A strange thing happened to Adam Ondra in his latest video: He failed to send a project.
Sure, he’s been working on Project Big for a while now, inching his way closer to what could be a next-level route. But generally speaking, Ondra gets to the top more than any other climber in the world — even when it’s a nasty cave problem with just 5 days to send.
So watching him try hard and still fail on his latest project, a famously difficult and unfinished route called Excalibur, feels novel. It’s certainly rarer than yet another pitch-perfect send from the climber with more 5.15s under his belt than anyone.
Ondra even brings on fellow climbing wizards Stefano Ghisolfi and Jakob Schubert, who also fail to stick the crux at this beautiful Italian crag.
“Excalibur is a project on an independent tower close to Arco with an epic view towards Sarca valley,” Ondra wrote in the video description. “It has just enough holds to make this perfect 40-degree clean-cut wall possible. You will watch me struggle, try really hard, and eventually give up … But I am sure the project might go down pretty soon. Who is going to do it?”
There you have it, folks. You have the chance to finish a climb that the mighty Ondra himself couldn’t send. Just be forewarned: Ondra gave a tentative grade of 5.15c or even 5.15d.
That’s just the two hardest grades in existence right now — no big deal.
Runtime: 16 minutes
