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Did Adam Ondra lie about climbing the Dawn Wall?

Original Post
Willy Billy · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2025 · Points: 0

I'd like to preface this by saying I have nothing against Adam Ondra. I think he's a phenomenal climber, a seemingly cool guy, and has a very loud and distinctive scream when climbing. But I've been struggling with this thought for the past couple weeks and wanted some opinions, so here goes..

A couple weeks ago I rewatched The Dawn Wall documentary, and was once again blown away at the climbing mastery displayed in the film. Afterward, I googled to see who else may have climbed it since, and saw just a couple months ago it received its third ascent by Seb Berthe and Soline Kentzel, rad! So I take to youtube to see if there's some climbing footage, and watch a cool video documenting Seb's previous failed attempt at completing the Dawn Wall, nice little film. So then I search to see some footage of Adam Ondra climbing the Dawn Wall and... there is none, only 15 minutes of footage of him jugging up fixed ropes and sitting on ledges talking about working the route and how hard everything feels. But not one second of footage actually rock climbing. It seems the camera guys forgot to hit record when he was actually climbing, weird. How could that be? 

I remember back when it happened all the hype surrounding the fact that Adam Ondra was in the Valley for the first time and was working the Dawn Wall among other objectives, like freeing the NIAD, and on-sighting the Salathe. Crazy objectives, even for the world's best climber. From my understanding, he failed to free the great roof and changing corners on the Nose 13b and 14a respectively, and bailed on his goal of on-sighting the Salathe. There is a video of Adam coming back to the Valley 3 or 4 years later in an attempt to on-sight Salathe. He frees everything up until the headwall pitch, and then fails to climb the 13b headwall, and didn't seem to get that close either. So he failed to climb the great roof, changing corners, and salathe headwall, but he climbed the Dawn Wall? The Dawn Wall has 12 5.13 pitches, 7 5.14 pitches.

Now just because there's no video footage of him actually climbing it, doesn't mean he didn't do it. However I think the lack of video footage, and his previous failures to free other easier routes are the biggest pieces of evidence that Adam Ondra may have lied about climbing the Dawn Wall. So my next question is, why would he lie about it? I don't really know, but I could think of a few reasons. Maybe the pressure of failure got to him, maybe it was for financial gain, maybe for the recognition from the community. 

Anyways, curious to know what you think about this hot take. If anyone can link a video of him climbing it, I would certainly reevaluate my position, but I couldn't find any.

Hangdog Hank · · Leavenworth, WA · Joined Mar 2017 · Points: 2,024

The Russian bots have infiltrated MP.

Isaac Mann-Silverman · · Oakland Ca · Joined Nov 2020 · Points: 0
Willy Billy wrote:

Lol

Austin Donisan · · San Mateo, CA · Joined May 2014 · Points: 669

Is Adam Ondra even real? Who's to say.

Personally I think he's just a socket puppet for Big Kneepad.

apogee · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 0

hillbilly hijinks · · Conquistador of the Useless · Joined Mar 2020 · Points: 193

2/10.

MattH · · CO mostly · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 1,339

It’s my understanding that there is footage, but the film crew didn’t obtain the necessary permits so it’s not legal to publish it for commercial use. Hopefully it gets leaked at some point.

Steve Williams · · The state of confusion · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 235

Who cares?

Derek PK · · West Coast · Joined Mar 2023 · Points: 0

Are you kidding me? He couldn't get a permit for filming that's why there is no footage.  The guy eats 5.14c for lunch.  Europeans are just better at climbing.

almostrad · · BLC · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 14

Fun Fact - the original theory was actually called Schrödinger's Dawn Wall, but it was such a niche reference that eventually he succumbed to pressure from his peers and renamed it Schrödinger's Cat to appease a greater audience

Long Ranger · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 669

The ascent was very obviously faked. What was leaked were the original, unedited photographs that showed how they staged the ascent on the top of a bunch of nearby flat summit domes. People can be so gullible. 

amarius · · Nowhere, OK · Joined Feb 2012 · Points: 20
Long Ranger wrote:

The ascent was very obviously faked. 

Yeah, agree. There was a bird in one of photos/videos, everybody knows birds are not real.

And, he does not eat 5.14c for lunch - looks more like risotto 



trailridge · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 20
Derek PK wrote:

Are you kidding me? He couldn't get a permit for filming that's why there is no footage.  The guy eats 5.14c for lunch.  Europeans are just better at climbing.

That's racist you fascist 

NateC · · Utah · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 1

Are we sure the Dawn Wall has been climbed at all? Tommy and Kevin sure did a lot of "climbing at night" without the watchful eye of the public, and unedited complete footage of the ascent has never been released? 

Dustin B · · Steamboat · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 1,281
Willy Billy wrote:

But I've been struggling with this thought for the past couple weeks...

The struggle is real

Trevr Taylr · · Rent-n, WA · Joined Sep 2024 · Points: 14
MattH wrote:

It’s my understanding that there is footage, but the film crew didn’t obtain the necessary permits so it’s not legal to publish it for commercial use. Hopefully it gets leaked at some point.

That's not only thing I want leaked....

Cosmic Hotdog · · Southern California · Joined Sep 2019 · Points: 300

The Dawn Wall isn't even real bro, it's all a simulation. Aiden OnDuh was sitting in a basement, drinking code red, and playing world of warcraft the whole time.

Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65

Rachel and Brandon Beiler · · Asheville, NC · Joined Apr 2023 · Points: 1
MattH wrote:

It’s my understanding that there is footage, but the film crew didn’t obtain the necessary permits so it’s not legal to publish it for commercial use. Hopefully it gets leaked at some point.

The exact video is escaping me, but Magnus mentioned this exact thing in a random gym climbing episode - so Obviously, it had to be 100% truth

Shaniac · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2016 · Points: 24

The footage is real, I have seen portions of it. The legal issues are real too. The next step is we start a petition to Free the Footage.

Cherokee Nunes · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2015 · Points: 0

Tommy climbed it for sure. His word alone is good enough for me, but there were a lot of cameras.

It doesn't really matter if any subsequent climbers lied about the cleanliness of their ascents.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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