Matty Hong Sends Sharma’s Biographie 5.15a
The first ascent of the famous route in France was 22 years ago by Chris Sharma
Matty Hong has repeated Biographie 5.15a in Céüse, watch him on the crux in his Instagram post below. Hong became the fourth American to climb 5.15b with Fight or Flight in 2018 after Chris Sharma, Ethan Pringle and Daniel Woods.
In 2001, Sharma made the first free ascent of Biographie, which he called Realization. The reason it has 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’s been climbed several times, including by Margo Hayes in 2017 – watch the send below.
Hong was 15 when he climbed his first 5.14a in Rifle, and he went on to send Papichulo 5.15a and La Rambla, both in Spain. 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 here.
Biographie 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.
Sharma’s First Ascent
Margo Hayes
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