The American Dave Graham did the 4th ascent of Biographie aka Realization 9a+ on Monday after several weeks at Ceüse with Chris Sharma and Ethan Pringle, Kairn.com has informed us. And we´ve got the picture of Dave in Realization from the Czech climber Jiri Ponomarev.

This route, bolted by Jean-Christophe Lafaille and called Biographie, was first climbed by Chris Sharma who called it Realization. Dave was thinking about this route "Everyday". Other ascents where done by Sylvain Millet and Patxi Usobiaga.

The photo was taken by Czech climber Jiri Ponomarev who was in Ceüse the weekend just before the send and watched Dave Graham practicing the route. Jiri Ponomarev send the picture to CzechClimbing.com / Lezec.cz and said that Dave did on Sunday just a day before the successful ascent very good tries of the route.



Dave Graham climbing Realization 9a+, Ceüse, France
photo by Jiri Ponomarev


Dave Graham climbing Realization 9a+, Ceüse, France - detail
photo by Jiri Ponomarev


According to the Wikipedia the "true" name of this route is somewhat controversial: Routes in the United States are typically named by the first ascensionist (Chris Sharma), whereas these rights are customarily entitled to the person who first bolted the route in France. Chris Sharma was the first person to climb the full route (5.15a/9a+) and gave it the name "Realization." Jean-Christophe Lafaille bolted the first "pitch" of the route in 1989 and named it Biographie. Some people consider "Biographie" to be the first, easier route (8c+/5.14c, first climbed by Arnaud Petit) and Realization to be the full extension. Others refer to the entire route as Biographie. Sylvain Millet [1], for example, argues that the first "pitch" is really more of a "half-route" that flows naturally into the rest, and as such, deserves one name (Biographie).

Source: www.bigupblog.com and www.kairn.com and wikipedia.org