Chris Sharma climbs Biographie at Ceuse!

American Chris Sharma links the first and second section of Biographie at Ceuse in France, widely considered one of the hardest projects in the world, calling it Realization.

PlanetMountain.com

July 2001

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The fantastic view onto Ceüse, Haute Alpes, France.

Planetmountain.com

Chris Sharma has done it! He’s managed to climb the second part of Biographie and, for the first time ever, link the entire route. In doing so he finishes a project in Ceuse started in 1996, widely considered as one of the hardest lines in France and the world.

Biographie is composed of a first 8c+ section, freed by Arnaud Petit in 1996 and repeated by just Sharma and Sylvain Millet, that leads to a chain at half-height. Leaving a further 20m of intense climbing, graded 8b+ in its own right with a 7c boulder crux and no rest whatsoever. The problem was linking it all together…

Sharma originally freed the first section in three days and returned repeatedly to Ceuse specifically for this project. In 1997 alone he dedicated a month to the route, and in total fell from the high crux about 30 times.

With this route Sharma manages to finish what he considers one of his most important projects. As is well known, the young American doesn’t give his routes a grade, but seeing that he needed three years to free the line…

Three years of trying, walking up to the crag, putting on the climbing shoes, lighting incense, chalking up and starting off again for the next attempt…
Chris Sharma has now lived out his dream on Biographie.

photo R. Fioravanti

Flash movie of Chris Sharma on Biographie by Roberto Fioravanti