Realization (climb)

Biographie
Realization
The Montagne de Céüse, site of Biographie
Location	Céüse, France
Coordinates	44°30′51″N 5°56′36″E / 44.514196°N 5.943432°ECoordinates: 44°30′51″N 5°56′36″E / 44.514196°N 5.943432°E
Climbing Area	Montagne de Céüse
Route Type	Sport Climb
Pitches	1
Rating	9a+ (5.15a)
Grade	I
Route Setter	Jean-Christophe Lafaille, 1989.
First free ascent	Chris Sharma, July 2001.

Biographie, or Realization, is a sport climbing route on a crag on the southern face of the 2,016-metre (6,614 ft) Montagne de Céüse near Gap and Céüse, France.

The first person to successfully climb Biographie was Chris Sharma,^[1][2][3][4] who did not grade the climb. It is generally considered to be 9a+ (5.15a). Among the routes that have been repeated by anyone else except the author, Biographie is the first ascent to be recognized with a 9a+ rating making it the most difficult at that time. However, in 1996 Fred Rouhling proposed even harder grade 9b (5.15b) for his unrepeated climb Akira. Since 2001 there have been ascents of other routes which are recognized and rated to be more difficult.

Sectors Berlin and Biographie

Name dispute

The name of the route is disputed: routes in France are named by the person who first bolted the route, while in the U.S. they are typically named by the first person to successfully climb the route. In 1989, Jean-Christophe Lafaille bolted the whole pitch and named it Biographie. In 1996, Arnaud Petit added an anchor in the middle of the route, and did the first ascent of the first half in that year. Around 2007 the anchor chains marking the end of the route which Arnaud Petit climbed were removed from the wall. In July 2001 Sharma became the first person to climb the full route and gave it the name "Realization", following the American way. Since then, Sharma has said that "most of the time I actually call the route Biographie".^[5][6]

Subsequent ascents

Biographie has been repeated by:

• Sylvain Millet on May 24, 2004^[7]
• Patxi Usobiaga on July 29, 2004^[8]
• Dave Graham on July 30, 2007^[9]
• Ethan Pringle on September 2, 2007^[10]
• Ramón Julián Puigblanque on July 27, 2008^[11]
• Enzo Oddo on August 15, 2010^[12]
• Jonathan Siegrist on June 1, 2014^[13]
• Alex Megos on July 11, 2014^[14]
• Adam Ondra on July 22, 2014^[15]
• Sachi Amma on August 7, 2014
• Stefano Ghislofi on June 22, 2015

References

1. "Chris Sharma climbs Biographie!". planetmountain.com. 19 July 2001. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
2. Roberto Fioravanti (20 September 2001). "Chris Sharma, the energy of Biographie". planetmountain.com. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
3. "Chris Sharma, the video of Biographie at Ceuse". planetmountain.com. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
4. ukclimbing.com (July 2001). "Chris Sharma completes new Ceuse route - F9a(+?), US 5.15". ukclimbing.com. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
5. "Biographie and the importance of the names - The history of the route". up-climbing.com. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
6. Björn Pohl (August 2010). "Chris Sharma about "that route at Céüse"". ukclimbing.com. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
7. "Millet repeats Realization!". planetmountain.com. 27 May 2004. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
8. "Patxi Usobiaga repeats Realization 9a+ at Ceuse". planetmountain.com. 2 August 2004. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
9. "Dave Graham sends Realisation at Ceuse". planetmountain.com. 31 July 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
10. Dougald MacDonald. "Pringle Sends Realization". climbing.com. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
11. "Repeated Realization - Sixth repetition by Ramon Julian". up-climbing.com. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
12. "Ceuse hard sends by Enzo Oddo, David Lama and Alizée Dufraisse". planetmountain.com. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
13. "Jonathan Siegrist Sends Biographie/Realization (5.15a)". rockandice.com. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
14. "Alex Megos encadena “Realization” en tres pegues". escalando.org. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
15. "CONFIRMADO: Adam Ondra encadenó Realization 9a+ (5.15a". escalando.org. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.