Director’s Cut of Matty Hong on Biographie
In 2023, he made the 20th ascent of the famous 5.15a in France
Last year, Matty Hong repeated Biographie 5.15a in Céüse, and a new director’s cut featuring the send was just published by Louder Than Eleven. Hong became the fourth American to climb 5.15b with Fight or Flight in 2018 after Chris Sharma, Ethan Pringle and Daniel Woods.
Hong has made the first ascents of several test-piece lines, such as Bad Girls Club 5.14d, Planet Garbage 5.14d and Stocking Stuffer 5.14d. In 2021, we talked to Hong after he made the second ascent of Tommy Caldwell’s Flex Luthor 5.15 in Colorado – read our conversation with him here.
In 2001, Sharma made the first free ascent of Biographie, which he called Realization. The reason it has (or had) two names is the difference in ethics between American and French climbers. In France, the person that bolts a route gives it a name while in America, the first ascensionist names it. The route was bolted in 1989 by Jean-Christophe Lafaille and was named Biographie. Upon its first ascent, Sharma named it Realization, in congruence with the American style.
It was the first consensus 5.15a ever climbed, but other routes sent previous to 2001 have since been upgraded. Adam Ondra repeated Alex Huber’s Open Air from 1996 and suggested 5.15a, however many holds had broken over the years. And in 2021, Will Bosi made the second ascent of Steve McClure’s Mutation in the U.K. from 1998 and suggested it could be 5.15a or even 5.15b.
Biographie
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