Video #1: BD athlete Adam Ondra bouldering in Fontainebleau, France from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.
Black Diamond athlete Adam Ondra has recently focused his energies to the world of bouldering, and the results have been stunning. This December, fresh off his second ascent of Gioia in Italy (at 8C+, one of the hardest boulder problems in the world), Adam set off for his first-ever visit to the iconic boulders of Fontainebleau, France.
We sent videographer Alvi Pakarinen down to Font to film Adam during his four-day trip, and he was on the scene for a slew of hard sends by Adam, including his stunning flash of Gekko Assis (8b+), one of the hardest flashes in history, on his last day in the forest.
Below is Video #1 of the three-part series Alvi edited together for us of Adam's trip, and follows Adam on his first couple of days in the forest as he discovers just how tricky and fickle Font climbing can be. Adam, though, is not one to get pushed around for too long and he quickly comes to form and rails off a series of 8A+ and 8Bs, including Sideways Daze (8B), Fata Morgana Bas (8A+, flash), Satan l'Helvéte (8B).
Check back soon for Videos #2 and #3 from Adam's historic visit to Fontainebleau.
Video #2: BD athlete Adam Ondra bouldering in Fontainebleau, France from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.
Black Diamond athlete Adam Ondra has recently focused his energies to the world of bouldering, and the results have been stunning. This December, fresh off his second ascent of Gioia in Italy (at 8C+, one of the hardest boulder problems in the world), Adam set off for his first-ever visit to the iconic boulders of Fontainebleau, France.
We sent videographer Alvi Pakarinen down to Font to film Adam during his five-day trip, and he was on the scene for a slew of hard sends by Adam, including his stunning flash of Gekko Assis (8b+), one of the hardest flashes in history, on his last day in the forest.
Here is Video #2 of the three-part series Alvi edited together for us of Adam's trip, and follows Adam as he boulders with one of the forest's true maestros, Jacky Godoffe (who is also a BD athlete). Jacky took Adam on a proper tour of some classics, including La Merveille (8A+) and C'etait Demain (8A, the first of its grade in the forest and FA'd by Jacky).
If you missed Video #1, watch it here: http://vimeo.com/35171521
Stay tuned for Video #3 (which has the Gekko Assis flash footage).
Adam wrote the following about the moments captured in Video #2:
"We went to Bas Cuvier parking where we had a meeting with the man of the forest: Jacky Godoffe. It was very inspiring to see him bouldering, being as psyched as ever even after so many years in the forest. I wanted to do some real classic and that is definitely La Merveille (8A). This is amazing prow with the high, but safe crux on the top. Jacky gave me some good beta and I flashed it! Funny thing was that when I latched the lip, I got just slopper a couple centimeters below the real jug and hung there for a second, having no clue what to do or if I was about to fall. From the ground, I might have seemed pretty relaxed and I heard Jacky as a spotter saying OK and going away. In that moment I squealed a desperate “No!“ and I felt that my spotter returned and I could stabilize myself again to do a final bump into the real jug. The end of the day was spent by trying C'etait Demain, the first 8A in the forest in 1984 and also established by Jacky. This was a hard one, and I spent about 20 tries on it, trying and trying again and getting desperately close to doing these two crux moves. Jacky tried with me and we had a plenty of fun, laughing at the precision and coordination this problem requires. In the end, I made it up this blank overhanging wall."
Video #3: BD athlete Adam Ondra bouldering in Fontainebleau, France from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.
Black Diamond athlete Adam Ondra has recently focused his energies to the world of bouldering, and the results have been stunning. This December, fresh off his second ascent of Gioia in Italy (at 8C+, one of the hardest boulder problems in the world), Adam set off for his first-ever visit to the iconic boulders of Fontainebleau, France.
We sent videographer Alvi Pakarinen down to Font to film Adam during his five-day trip, and he was on the scene for a slew of hard sends by Adam.
Here is Video #3 of the three-part series Alvi edited together for us of Adam's trip, and this one capture‘s Adam's flash of Gekko Assis (8B+), one of the hardest flashes in history, on his last day in the forest.
If you missed Video #1, watch it here: http://vimeo.com/35171521
If you missed Video #2, watch it here: http://vimeo.com/35329118
Adam wrote the following about the moments captured in Video #3:
"After restday, we woke up into still and foggy conditions, but it was obvious that the fog must diminish soon and the sun will show up on the sky. Warm up in Bas Cuvier was an incredible joy, doing the first 6A (Marie Rose) and 7A (Joker) in a sunny morning was a true pleasure. Kheops assis was ticked off in a couple of tries. I went to L'Apparemment low start, an 8B in Apremont sector. This is truly incredible problem with insane typical-Font topoput. I had some problems, especially wet footholds at the beginning, but after an hour it was done. Just next to it, there was one more 8B, La pierre philosophale by Fred Nicole. A roof with hard fingerlocks, it was too much for the end of the day, Jacky was true claiming that this is one of the hardest roofs in Font.
One last day. My goal for the season was to flash an 8B+, but within autumn having too many projects, I abandoned this idea and gave it up for the year. But one problem came on my mind, Gecko. My friend Andrej Chrastina told me about it 5 years ago, when I did bouldering very rarely. Andrej was persuading me to go to Font to try this problem, saying that it would fit my style very well. A last day of climbing of 2011... why not give it a try to fulfill my goal of the year? All the other goals for the year I had already managed to fulfill (excluding competitions).
The day didn't start in the best way: after cleaning the gite and getting lost and searching for the bloc in the wood from a different parking, we arrived in the sector a little while after noon, already tired after the beginning of the day and after the climbing the previous day. I took some warm up, not feeling very well, but having a lot of psych thanks to cold conditions. I tried to remember the video from the previous night, asked my friends to clean the holds that I couldn't reach from the pads and I set off. First two moves were OK, then it was very hard to move left heel to the left. I was very close to falling, feeling that I was loosing a balance for a moment, but somehow I stayed on the rock. There is a one thing that I really love in climbing: heel hooking. And the rest of the problem is about awkward heelhooks and I felt pretty solid. The last hard movement I shrieked, but I was almost sure I would do it. I felt unstoppable at that very moment.
Concrening the grade I am not very sure, I would love to claim that I flashed an 8B+, but I am awkward to admit that I could climb that well. Considering the effort and how (not) fresh I felt, I can't agree with 8B+, at least for my height. Or was I really in such a good shape, especially when all the other repetitions had confirmed the grade of 8B+? I wish I were, but my own subjective feeling tells me something else.
The rest of the day we spent in Cuisiniere, where I had to climb Karma, the world-famous 8A. And despite humidity, mission completed. Duel, another famous 8A, seemed like an ideal end of the year, but I had to admit defeat in that humidity. Doesn't matter, the year 2011 was successful enough to make me feel satisfied and this trip will be definitely immense source of motivation for the next year.
Font is an incredible place and the beauty of climbing there was even better than I had hoped. It is definitely, the best bouldering area I have ever visited."
