Nach Jakob Schubert Ende letzten Jahres, kann sich nun auch Adam Ondra über eine Begehung der Chris Sharma Route „Neanderthal“ (9b) im spanischen Klettergebiet Santa Linya freuen. Der Ausdauerhammer von Chris Sharma mit über 100 Zügen stammt aus dem Jahr 2009 und war eine der ersten 9b-Routen weltweit. Adam Ondra begann sich schon im Jahr 2011 mit der Route zu beschäftigen und kehrte jeweils für einige Tage in der Jahren 2015 und  2017 zurück. Außerdem gelang ihm in Santa Linya noch die 7. Begehung der Route „Catxasa“ (9a+), welche ebenso von Chris Sharma erschlossen wurde.

Adam dazu bei Instagram: „There are not many routes that I can tell about that I really hated then at certain point. But Nenderthal was definitely one of them. Not because the route is of bad quality, just because how many times I failed again and again. Getting over it and finally suceeding was a huge lesson. 2015 – tried for like a week, and found out I just could not the dyno from the ground. It felt too had with two fingers in the pocket, and I had no idea how to squeeze my 3 fat fingers in. 2017 – I found better kneebars, figured out how to squeeze my fat fingers into the pocket and stuck the dyno on day one of the trip!! Only to fall off from the nohand-rest above because a foothold broke. Then, I tried for 5 more days, but never had good conditions or I was just too weak. Second trip of that year I got sick. 2019 – Short trip and second-last day of the trip I stuck the dyno and fell higher again, due to brutal flash pump this time. Last day of the trip, first try falling of the dyno again, sun is slowly coming, I need to go fast. Now, or yet another season. It was an epic try, but hell – it felt good to be in the sun at the anchor.