Céüse

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Climbing at Céüse started remarkably late considering it has emerged as one of the best sport climbing crags in the world. Early exploration at the start of the 1980s focused on Face Est and consisted largely of adventurous trad routes and pistons and natural gear.

Patrick Edlinger spotted the potential early on, equipping routes such as Blocage Violent (7b+), La Femme Noire (7c+) and La Femme Blanche (8a+) in 1984. While development continued slowly through the 80s, it took until the 1990s and the introduction of the power drill for development to really accelerate.

In 2001 the cliff was thrust into the limelight with Chris Sharma's first ascent of Biographie (9a+). Although he did not offer a grade at the time, it was widely taken to be the first 9a+ in the world. While this title has shifted around with retro-upgrades, it remains a shining example of a beautiful, pure line of immaculate difficulty.

After making short work of Biographie (9a+) in 2014, climbing the route in a single session, Alex added his own mark to the cliff with his ascent of the neighboring Bibliographie (9b+), one of the hardest routes in the world at the time and another route of incredible quality. Janja Garnbret's ascent in June 2026 made her only the second woman to ever climb 9b+.

Céüse will undoubtedly continue to offer more lines of the highest quality and difficulty to future generations.