Adam Ondra climbing Qui, the Stefan Fürst masterpiece at Geisterschmiedwand

This video is called Adam's Nightmare, because for over 10 years the Czech climber made his way sporadically to Geisterschmiedwand in Austria for one route only: Qui. As reported, this line was first ascended by the extremely tall, strong and little-known Tyrolean climber Stefan Fürst way back in 1996. For 23 years the route withstood all onslaughts, until on 19 September 2019 Ondra finally claimed the first repeat. No more nightmares now.



Adam Ondra's 2012 description of Qui 9a (1st redpoint Stefan Fürst 1996, Geisterschmiedwand, Austria)
The hardest route on this outstanding wall but which is not friendly for trying hard routes because it's notoriously wet despite being exposed to the sun from 9am onwards, which means the only time to try it is early in the morning. Stefan worked hard on this route: Qui climbs the crux of Wagnis Orange, arguably the world's second 8c (although initially graded 8b+) first ascended by Gerhard Hörhager in 1988. After first 10 meters of Wagnis and at least 8b+ climbing you keep going straight upwards instead of out right. Those 10 meters pump you out, everything is on bad crimps and slopers and the rests are poor. As you leave Wagnis you get to a poor rest and take a look at the heinous boulder above your head: tiny crimpy sidepulls at their very best. I spent 5 days on this route and I was in very good shape as I was crushing all the other 9a's very fast, but failed, breaking a crucial foothold on the last day. Something might have broken soon after Stefan's ascent, but after my break the route will surely not be less than hard 9a+. In any case, it is unrepeated.

Info: www.adamondra.com, Instagram Adam Ondra, www.lasportiva.com, Black Diamond