Silence

Silence (also Project Hard), is a overhanging sport climbing route in the granite Hanshelleren Cave, in Flatanger, Norway. When Czech climber Adam Ondra made the first free ascent on 3 September 2017, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a proposed climbing grade of , and it is an important route in rock climbing history. To complete the route, Ondra undertook specialist physical and mental training to overcome its severely overhanging terrain. As of September 2023, Silence remains unrepeated. History Ondra bolted the route in 2012–2013while he climbed at Flatanger, the world's first 9b+but dropped the project for a period saying: "I could sort of imagine doing the individual moves, but I could see that linking the whole sequence, with its 8C boulder, all the way from the ground just looked way too ridiculous". After retrying it in 2015 and working through some of the technical challenges, Ondra began to commit more time to the project calling it "my lifetime goal", in a 2016 interview with Climbing. Ondra undertook specialist physical and mental training techniques for the route, including muscle work for the various critical kneebar rest positions, and route visualization for the sustained disorientation of the overhanging terrain. After 40 days of climbing spread over 7 visits from 2016 to 2017, Ondra free climbed the route on 3 September 2017.