Adam Ondra tried on the „Salathé Wall“ on El Captain in Yosemite Onsight, but fails just in the „Headwall“. Adam boarded shortly after midnight with Nico Favresse and reached the first crux pitch in the headwall in the early morning, where he fell out in the upper part. After a second attempt, he fought for the power for a complete access. The famous route was partially artificially developed by Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, and Chuck Pratt in 1961. In 1988, Todd Skinner and Paul Piana successfully completed the first free ascent within 9 days. It was one of the first free-ascending routes on El Cap and with the difficulty (5.13b/ X-) at that time one of the hardest multi-pitch routes in the world.

Adam by Instagram: „Salathe was a dream of mine for a long time. A dream of just being up there, feeling the air and exposure of the „headwall“ (upper part of Salathe which is the crux), putting my hands into perfect cracks… And to onsight it. Some dreams came true yesterday, but the ultimate – the onsight is not fulfilled. And the nature of onsight is that it will never be fulfilled any more. It is only one try,  lots of pressure in case of such a legendary route like Salathe in Yosemite on El Capitan. Yesterday we started with amazing partner @nicofavresse at 00:01 AM, 7 AM we were up at the „Boulderproblem“, 8:30 AM at the Block, still onsighting all. At 1:30 PM we continued through Enduro and the roof and I failed to onsight Headwall pitch 1 in the upper part, on my second go I fell right at the anchor. No more energy to give another try.“

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: (c) Bernardo_Gimenez