Adam Ondra flashes El Elegido (Font 8B+) at La Pedriza
- Friday 31st January 2025
Never very far from the cutting edge Adam Ondra reports that he has just flashed another Font 8B+, El Elegido at La Pedriza.
Writing on his Instagram page, Adam Odra said that his long-awaited visit to La Pedriza has been very productive:
‘La Pedriza is an incredible crag in Spain 🇪🇸 featuring slab climbing, trad climbing and bouldering. It is a destination where I always wanted to go, but for some reason I never really went. Circumstances and bad weather everywhere made me go there this week and it was a great decision ✌️ I was treated by great friction and great company of @jlpalao_primo and Ruben Diaz 👊’
Although its graded Font 8B+/C, Adam has taken a personal grade of Font 8B+ saying:
‘I was able to flash El Elegido, which is an incredible boulder by @beto.rocosolano graded 8B+/C. It is possibly the bouldering flash ascent that I value the most, even though I probably can’t take the slash grade. Nevertheless, really happy about my current shape in bouldering and about this unforgettable ascent in rather special circumstances 😅 You will know better in the upcoming video on my YouTube channel👌’
The 20+ move boulder is hardest at the start - the first few moves are said to be worth Font 8B - whilst the remainder of the moves are easier and said to be worth Font 8A.
Known for his hard personal grading, Adam didnt take the slash grade on El Elegido; hopefully, the forthcoming video will explain just why not.
To wrap up the day Adam added a second hard bloc to his tally:
‘To finish the day, I was able to make FA of direct finish of Elemental that is probably still an 8B+, even though it might be a bit harder than El Elegido 💪 But I can imagine some people might find it actually easier☝️’
Previously Adam has made a number of flashes at this level including such notable blocs as Gecko Assis and Jade which he flashed back in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Whilst a number of other climbers – including such prominent boulderers as Daniel Wood, Jimmy Webb, Ned Feehally. Tomoa Narasaki, Kokoro Fujii, Florian Wietjes, Max Milne and Nicolai Užnik– have flashed blocs of this grade, only a handful of climbers which include Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert and our own Will Bosi have flashed multiple blocs of this grade. Will Bosi has now flashed several Font 8B+ blocs including Charizard, The Dagger, Gracelands and latterly Dune and Janja Sit.
To date, no-one has been able to flash a Font 8C boulder.