Just a few hours after repeating Exodia, Adam Ondra moved on to a roadside crag elsewhere in Piedmont and made the first ascent of Murena (9a). Matteo Gambaro bolted the line back in 2012, and a fall at the crux could land you on the roof of a passing car. His new video shows the line above the road.

16 October was quite a day for Adam Ondra. First he made the second ascent of Exodia, Elias Iagnemma's boulder at Rifugio Barbara in Val Pellice. Iagnemma needed more than 200 sessions and proposed 9A+. Ondra did it in four days and suggests 9A, as we reported. That wasn't the end of it. In his own words, he then "moved to another great crag in Piedmont", and just a few hours after Exodia he sent Murena, a new 9a (5.14d).

The route is no fresh discovery. Matteo Gambaro bolted it in 2012, and Ondra calls it "an old, unclimbed project". It sits on a roadside crag elsewhere in Piedmont, and the road is very much part of the experience. Ondra describes Murena as an "amazing line with special moves, crux featuring a toehook throw, while you risk a potential fall on the roof of the passing car." He is less taken with the rock. "The only downside is that the rock is not too solid. Let's see if those tiny crimps stay there."

You can judge for yourself in the YouTube Short that went up on his channel on 23 October as "Risking Potential Fall onto Moving Car | Murena 9a FA". Even the thumbnail says a lot. The wall overhangs straight above the asphalt and the belayer is standing on the road. Laco Korbel was behind the camera and Kuba Frajt edited the clip. No longer film has come out so far, and Ondra hasn't said how many tries the route took.

Another 9a would hardly be news for Ondra on its own. Gripped counts more than 130 routes at the grade on his list, plus at least 80 at 9a+ or harder. What makes Murena stand out is the timing and the setting. He squeezed a first ascent into the same day as one of the hardest boulders in the world, on a wall where the traffic below adds its very own kind of exposure. If you want more of Ondra on film, his Marmolada video is worth a look too.

Sources: Gripped, YouTube (Adam Ondra), Facebook (Adam Ondra), Lezec.cz

Cover: Adam Ondra on Silence (9c) in Flatanger, Norway, 2017. The photo shows Silence, not Murena. Photo: Pavel Blažek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.