Qui is a sport climbing route at the Geisterschmiedwand, a limestone cliff face near Kufstein, in the Kaisertal Valley of the Zahmer Kaiser mountains of Tyrol, Austria. It is notable for its grade progression and a 23-year gap between its first ascent and its first repeat.

Austrian climber Stefan Fürst achieved the first free ascent of the route in 1996 and originally graded it , though it was later upgraded to by consensus. The route shares its first with the line Wagnis Orange, first redpointed in 1988 by Austrian Gerhard Hörhager. Initially graded , Wagnis Orange was later re-evaluated as the world's second or third route.

In September 2019, Czech climber Adam Ondra made the first repeat of Qui. Due to a crucial foothold that had broken during his early attempts in 2008, he upgraded the route to , a difficulty that has since been confirmed by subsequent ascents.

History Wagnis Orange Zillertal-based professional climber Gerhard Hörhager turned his focus to his home valley after gaining international sport climbing experience in Southern France and Australia. In the Zillertal, he established several of the region's first major sport climbing lines, including Sooner or Later and Sagaro at the climbing area Ewige Jagdgründe. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the Geisterschmiedwand near Kufstein and opened the line Manray .

Also at this venue in 1988, he redpointed the route Wagnis Orange, originally grading it . At the time, this difficulty represented the cutting edge of international sport climbing. Hörhager's ascent was driven by his belief that local cliffs held the potential for routes of the same level as the benchmark established by Wolfgang Güllich's in the Franconian Jura in 1987.

According to climbing photographer Gerd Heidorn, Hörhager chose the name Wagnis Orange "after a book by the Indian guru Osho".

Qui First ascent In the mid-1990s, the tall nine-time Austrian national climbing champion Stefan Fürst turned his attention to a then-nameless project at the Geisterschmiedwand. The line utilised the start of Wagnis Orange at its base and had already been bolted but remained unclimbed. Fürst invested approximately 60 project days before securing the first free ascent in 1996. He proposed a grade of , using Güllich's Action Directe—then tentatively considered an line—as a historical benchmark. As Fürst did not want to name the route himself, climbing photographer chose the name Qui.

First repetition and upgrade In September 2019, Czech climber Adam Ondra made the first repeat of Qui, ending a 23-year gap since its first ascent, with the route's pioneer Fürst serving as his belayer.

Between his first attempts in 2008 and his eventual success in 2019, Ondra spent a total of 10 days on the wall spread across various trips. The route's difficulty led him to include it in a 2012 article for PlanetMountain titled "The routes I cannot climb!", noting that the wall is "not friendly for trying hard routes because it's notoriously wet despite being exposed to the sun from 9am onwards, which means the only time to try it is early in the morning." Due to a crucial foothold that had broken during his initial attempts in 2008, Ondra—who described the crux of Qui as "very special and morphological"—proposed a grade of .

Route General overview Qui is located in Sector 1 of the south-facing limestone cliff Geisterschmiedwand at an elevation of above sea level. The entire cliff face is up to high, and the route ascends the vertical-to-overhanging limestone wall, characterised by roofs and bulges. The rock surface features crimps, pockets, and sinter cracks.

Due to the local microclimate, the holds frequently retain moisture. Therefore, successful climbing opportunities are limited. Guidebook writer recommends seasonal windows in the spring and autumn for high-end climbing.

Section breakdown In 2012, Ondra provided a breakdown of Qui'''s individual sections after several unsuccessful attempts. The ascent begins with the opening of Wagnis Orange, a sustained stretch rated "at least" difficulty, which he characterised by "bad crimps and slopers with poor rests".

Afterwards, Wagnis Orange traverses right, while Qui continues straight up. Following his 2020 ascent, German climber Roland Hemetzberger further detailed this transition, noting that this subsequent section begins with a "difficult, wide move", bringing the route's difficulty up to around or . Following this sequence, the route enters its main crux, which following the 2008 foothold breakage has a bouldering grade of approximately . Ondra noted that this section requires "tiny crimpy sidepulls at their very best", describing it as a "heinous boulder". A few more metres of sustained terrain then lead via vertical, technical climbing to the anchor.

Legacy Wagnis Orange was re-evaluated as an line following repeated ascents, making it retrospectively the first in Austria—and arguably the second or third route of this grade in climbing history, after Güllich's Wallstreet (1987) in the Franconian Jura and alongside Fred Nicole's Anaïs et le canabis (1988) in Swiss . This development established the blue-grey limestone of the Geisterschmiedwand as a significant venue for sport climbing.

The focus of maximum difficulty at the cliff later shifted to Qui, an extension of Wagnis Orange that Fürst first ascended in 1996 and Ondra repeated in 2019. While the route had achieved a consensus grade of over time, the subsequent breakage of a crucial foothold in 2008 significantly altered the crux, prolonging what would become a 23-year gap between the first ascent and the first repeat. Reflecting on the historical significance of the line, Ondra noted that "no matter how hard the route was in [the] state" of its first ascent, Qui "could have been one [of the] hardest routes" back in 1996.

Following his successful redpoint in 2019, Ondra upgraded the route to . The route was repeated by Hemetzberger in June 2020, followed by Alfons Dornauer in July 2022, with both climbers confirming Ondra's grading. In October 2023, Jakob Schubert became the fifth climber to successfully redpoint the route and also opted for the rating. Spanish climbing magazine Wogu Cultura de Escalada described the line Qui as a "piece of sport climbing history".

Ascents 1st. Stefan Fürst in 1996 (pre-hold break) 2nd. Adam Ondra on 19 September 2019 (post-hold break) 3rd. Roland Hemetzberger on 8 June 2020 4th. Alfons Dornauer on 13 July 2022 5th. Jakob Schubert on 2 October 2023

See also History of rock climbing List of grade milestones in rock climbing Open Air, first climb in the world with a grade of Action Directe, first climb in the world with a consensus grade of Hubble, first climb in the world with a consensus grade of

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External links Video: Adam Ondra #33: Qui 9a+ / Adam's Nightmare, via YouTube—Adam Ondra / 2019 AO Production, retrieved 25 May 2026. The search for the world's first 9a+ by Stainley Hunter on PlanetMountain in 2004. (Open Air'' starts at 12:44), retrieved 25 May 2026.