Sport routes

7b in to 7B with a kneebar rest, followed by an 8a+ headwall.

Action Directe is a legendary sport route in the Waldkopf area of the Frankenjura in Germany. It was first climbed by Wolfgang Güllich in 1991 who suggested a UIAA grade of XI (roughly 8c+/9a). It has since settled at 9a making it one of the first climbs at the grade in the world.

The route is infamous for its brutal, uncompromising climbing on one and two-finger pockets. While training for the first ascent, Wolfgang famously made use of the first campus board in the world (the board was erected in the Campus Centre gym in Nuremberg, hence the name.).

After an easier initial section leading to a ledge and hands-off rest, a wild jump to a pocket marks the beginning of around 20 hand moves – a pure power-endurance testpiece.

The route is named after the French far-left militant group.

References

[1] Written in Stone, Nov 2023 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3XjUWgzU7IMJgEWPzequbq?

[2] Written in Stone interview with Ben Cossey, Nov 2023 https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jLxfy5CRlOTykTmtG7MZe?

[3] Written in Stone interview with Alex Megos, Nov 2023 https://open.spotify.com/episode/5nhDlvoMlXj4jvCROnwSh6?

Among the most famous routes in the world, this wall of relentless edges played a seminal role in the consolidation of Sport Climbing being announced as the first 5.14a in North America.

A long standing project of Mark Leach's. Unfortunately after working out the extension he was unable to repeat Mecca so the first ascent had to wait for Steve McClure.

Kilnsey's first 8c. In 2024 a hold came off on the upper section making the route a little harder.

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/il-etait-une-voie-once-upon-a-line-dreamcatcher/

Estado Crítico is notable for being the first ever 9a to be onsighted after Alex Megos climbed it in March 2012.

Although Ramón Julián Puigblanque suggested 9a when he made the first ascent it later settled to around 8c+/9a after several repeats (most notably a third go ascent from Adam Ondra and a second go ascent from Patxi Usobiaga). However around 2010 a hold broke and after reclimbing the route while working Golpe de Estado Adam suggested 9a was appropriate. Since then the grade has settled at 9a.

Bolted and named by Céüse pioneer and Alpine legend Jean-Christophe Lafaille in 1988, Arnaud Petit climbed the pitch to a half-height anchor in 1996 at a grade of 8c+. Chris Sharma climbed the the full pitch in 2001, after working it on-and-off for a few years and taking over 30 falls from the crux. In keeping with his style at the time, he did not grade the route [4], but it became widely credited as the first 9a+ in the world for a period; Open Air from 1996 was later upgraded to 9a+ to take that title.

The full line was initially named Realization by Sharma, to differentiate it from the half-height version. However, in line with the French custom of routes being named by their equipper, it is now known as Biographie, and the half-height version's lower-offs have been removed.

The route became famous as one of Chris Sharma's first big new routes. His extended efforts were documented in the film Dosage Volume 1.

Josh Lowell:

At one point Chris wanted to call it Get a Life, thankfully he changed his mind! [3]

The route is entirely natural and considered to be one of the best hard sport climbs in the world. [5]

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suVH2BuFEh0

[3] https://open.spotify.com/episode/14eXBiZUrV7LetCF132iNS?

[4] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/chris-sharma-climbs-biographie-at-ceuse.html

[5] https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/943937/fr/ceuse-biographie-biographie

Originally given 9a, consensus is around 8c/+.

First climbed to an intermediate lower off (La Rambla (L1) (8c+)) by Alex Huber in 1994, it was then extended to the current lower off by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003 for which he suggested 9a+, while also suggesting Alex's original line was likely harder than the 8c+ that was originally suggested.

Notably Ramon did not use a jug that was slightly off-line to rest on. Using this jug is now considered routine and does not alter the grade.

References

[1] https://tenaya.net/en/story/?r=the-legacy-of-la-rambla&

The first 8c+ in Norway.

Ted Kingsnorth on hold deterioration:

Regarding holds changing, there are 2 key holds that have altered a bit since the FA in 95. Firstly the crux sidepull/ pod between the second and third bolt for your left hand has got smaller due to it crumbling. Apparently it used to be significantly bigger. Secondly the slopey pod for your right hand used to have more of a lip on it in the 90's and this broke off making this bit harder. Its the redpoint crux now - this broke agin majorly last summer but was repaired back to its former state as the piece that broke was retained and put back exactly how it used to be.

Thirdly, there were some holds between the 6th and 7th bolt that broke about 8 or 9 years ago [2015/16] but a repair was done to a key crimp so this section is about the same as what it used to be (the old holds can be seen in the Chris Savage video or the Malc pics).

I understand that this year [2024] the jug by the kneebar rest higher up has crumbled plus some other sika has decayed (not sure where) but I don't have any knowledge of this as haven't been up there to look. [1]

On balance it is not possible to know whether the route has gotten noticeably harder since the first ascent because no one has tried the route in it's previous state vs. it's current state to know if the difficulty has changed.

References

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,33869.msg697741.html#msg697741

First climbed by Mark Leach after one of the most legendary sieges on Yorkshire limestone.

Originally 8b+, the route has been upgraded in recent guides, despite no holds having broken since the FA and an easier sequence than the original nails method on the top crux being found.

Originally given E8.