Greatest Rock Climber VS. World's Hardest Crack Climbing

This is Adam Ondra, the world's best rock climber, who has sent the hardest routes, the most difficult big walls, and been world champion. And this is us, the Wide Boyz, who over the last 15 years have been on a mission to establish and repeat all the hardest crack climbs across the globe. In recent years, our cellar, where we have trained for these climbs, has become internationally known within the climbing community. And over time, whispers of how would Adam Ondra do in the Wide Boyz cellar have turned into an internet takeover to try and get him there. Would he flash all our projects? Last move, come on, go big. Could he climb the world's hardest off width? And did he know his Wide Pony from his paddle jam? We're about to find out. What are you hoping to get out of today? I'm really hoping to get better in crack climbing and learn some new techniques, that's for sure. That's the primary reason I'm here. Besides, I'm definitely sure that it's gonna be a lot of fun with these two guys. So this cellar has been added to over the years, and the original bit that we're in now was the first bit that we built. We made the century crack replica. So this one here is a hand fist. Then we built the wider one here, which is double fist, just in case we found that it was wider than we thought. And then the other thing that we built in the original off-widthing days was the Hastinator, which you practice doing chicken wings and arm bars. Also, this easy hand crack across the roof. That's the warm up. Yeah, like a nice way to warm up. And nothing's safe as well. So always presume that something might break. Oh! Look at that! One just broke. We built this crack. We built it through here, and it's sort of like curved down to the right there. And we built it for thin hands and parallel hands training. As the house got extended, the cellar got extended, and we were able to venture into a new room down there. Yeah, that's where the flexing volume is. Yeah. I've seen a section of video when you were trying it. We actually set this as a slight replica of Change. You know what Adam does on Change? I can see it. This is Change. Crack. Change drop knee like that. I don't really know. Like Change, like where the fuck there is a monofinger lock? I don't know. But there's a drop knee. Can you see the drop knee in between here? Can you see any drop knees? Change's drop knee in a corner. In a corner. I'm genuinely shocked. I thought you'd come down here and go, this looks just like Change. Yeah. Yeah, Change is like just opposing edges. We got that wrong, Tom. The whole project that we haven't done is linking this into the pleasure loop, down the crook's boulder problem in a specific sequence, and then out to century crack. The project breaks down into five sections and incorporates a full range of difficult crack climbing techniques. Section one is the 7c mono boulder problem, a burly and powerful boulder on brutal monos. With no rest, you then blast into section two. Here, you can either take the pleasure loop at 7c, which is longer, pleasurable, but significantly more pumpy, or you bypass this with a short, but very difficult and droppable 7b plus boulder. Section three is the paddle hands crooks. There are three options. Option one is a 7b plus and uses feet in the crack. Option two at 7c plus uses the regular footholds and option three at 8a plus eliminates all the large footholds, making it extremely powerful on the paddle. Section four is easier as you use restful hand jams to link you into the off width room. And if you weren't tired enough, section five takes in some finishing laps on the century crack off width simulator. The idea with today's session is to show Adam all the individual sections of the big project and teach all the different techniques and tricks that are involved with it. We'll see how he gets on, then look at trying some longer links or climbing the full line. Definitely need these today. Yeah. Smashing on, let's get cracking. If you want the crack gloves that Adam is wearing, we're doing a special discount for a limited time only. All the details in the video description. Yeah, I'm just really excited how much technique I will be lacking and how hard it's gonna be and how much it will just come naturally. You know, I haven't really done that much crack climbing in my life, but since I was a little kid, like the hand jamming, for example, like somehow felt really natural from the beginning for me. And the beta, you mostly climb like this? Yeah, you can swim, so leading with one hand, or you can just march with your hands. How do you decide when to switch from here to here? Sometimes like the offset of the crack is quite useful to do that. Yeah, for sure. Like when it's trending right where it's probably it's better to go like this, yeah. And if you do a long move, you nearly always do it with swimming style. Cruising. Yeah, and then we spin. So this is the crack you spent one hour on? Yeah. Yeah, spin, yeah. I say yeah. Yeah, I say yeah. Nice, Adam. Nice. Good. The first time we've had a visitor that's flushed down and back. So do you know anything about O-grades? So the O-grade scale is named after you, and it's a- It doesn't stand for old. It doesn't stand for old, no, otherwise it'd be named after me. What it is, is it's a seller grading system that we came up with, because no one will really come down here and confirm anything that we do. So we just imagined what you would do on a crack and then grade it for whether you do something flash, O-0. If it takes you one session to do it, O-1. Two sessions, O-2. So we've graded everything in this cellar in an O-grade. Now we're quietly wondering whether you do them in what we think. How do you feel about the O-grading system? Do you think it's got potential? Honestly, I don't think so. Oh, that hurt, that really hurt. Maybe by the end of the day, we'll convince you. Yeah, I think you'll warm into it. All right, let's see. Next up was the five-inch horizontal off-width roof crack. We wanted to show the techniques used for this style of crack in preparation for a full attempt at the sentry crack simulator later on in the session. And you're just always sliding hard with that front of the roof. And I tend to change the order of my palm each time. So, right palm now, I'll come up with the left palm. Okay. And it just means the transition's a tiny bit easier. In this position, you're not working, so like this hand is more or less flat. Pretty much in this size. You're not like working with your thumb, yeah. Other way with the foot, yeah. That's good, shuffle more. Like that? Yeah, bring the left foot in. Left foot in, into the last box. Yeah, see that? Nicely done. Found that okay? Yeah, still tiring for your shins anyway, even the white pony. I think, yeah, making more laps, I would definitely start getting pretty tired. I mean, I was really curious, what is the perfect technique for the sentry crack? Now I know it. I'm glad for that. Are you psyched to give it a go now? Like the simulator or the real thing? Either. Both. So second wide thing, Hassinator. So easiest one, first of all, is the chicken wing. Yeah. Other foot in. Yeah. Adam, does that feel like a technique that you'd like to use? On the comps, most. I hope the route setters are listening. Love to see it in the comps. I'm sure that even if you said like sentry crack, just one way there, it would be really hard for most of the competitors. Yeah, yeah. I feel like that has been a perfect warmup to now like the bit more of the meat. And now we'll start going down to some bad sizes, like paddle hands. Okay. See how we get on that and then start to like learn the crux sections of the projects. Warmup done. Now we're onto some climbing. We've got the paddles. Feels all right as a handhold. I'm more afraid that the feet are not going to work really well. I would like jam it as deep as possible and then just work with my thumb. One little trick with this. So there's like two ways of doing it. Like, well, the first thing is we're obviously like pushing really hard with the fingers, which is the paddle. And then we're tucking our thumb in. But sometimes what you can do is you can actually bend this front finger like this and that finger. You have a little bit more space to put the thumb. Yeah, exactly that position. A little bit of a crux coming through the doorway. And feet are key. Just keep thinking feet on this one. Nice, come on Adam. Yeah, really good. So trying to climb this thin crack where putting the feet is so crucial. I feel like these shoes are slightly too small. My toes are too bunched. So I want to heat the shoes up to make them feel bigger. And hopefully it will result in my toes being more straight and this part of the shoe being more narrow so I can like dig deeper with my feet inside the crack. I don't think I've done it myself before, but. Yeah, yeah, good, good, yes. Yes, come on. Go on Adam. Yeah, good. Yeah, that's it. Touch the volume. Yeah, that's good, that's good. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, good. Yes, good. Squeeze, yeah. Squeeze it right against that black hole as well. It's a little bit of an advantage in that. Yeah, that's it. Come on. Oh yeah, yeah. As I like drop my knee, it kind of starts getting out. Yeah. It might be worth almost at this stage using a combination of jams and footholds. Okay, so because Adam's shoes are a little bit crunched up like this, we're going to move on from feet jamming in the crack and we're going to use niblet footholds. Your bicycle clamp, this pink. So a toe on one side and then there's this tiny little edge and then for your feet, all you get is this and this to the finish. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, good. Come on. Squeeze it, squeeze it. Ha. Good effort. Yeah, I think this looks actually pretty promising. So what I'll do is I'll teach you the link sequence into it because it's quite a hard bit into it and then you can have another go of finishing it through. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't go straight. No, no. And on that toe clamp on here, actually literally just toe clamp this and not like the whole. Got it. Okay. So basically once you get the right toe hook on the black one, it's like desperate step in here. Yeah, it's a hard move that one. Yeah. Yeah, good. Yeah, that's what I mean. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, more like that. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, good. Come on, squeeze it. Yeah, yeah, good. Yeah, that's it. That was good. So on this foothold here. Yes. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. Yeah, that's it. Perfect. Come on. Yeah. Okay. Good, good. Next try. Come on, come on. Yes. Good, good, that's it. Last move, come on. Go big, come on. Come on. No. Good effort, good effort. Left hand first? Yeah. After trying the second half with the hard paddle hand crooks, Adam was looking really solid with feet outside the crack. He was keen to try and make a full link of one of the three crooks options. So we gave him the full beta for the 7c plus version. I think once you're here, you have to put the foot. Let me just check. And then long step onto the white. Nice. Really good. Yeah, yeah. That's it, come on. Come on. Spin it back. Yeah, really good. Come on, come on. Come on. No. Come on. No. Yes. Good effort. Nicely done. Good effort. Oh, that was good. That was really good. That was well good. Yeah. I found a flow and like relaxed in the paddles now. That was really good. Yeah, and the crack didn't fall down either. No, it didn't. What did you thought about his style seeing him? You can always tell a good crack climber because even though it's really physical and you're fighting hard, it looks pretty. And it looks nice to watch. Lots of people, when they first start crack climbing, it's just super ugly because it feels so weird and hard to do. I feel like you are such a good teachers and you tell me like exactly what to do. I need to find a nine C with some like hard bits of normal climbing, but then into the paddle hand. Yeah. So we're here at the pleasure loop. This is the second part of the long link, but we're just going to try it as a pleasure loop because it's pleasurable. And we've been on the thin hands, the paddle hands now. So we want something a bit more pleasure related. It is a little bit baggy this one. That's the pleasure loop. And then you can go back if you want. This is a chance for another O zero. I think you're getting to the spirit of this now. You know that there's an O zero at stake. Real talk between you and the viewers. Are you getting into the O grading system? No comment. That's better than the beginning. It's growing, it's growing. It's growing. Yes, nice one. Yes. Yeah, that's it. Come on, stick with it. Come on, figure it out. Come on. Good, good, good. Come on, come on. Yes. Yeah, good. Come on. Yeah. Yes. Come on, come on. Come on. That's it. Come on. Yeah. Yes. Verified O zero. Yeah. Yep. Like it. Will the O grades will be passed to my son, maybe. Hopefully Hugo will watch it in 10 years. There's absolutely no way you can argue with it anymore. It just seems like the perfect system. I know. It's the perfect system. I know. And now that we've got Adam fully on our side, I feel like you're almost starting to push this harder than I am. Okay. The next thing that we're going to do is the other variation, which comes from here, goes into this and then feet through and then into one paddle and then hands. Nice. Come on. Yeah, nice peek. Something just broke. It like split open. Yeah. It just came off. See, that's where you have to be careful down here. Things. Yeah. How are we going to fix it? I don't know. It's quite, it makes it a bit harder now. I quite like it. Oh, that's harder. That's good. I like it. I think we should leave it. Come on. Yeah. Great. These ones are, Yeah. These ones are funny because you're just like, you're there, but this is touching. Yeah. It's really fun that it's flared. Yeah. This is cool. This is good. Come on, come on, come on. Nice. Yeah, good. Come on. Nice. Come on, Pete. We haven't actually had a crack like that down in the cellar. It's flaring like that. Some things are meant to be. Some things are meant to be, yeah. So the first boulder is the one we set to like kick off the project. It just involves more normal style of climbing. So it's not actually really jamming. Pretty sure this one will feel the hardest. There's no jamming, but it's just like mono-ing in the volumes. And it's just like a little power out before going into this stuff. Come on, Pete. Come on. Is that what we did? Yeah. Then what? Oh my God. Come down here. Tell the audience what's going on. What have you just discovered? I just remembered that this is actually quite tricky. Nice. Yeah, that's it. Exactly. Come on. I'm intimidated. You didn't feel like you were about to do the change move. I was like, ah, my fingers. I was like, okay, let's try it. And then, no. What's been your least favourite part of the cellar so far, Adam? This one for sure. But that's what I thought straight away when I saw it. I really liked the pleasure loop. Yeah. That was my favourite. You're the favourite? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, cool. Ah, it's good. It's not called the pleasure loop for nothing, is it? You never take people on the pleasure loop as the first thing in the cellar though. Otherwise, they never think it's the pleasure loop. After trying all the sections of the Unclimbed project, Adam actually had a surprise up his sleeve for us. Something we definitely weren't expecting. So, here are the boosters. I designed them. And you are actually the first who will have the pleasure to use them. So, Adam has very kindly gifted us some of these brand new, unseen, untouched holds. And we're gonna add these to the pleasure loop to make a new custom circuit, which will now become the Czech pleasure loop, or in Czech, Skmická rozkosky. I think that was terrible, wasn't it? Skmická rozkoska. Rozkoska. So, Pete, what are you gonna do? Whack them on in our usual fashion. I believe it's gonna be quite a bit harder. I don't know if it's like 01 or 02. He's using it. Yeah, I think the sequence is gonna be pretty different. Yes? Yeah, good, come on. Come on, Adam, come on. Come on. Ooh. That looks hard. I'm afraid they're not O-0. I think, because it's so much more physical, when you do it using your feet in the jams, it just helps to take away a lot of weight. Come on. Yes. Nice. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Come on, Tom. I think it has to be there, the other way around. Yes! There you go, man. There, yeah. Now flip and heel it. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Yes. Come on, come on. Yes. Definitely some beef on that. Oh, this is great. Why did we not do this before? I don't know. This is way better. Adam's brought a new flavour to the cellar. Hello, what's this? Come on. One piece of puzzle missing. Come on. Nice. Yeah, yeah, good. You have to get there, left hand. So just try to match. Yes. Try to match. Oh. Adam, what do you think the important elements of this sequence? I mean, it's kind of artificial because you can't place your feet inside the crack, but makes the crack landing much more complex. Good effort. Nice. Come on, squeeze. Squeeze on this last bit. I'm so sweaty with my fingers. The new link was such a treat to climb on, but for the time being, it was left unfinished. However, there was one more climb Adam wanted to try, our full sentry crack simulator. 40 continuous laps replicating the eight seat off width in the desert. Adam, are you relatively aware of sentry crack and how big it is? Sure. Have you ever thought that you might want to try just a simulation of sentry crack before? Yeah, absolutely. Like last time I was in Indian Creek, I thought like after a few days, everything in Indian Creek kind of felt similar and sentry crack felt like obviously something completely different, even very different to Belly Full of Bad Berries. Already back then I was thinking like, hmm, it would be really cool to go and check it out. Yeah, sight. If you ever go there, Adam, we're with you, we're coming. How long do you think you're going to go for on this little test piece? Until I fall off, but. That's the answer, that's the right answer. I think he wants to slowly build up his pace. He just gets hutch faster. But he's just got to get like into the rhythm first. Slide powerfully. Yeah, really good, Adam. Yeah, good. In and out. Yeah, perfect. Oh, shit. My shins are hopeless. Okay. It's very specific though, isn't it? Like it's not like normal climbing. Like for sure my pace was wrong, but even with perfect pacing, I was not physically possible to do more than five. I would need to like build this power. Yeah. Because I'm not the best toe hooker. Maybe that's the way how to become better toe hooker. Yeah, maybe. Like come down to train yourself for a century crack. Oh my God. This like feels so far away from sending. It was kind of sad because I wanted like, I want to try hard. I want to fucking like put up the fight, but all of a sudden it was like, bah, just doing this hurts like hell now. It's not as bad as after a belly pull. We'd taken Adam through all the different sections of our project, showed him new techniques and learnt tricks from him, but there still remained an unconfirmed O2 to complete. Thank you so much. Okay, the day after Ondra's been in the cellar. Back for the Ondra project. We had a whole session on it yesterday and we didn't do it. None of us did it. So it's a confirmed O2 or more. It cannot be O1 because it wasn't done in the session. It wasn't flashed. So we're back here for the cheeky send to see if we can get it today. I'm worried about like hitting my head really hard against that wall. Ever so slightly softer than concrete. Are you straight into it? So you're not twisted? No, I'm just straight in. Straight in and you're like half crimping? Getting a bit of a crimping, yeah. Easy. Okay, how's the match? Tricky. Tricky match. Very tricky. You got steady actually. I went for the book opener. A really big book opener. That was the beta. And that's the beta of maybe everybody was missing yesterday. Come on, Tom. Open that book. Left hand long and shuffle that right hand as far as you can. Come on. Come on, come on. Come on, squeeze, squeeze. Oh no. I tried to like slightly shake my hand now. Oh, damn it. That was a good effort. Yeah, good. Come on. Yeah, good. That's it. Come on, stick with it. Yeah, good. Yeah, yeah, come on. Yeah, yeah. Good. Boom! We made it look not too bad. Objectively, it is bad. Boom. Unconfirmed O2. Gotta be reasonably happy with that, aren't you? So you can't go any lower on this now than two. You could potentially go even higher from here. So that tick may be more important for your career than you actually realise at this point. Could be, yeah. Because what happens if he has another five sessions down here and it's still not done? Huge. That's the beauty of the O grades. Always keeps you guessing. And we're gonna leave the final words down to Adam on the O grades. What's your final opinion? I think I have to think about it more. And over time, I think the O grades will change, which makes me not completely decided, but I say it's just not complete bullshit. It's not complete bullshit. Yeah. Just a little bit. Thanks for inviting me. It was such a pleasure climbing in the cellar. That has been absolutely flipping awesome. I think for both me and Tom, that was like a dream. I enjoyed it so much. I think I learned so much. This is a series of videos which is coming out on our channel and Adam's channel. We will be going out on the grid with the guys.