Seb Bouin climbs Bibliographie (9b+) at Céüse
Copia link
1 / 3
Clarisse Bompard
On Saturday 3rd of June, French climber Sébastien Bouin made the fourth ascent of Bibliographie (9b+) at Céüse in Southern France. The 35m route, located in the Biographie sector of the crag, was first ascended by Germany's Alexander Megos in the summer of 2020. The German climber provisionally suggested the grade 9c, making it only the second climb to be proposed that grade in the world after Adam Ondra's 2017 masterpiece Silence at Flatanger in Norway. Subsequent repeats first by Stefano Ghisolfi then by Sean Bailey in 2021 saw the consensus on the route’s difficulty settle at 9b+.
Bouin’s success marks the fourth ascent of the route and follows a remarkable 18 months of climbing for him, during which he established his own cutting-edge 9c DNA in the Verdon Gorge, as well as America’s hardest rock climb Supreme Jumbo Love 9b+ at Clark Mountain.
30-year-old Bouin, who in 2020 repeated the neighbouring Biographie, commented: "Bibliographie was a big goal for this year. Since Alex did the first ascent of this one, I was really psyched to try something really hard from someone else, here in France. Even if Céüse is very far away from my own natural climbing style. I was really motivated to go through the process on Bibliographie.
I am usually alone when trying my projects in France and not many people try them, but Biblio was something different. You know, a 9b+ in my ‘local’ area, already with 3 ascents by top climbers... it was obvious that I had to try it!
During the process, I fell 11 times at the top of the route (after the main crux). I think I underestimated this last part of the route. It doesn't look or feel that hard when you do this single section in isolation. Yet, when you are coming from the ground, it was way different. I remember Sean Bailey actually fell 13 times up there, so I am happy that he still holds the record ;-).
Conditions were quite challenging this year. It was raining almost every day, and we had to wait, patiently, for a good window to make an attempt.
Bibliographie is not a route that particularly suits my strengths, so it was a great challenge to do a 9b+ on tiny crimps for me. But, now it's time to go back to something a little more my style ;-)."
