Realization (climb)

''Realization'', also called ''Biographie'', is a circa sport climbing route on a limestone cliff on the southern face of Céüse mountain, near Gap and Sigoyer, in France. After it was first climbed in 2001 by American climber Chris Sharma, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a consensus grade of . It is considered an historic and important route in rock climbing, and one of the most attempted climbs at its grade.

History

In 1989, French climber Jean-Christophe Lafaille bolted the whole circa 35 metre pitch, and named it ''Biographie'' (he did not climb it). In 1996, French climber freed the lower half, adding an anchor at his high-point and grading it . Petit estimated that the remaining unclimbed section was about but had a very difficult 7C boulder problem that he could not overcome. American climber Chris Sharma made over 30 attempts from 1996 to 2000 but could also not overcome the boulder move. In 2001, Sharma canceled his participation in the Bouldering World Cup in Gap to concentrate on the climb, and after 3 days trying on 18 July 2001, successfully free climbed the route, linking up Petit's first section to Lafaille's final bolt.

Sharma's first ascent of the route was captured in Josh Lowell's 2002 climbing film, ''Dosage Volume 1''.

Sharma did not assign a grade the climb. however he did name it ''Realization''. The naming was a source of controversy as in France climbing routes are named by the person who first bolted the route, while in the U.S. (and the U.K.), they are named by the first person to successfully free climb the route. Sharma would later clarify:

Though only aged 20, Sharma considered retiring after completing the ascent, but found new inspiration in extreme deep-water soloing routes in Mallorca. It took almost three years until the second ascent was made by French climber, Sylvain Millet, who also refused to grade it given his lack of experience of other equivalent reference climbs, however, he noted that the failure of other strong climbers to repeat the route (e.g. Patxi Usobiaga, and Dave Graham), implied that 9a+ was the likely grade.

On 24 September 2017, American climber Margo Hayes became the first female climber to climb the route.

Route

The route starts with an immediate hard "four-move boulder problem", which partially broke in 2010, potentially rendering the lower section even more difficult (it has been compared to the notable bouldering problem, ''Necessarily Evil''). Sustained 5.13 climbing after the initial bouldering problem leads to the main rest, a large right-facing flake. After this pause, a series of "super-resistant two and three-finger pocket moves", with cross-throughs, underclings, and high-steps lead to Arnaud Petit's old anchor (now since removed), which is just under halfway.

To the anchor, the route is considered , although some have suggested an upgrade to due to the initial bottom boulder breaking. There is a small rest at the old anchor, then sustained resistance climbing leads to a slightly better rest just below the finishing crux. This final crux is 12 moves, described as "a bunch of foot movement, and some very fickle pockets and crimps". Its difficulty is amplified by the amount of hard climbing undertaken to reach it. Above this crux is a small rest, and some 5.11 climbing for another 50-feet leads to the final anchor at around the circa 35-meter mark".

Legacy

''Realization'' would become the world's first rock climb to carry a consensus grade, and with it, '' Climbing'' chronicled that it delivered a "technical revolution" in rock climbing. However, in November 2008, Adam Ondra on completing the second ever ascent of Alexander Huber's ''Open Air'' at Austria's Schleierfall, re-graded it as ; Huber had climbed it in 1996 but assumed the grade was , but Ondra felt that ''Open Air'' was definitely harder than other solid "benchmark" climbs such as ''Weiss Rose'', and ''Action Directe'', and even '' La Rambla'' which are or . Climbing author Andrew Bisharat noted in a 2016 essay on climbing re-grades, that "The other interesting point about Open Air that’s worth mentioning is that the route reportedly contains some rather flaky holds that have broken off over the years. So was the Open Air that Ondra climbed the exact same route that Alex Huber climbed? Maybe, but probably not."

The quality and sustained difficulty of the route mean it is still considered an important rite-of-passage for the world's best rock-climbers, whose repeat ascents of the "legendary" route, are often covered by the climbing media. ''Outside'' magazine called it "the benchmark for the grade", and it has become one of the most attempted and repeated routes at the grade at . In 2014, ''National Geographic'' called the route, "one of the most famous sport-climbing routes in the world". ''PlanetMountain'' included ''Realization'' on its list of important climbs in the evolution of free climbing (1918–2013).

In 2012, when Adam Ondra attempted to flash the route (i.e. complete on the first attempt) he said: "It had always been my long-term crazy dream to flash this route". In 2014, when climber Jonathan Siegrist made the eighth ascent of the route and told ''Outside'' magazine: "I can remember the first time that I saw the route — it is truly magnificent. I was shocked to see that such a bold and impressive, seemingly perfect line exists. Add to that, the historic significance of this climb, not to mention its unique and brilliant holds and movement — it really is a proud route". On repeating the route in 2014, German climber Alexander Megos said: "I wanted to climb this route because it is the world’s first 9a+ and definitely one of the most famous routes worldwide! But it’s not just the history behind the route, also the route itself is one of the best ones I ever climbed!". In 2016, remembering his own 2015 repeat of the route, Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi called it, "..perhaps the most famous cutting-edge route in the world".

Ascents

''Realization'', or ''Biographie'', has been ascended by:

* 1st. Chris Sharma on July 18, 2001
* 2nd. Sylvain Millet on May 24, 2004
* 3rd. Patxi Usobiaga on July 29, 2004
* 4th. Dave Graham on July 30, 2007
* 5th. Ethan Pringle on September 2, 2007
* 6th. Ramón Puigblanque on July 27, 2008
* 7th. on August 15, 2010
* 8th. Jonathan Siegrist on June 1, 2014
* 9th. Alex Megos on July 11, 2014
* 10th. Adam Ondra on July 22, 2014
* 11th. Sachi Amma on August 7, 2014
* 12th. Stefano Ghisolfi on June 22, 2015
* 13th. Jon Cardwell

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