Stefano Carnati Gets 17th Send of Biographie 5.15a

Stefano Carnati has made the 17th send of Biographie in Ceuse, France, after a year of working on the classic 5.15a on and off.

I still remember with glee the first days my parents took me to Céüse. Being a little child, the hike to this limestone band was the hardest climb I was able to accomplish. Once there, I noticed some piles of stones, which appeared very tall and I was told they were at the base of a famous route, one of the hardest in the world. It looked somehow special to me and I remember touching the first crimps to realise why it was said to be so hard (yes, since then I’d contributed to polish the holds). Later on, my father showed me Dosage, with the video of Chris freeing it, and I was more than impressed, despite climbing didn’t seem to engage me at all at the time. But things change and years later I took up climbing… and I started dreaming! Little by little I got in touch with the history of rock climbing, I better understood the value of some routes and I put down my own life wishlist: among the routes at the top there was this! But well… the way of all these years to get ready to face such a challenge was long! To make a seven-year story short, a couple of years ago I found myself hanging on the draws of this blue streak, checking it out for my first time! I fell in love! So last year I spent some time working on it, but without success. Back on it in May, feelings were different. And finally last friday, with a strong wind blowing, I felt physically good, light and relaxed, despite knowing it was one of the very last chances that Sendtember would give me. Once I left the ground everything went smoothly and the moment I reached the big hole at the end was magical. With different emotions coming in my mind, I tried to hold myself together and enjoy the last metres till the chain?? Thanks to all the people who believed in me during the whole process, my family, my trainer Tito @skillsrls , @ragnidilecco , my friends @lukecayman , @_filu98 , @fede9327 and @andre_zedd , @marcozanone for the send belay and ? and my sponsors! Last but not least, I show all my appreciation to Lafaille for bolting this line back in the days and Chris Sharma for establishing this masterpiece! @camp1889 @dfsportspecialist @lasportivagram @adidasita @adidasterrex

A post shared by Stefano Carnati (@teto_carnati) on Sep 24, 2018 at 2:31am PDT

The first ascent of Biographie was by Chris Sharma in 2001, but it was bolted back in 1989 by Jean-Christophe Lafaille.

After his send, Sharma called it Realization, but Lafaille had named it Biographie and in France the person who bolts the route gets to name it. So most climbers, even Sharma, refer it to Biographie.

It’s one of the most-climbed 5.15s to date along with La Rambla and Carnati is the second Italian to climb it.

Biographie/Realization Sends

Chris Sharma in 2001
Sylvain Millet on May 24 in 2004
Patxi Usobiaga on July 29 in 2004
Dave Graham on July 30 in 2007
Ethan Pringle on September 2 in 2007
Ramón Julián Puigblanque on July 27, 2008
Enzo Oddo on August 15 in 2010
Jonathan Siegrist on June 1 in 2014
Alex Megos on July 11 in 2014
Adam Ondra on July 22 in 2014
Sachi Amma on August 7 in 2014
Stefano Ghisolfi on June 22 in 2015
Jon Cardwell on May 25 in 2016
Sean Bailey on August 5 in 2016
Margo Hayes on September 24 in 2017
Piotr Schab in summer of 2018
Stefano Carnati in fall of 2018

Watch Margo Hayes Send: