Adam Ondra climbs Corona 9a+ in the Frankenjura

A couple of days ago Adam Ondra managed to repeat Corona, the hardest route in Germany's Frankenjura, freed by local Markus Bock in October 2006 and graded UIAA 11+, or French 9a+. Ondra required his usual "lightening fast" courtship to get to grips with the route: using a different sequence to Bock, Ondra needed a mere 8 attempts for this first repeat, on a rainy day at the start of June. After having repeated Open Air at the Schleierwasserfall by Alexander Huber and Papichula at Oliana by Chris Sharma, Ondra has now sent his third 9a+ and, as it happens, all are first repeats. We've got a special bird's eye view from the photographer Vojtech Vrzba...


Adam & Corona as seen through the lens of Vojtech Vrzba
" We arrived to Germany on Saturday morning and it was sunny. Once we passed Gössweinstein it started to rain:( Adam warmed up on the route Winseltitte UIAA 9 (7c) in Rabenstein, which is on the opposite side of Corona in the same Ailsbachtal valley. We then moved to the Burn for you crag, where Adam placed all the quickdraws on Corona, cleaned the holds and repeated all the moves. It was still raining but the friction - according to him - was great. I jumared up my fixed rope which I'd hung from the top of Burn4U and got ready to take pictures.

Corona starts up Burn for you (Burn 4U, 11-) then and after 10 moves breaks right to the crux section, about 6 moves which would be FB8B without any rest. The finish then consists of circa 15 moves, roughly French 8b.

None of us really thought Adam would send it "first" go. But he did! It was amazing as I saw him only through my lens, I didn't even know what kind of moves he was about to make. He himself didn't think he'd be able to climb 9a+ in the rain. But all went so smooth, it looked easy and Adam didn't even scream at the top as he does after sending a hard route.

He then let Markus Bock know via an sms and Markus replied congratulating him and suggesting Pantera 11 (9a) next. That very afternoon Adam attempted Pantera and he almost sent it on Sunday morning but he fell off the very last move after the bouldery crux. He didn't have any skin left on his fingers so he kept the route for his next visit and also for better conditions as there were heavy showers throughout all of Sunday.

As Adam had promised on Saturday, he returned to Corona for a photo session. I didn't want him to lose all his skin and he looked tired as well so 2 tries for each move were enough for both of us. He couldn't even repeat the hardest moves so he was happy he sent it day earlier. This was what convinced Adam that Corona is really 9a+."
Vojtech Vrzba