La Dura Dura 9b+ (5.15c)

La Dura Dura climbs 50 meters of limestone at Oliana in Catalonia, Spain, on the Roc de Rumbau cliff band. Graded 9b+ (5.15c), it concentrates most of its difficulty into the first 10 meters, a boulder-like sequence steep enough on its own to rate roughly 9b, before easier, though still sustained, climbing to the anchor. It was one of the first routes in the world confirmed at 9b+, a grade that had only been claimed, not agreed on, before it.

History

Chris Sharma bolted the line in 2009 and worked it on and off for several years before inviting Adam Ondra to try it. Ondra made the first free ascent on February 7, 2013, after around nine weeks of effort spread across multiple trips to Spain. Sharma made his own ascent on March 23, 2013, which made La Dura Dura the first climb in the world where two independent climbers agreed on a 9b+ grade. It held the informal title of hardest confirmed rock climb until Ondra's ascent of Silence (9c) in 2017, and as of this research it has still only been climbed twice.

On film

La Dura Complete: The Hardest Rock Climb in the World follows Sharma and Ondra's shared project at Oliana, from Sharma inviting the then-teenage Ondra to try his route through both climbers' redpoints in 2013. Reel Rock built the film around the contrast between Sharma, the sport's reigning figure, and Ondra, the young climber who would first match and then surpass him, making the route's first ascent as much a changing of the guard as a grade milestone.