for me. I would probably enjoy traditional climbing with a (normally slack) top rope as a safety backup.
It may be worth pointing out for those less familiar that Ondra did indeed start at the ground. It's just that the first half of Silence is so comparatively easy (for a climber of his level!) that it would add needless runtime to the film. You can see a little of it at around 3:40.
posted by jedicus at 11:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Part of it is psychological, part of it is to force a complete exhalation. Remembering to breathe through physically or technically difficult sections of a climb can often be the difference between success and failure.
I've never been a fan of sport climbing. I like when people begin at the bottom of things and climb up them, setting protection as they go. I've always felt having protection already install that one just clips into is cheating. I guess I'm just a purist. I like climbing that is self-contained.
As a sport climber, I agree with you to a point. I prefer using permanent bolts and bringing up my own draws rather than having permanent or pre-hung draws. But full-on traditional climbing tips the balance too far toward "needlessly dangerous" for me. I would probably enjoy traditional climbing with a (normally slack) top rope as a safety backup.
It may be worth pointing out for those less familiar that Ondra did indeed start at the ground. It's just that the first half of Silence is so comparatively easy (for a climber of his level!) that it would add needless runtime to the film. You can see a little of it at around 3:40.
posted by jedicus at 11:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ohhh, I remember where the story was going!
My friends spent hundreds of hours scrounging money and hunting down second hand long focal length lenses. To take closeup pictures, from a parallel route or the ground, of bloody fingertips hanging on to gnarly one finger holds.
I had an 11mm lens, I was into wide angle close-up pictures of plants, fungi and bugs. Only at the very end did I use it to take pictures of the climbers, and it took me months to get them developed. They were some of my favorite climbing pictures.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 11:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
My friends spent hundreds of hours scrounging money and hunting down second hand long focal length lenses. To take closeup pictures, from a parallel route or the ground, of bloody fingertips hanging on to gnarly one finger holds.
I had an 11mm lens, I was into wide angle close-up pictures of plants, fungi and bugs. Only at the very end did I use it to take pictures of the climbers, and it took me months to get them developed. They were some of my favorite climbing pictures.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 11:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
That hands-free rest isn't just one foot.
It's a foot and a knee, jammed between two rock faces. Hence the padding on his knee.
I regularly hang from trapezes by a variety of limbs so I'll say that rest is possibly the easiest part of the climb. It's still fucking hardcore. The whole thing is insane.
posted by happyinmotion at 11:56 AM on March 16, 2018
It's a foot and a knee, jammed between two rock faces. Hence the padding on his knee.
I regularly hang from trapezes by a variety of limbs so I'll say that rest is possibly the easiest part of the climb. It's still fucking hardcore. The whole thing is insane.
posted by happyinmotion at 11:56 AM on March 16, 2018
Metafilter: the dog showed us it had an amazing ability to lead us to mushrooms in exchange of belly rubs.
posted by sammyo at 11:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 11:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
I've done some basic free and sport climbing and bouldering, maybe up to a 3 or edging on a 4 with some top rope belayed group climbs and rappels and well established routes. Nothing inverted or overhead, and no super tech two finger bloody knuckle crams, either. But tech enough to do some 50-100 foot cracks and chimneys in places like Joshua tree.
And this is just ridiculous and incomprehensible. I have never, ever seen that one foot/knee hold and rest before. I've seen a lot of dyno in caving and bouldering but that actually made me go "What the fuck!?" loud enough to startle the cat. I legitimately thought he lost his hold and was danging from his rope and harness.
And the move actually makes sense. That would be a very strong wedge hold if you could get the toes or ball of your foot and the top of your knee compressed like that. I can't help but think about how I sometimes do the same thing on, say, buses to wedge myself firmly into a seat.
I actually want to know what ridiculous name this move has, because it's climbing and they have ridiculous names for things.
posted by loquacious at 12:25 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
And this is just ridiculous and incomprehensible. I have never, ever seen that one foot/knee hold and rest before. I've seen a lot of dyno in caving and bouldering but that actually made me go "What the fuck!?" loud enough to startle the cat. I legitimately thought he lost his hold and was danging from his rope and harness.
And the move actually makes sense. That would be a very strong wedge hold if you could get the toes or ball of your foot and the top of your knee compressed like that. I can't help but think about how I sometimes do the same thing on, say, buses to wedge myself firmly into a seat.
I actually want to know what ridiculous name this move has, because it's climbing and they have ridiculous names for things.
posted by loquacious at 12:25 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I actually want to know what ridiculous name this move has, because it's climbing and they have ridiculous names for things.
Didn't you see above? It's a 'mushroom belly rub dog'.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:28 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
Didn't you see above? It's a 'mushroom belly rub dog'.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:28 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm curious, at the end, when he's hanging from the line, I assume that means he completed what he set out to do? Or is that a legit form of resting on a climb?
posted by maxwelton at 12:33 PM on March 16, 2018
posted by maxwelton at 12:33 PM on March 16, 2018
I'm curious, at the end, when he's hanging from the line, I assume that means he completed what he set out to do?
Yeah, that was the end. In theory the route could be extended to leave the cave entirely, but 1) it's already fairly long and so would probably have to be done as more than one section (called a 'pitch' in climbing), which means the belayer (the person holding the other end of the rope) would have to follow the lead climber to the start of the next section, and right now Ondra is the only person in the world that can manage that route; and 2) I suspect that the rest of the route would be trivial by comparison.
Basically the route consists of "get to the roof, do impossible things on the roof, climb just enough past the roof to establish that yep, you got out of the roof."
Or is that a legit form of resting on a climb?
Not for a first ascent like this, which requires a complete start-to-finish climb with no assistance from the rope, which is only there for safety (in climbing parlance this is called a redpoint climb). An even stricter version is "flash", where it's the climber's very first attempt but the climber has seen the route climbed or received instructions prior to climbing. Strictest of all is "on sight", where the climber completes the route in a single attempt without any prior information.
Resting on the rope is totally fine for recreational climbers or for competitive climbers that are trying to figure out ('projecting') a difficult route. Ondra spent months doing that before redpointing Silence.
posted by jedicus at 12:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, that was the end. In theory the route could be extended to leave the cave entirely, but 1) it's already fairly long and so would probably have to be done as more than one section (called a 'pitch' in climbing), which means the belayer (the person holding the other end of the rope) would have to follow the lead climber to the start of the next section, and right now Ondra is the only person in the world that can manage that route; and 2) I suspect that the rest of the route would be trivial by comparison.
Basically the route consists of "get to the roof, do impossible things on the roof, climb just enough past the roof to establish that yep, you got out of the roof."
Or is that a legit form of resting on a climb?
Not for a first ascent like this, which requires a complete start-to-finish climb with no assistance from the rope, which is only there for safety (in climbing parlance this is called a redpoint climb). An even stricter version is "flash", where it's the climber's very first attempt but the climber has seen the route climbed or received instructions prior to climbing. Strictest of all is "on sight", where the climber completes the route in a single attempt without any prior information.
Resting on the rope is totally fine for recreational climbers or for competitive climbers that are trying to figure out ('projecting') a difficult route. Ondra spent months doing that before redpointing Silence.
posted by jedicus at 12:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I actually want to know what ridiculous name this move has, because it's climbing and they have ridiculous names for things.Kneebar.
posted by kickingtheground at 12:56 PM on March 16, 2018
Kneebar.
Handegg? Drat, that's not as silly as I was hoping.
posted by loquacious at 2:06 PM on March 16, 2018
Handegg? Drat, that's not as silly as I was hoping.
posted by loquacious at 2:06 PM on March 16, 2018
So I watched the whole climb and I'm still not sure which way gravity was pointing. I mean I have a guess from how the carabiners are hanging, but if I'm right then what I saw is clearly impossible.
At about 14:00 he skips over clipping into a carabiner, and clips into the next one.
Does he have to go back and tag up for it to count? < /sarcasm >
posted by mikelieman at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018
At about 14:00 he skips over clipping into a carabiner, and clips into the next one.
Does he have to go back and tag up for it to count? < /sarcasm >
posted by mikelieman at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018
So now we know that if there's ever a superhero who combines Plasticman with Spiderman, the artist will have to learn to draw a chalk bag.
posted by chavenet at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I liked seeing Angela Eiter build a replica of La planta de Shiva at her hometown gym. That's some serious prep.
posted by michaelhoney at 3:39 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by michaelhoney at 3:39 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't care about rock climbing at all but that film was great. That last drone shot is breathtaking.
posted by SageLeVoid at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2018
posted by SageLeVoid at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2018
I like when people begin at the bottom of things and climb up them, setting protection as they go.
Yeah, what's he ever done on grit, eh?
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:59 PM on March 17, 2018
Yeah, what's he ever done on grit, eh?
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:59 PM on March 17, 2018
I like how the working title of this route was Project Hard. Seems appropriate.
I thought I'd skip right to the ascent part, but the preparation part of the documentary was actually my favourite. I have a bad habit at the climbing gym of giving up too easily - seeing the beginning was a good reminder that projecting is an important part of the sport.
posted by invokeuse at 8:52 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought I'd skip right to the ascent part, but the preparation part of the documentary was actually my favourite. I have a bad habit at the climbing gym of giving up too easily - seeing the beginning was a good reminder that projecting is an important part of the sport.
posted by invokeuse at 8:52 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oops, just noticed my link above was broken. It was supposed to go here.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 11:58 AM on March 21, 2018
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 11:58 AM on March 21, 2018
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posted by howfar at 11:15 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]