Final Push – Day 2: Ondra Completes Pitches 10 Through 13 on Dawn Wall
Adam Ondra continues his blitz of the Dawn Wall on El Cap, Yosemite and dispatches the next four pitches on day two of his final push.Adam Ondra continued his blitz of the Dawn Wall on El Cap, Yosemite yesterday. He dispatched pitches 10 (5.14a), 11 (5.13c), 12 (5.14b) and 13 (5.13b), his goal for day two of his final push.
“So the dinner is over, time to relax after a pretty tough day. It was more exciting than I expected,” Ondra says in a video update from the wall.
Click here for the full Dawn Wall topo..” title=”Pitches 9 through 18 of the Dawn Wall, El Capitan, Yosemite. Click here for the full Dawn Wall topo..” style=”float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;”>He fell on his first attempt of pitch 10, a 5.14a, and nailed it second go, “which was quite exhausting,”
he says. Fueled by dark chocolate, he then climbed pitch 11 (5.13c) first go. But pitch 12, the 5.14b Molar Traverse, put up a fight. Ondra fell towards
the end of the pitch after a foothold broke. He reset, and fell again on the same move. Third try, he fell at the beginning of the climb, and finally,
on his fourth attempt, he sent. He finished his day off with pitch 13 (5.13b).
Ondra and his Czech climbing partner Pavel Blazek began their ground up, single push free attempt of the Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d) at 3 a.m. Monday, November 14. By 9 a.m. that first day, they had completed their goal of route’s first nine pitches (5.12b, 5.13a, 5.13c, 5.12b, 5.12d, 5.13c, 5.14a, 5.13d, 5.13c), and posted up on a portaledge to rest for the remainder of the day. Ondra waited until Tuesday evening, when the wall entered the shade, before climbing pitches 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Compared to Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s first ascent of the Dawn Wall, from December 27, 2014 to January 14, 2015, Ondra is making faster progress. Caldwell and Jorgeson didn’t climb pitch 13 until their sixth day on the wall.
With pitches 1 through 13 complete, Ondra is positioned below crux pitches of the climb—pitch 14 (5.14d traverse), pitch 15 (5.14d traverse) and pitch 16/17 (5.14c link of loop pitch and pitch 17). He plans to rest today, before tackling the crux pitches tomorrow. Stay tuned for more Dawn Wall updates.
Adam Ondra’s Dawn Wall Final Push Timeline:
Click here for the full Dawn Wall topo.” title=”Ondra tracker. Dawn Wall, El Capitan, Yosemite. Click here for the full Dawn Wall topo.” style=”float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;”>
Day 1 (Nov. 14):
Pitch 1 (5.12b)
Pitch 2 (5.13a)
Pitch 3 (5.13c)
Pitch 4 (5.12b)
Pitch 5 (5.12d)
Pitch 6 (5.13c)
Pitch 7 (5.14a)
Pitch 8 (5.13d)
Pitch 9 (5.13c)
Day 2 (Nov. 15):
Pitch 10 (5.14a)
Pitch 11 (5.13c)
Pitch 12 (5.14b)
Pitch 13 (5.13b)
Day 3 (Nov. 16): Rest Day
Related Articles:
Final Push: Adam Ondra Blasts Up First Nine Pitches of the Dawn Wall
Dawn Wall Update: Adam Ondra Prepares for Final Push
Adam Ondra Makes Quick Progress on the Dawn Wall
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