Adam Ondra talks about his flash on Super Crackinette (F9a+)
- Monday 12th February 2018
Feb 12th; 2018
Adam Ondra has described his incredible flash of Super Crackinette in St Leger on Black Diamond’s Facebook page.
Adam on Super Crackinette. Photo Bernardo Gimenez
Like many top climbers, Adam Ondra is acutely aware that candidate routes suitable for hard on-sights or flash attempts should be savoured. Ideal routes for on-sight attempts should be more resistance-based climbing rather than out-and-out cruxy or knacky. This is perhaps less so if going for a flash but then the quality of the beta you have comes into play and that is dependent on the climber(s) that the beta comes from.
It appears that Adam first saw Super Crackinette a couple of years ago and thought that it looked like a good route to try and flash. Fanatic Climbing (here), already covering Adam’s visit to St Leger and hence were able to report on Adam’s flash, describe the route in some detail. “This very sustained route has no well defined crux, but rather consists of a 25-30 move resistance and finger intensive effort on a big overhang. The hardest sequence is just before linking into ‘Crackinette’ and you need to fight until the end, where there’s an awkward 8b+ crack with low-percentage moves.” The original Crackinette (F8b+) was bolted by Laurent Triay; subsequently Quentin Chastagnier bolted the direct start to give Super Crackinette. Fanatic Climbing also report that it took Alex Megos three days to do the first ascent of Super Crackinette.
Despite being unsure Adam committed to the flash attempt during his latest trip to St Leger. His plan was to use beta from Quentin Chastagnier and hence he arranged for Bernardo Gimenez to film his attempt. That attempt, as we now know, was successful.
Adam has been looking to flash an F9a+ for some time. Previously he flashed Southern Smoke Direct in the Red River Gorge and although this was originally graded F9a+ Adam himself suggested the down-grade to F9a after his flash. Adam had also tried to flash Biographie and Seleccio Anal but fell on those attempts. Super Crackinette, originally climbed last year by Alex Megos, appears to be the real deal.
Adam describes the whole process in considerable detail on Black Diamond’s Facebook Page. There’s no doubt that he’s (rightly) delighted with his achievement; “Getting to the anchor was really emotional and I see this 9a+ definitely as one of the best accomplishments that I have ever done.”
Grab a coffee and get the full write-up from the man himself on Black Diaomond's FB page here…