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36-397: In 1989, French climber Jean-Christophe Lafaille bolted the entire circa 35 metre pitch , and named it Biographie (he was not able to climb it). Biographie remained a long-standing open project , and in 1996, French climber Arnaud Petit  [ fr ] freed the lower half of the route, added an anchor at his high-point and graded it at 8c+  (5.14c). Petit estimated that

72-401: A crevasse and then developed high altitude pulmonary edema . He was rescued by Ed Viesturs and Denis Urubko . When asked why Lafaille climbed solo, his wife Katia said he did not wish to see another climbing partner die. In December 2004, he made a solo ascent of Shishapangma. It was intended to be the first winter ascent of the mountain, but he reached the summit on 11 December which

108-417: A few years previously, but for Lafaille the danger was an important part of the experience. He commented "I find it fascinating that our planet still has areas where no modern technology can save you, where you are reduced to your most basic - and essential - self. This natural space creates demanding situations that can lead to suffering and death, but also generate a wild interior richness. Ultimately, there

144-408: A new route, solo, on the north face of Shishapangma . It was the first of many solo ascents of 8000 meter peaks, including consecutive ascents of Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II in four days in 1996, and Manaslu in 2001. Annapurna remained an obsession for Lafaille, and he would later call his autobiography Prisoner of Annapurna . He returned to the mountain three times. The first time he made

180-406: A single piece of protection to conserve equipment. On the fourth or fifth abseil, Béghin fell to his death when the single cam he was using as an anchor became dislodged from the rock. Béghin had been carrying most of the pair's technical equipment, including all the ropes, and Lafaille was left alone on the face, a vertical mile above safety. With great difficulty, Lafaille managed to climb down

216-555: A solo attempt on the British line on the South Face, which failed due to poor snow conditions. In 1998 he returned to the same route with a larger team, but the expedition was abandoned when a team member was killed in an avalanche . He finally reached the summit in 2002 with Alberto Iñurrategi via the long, committing east ridge. By 2003, Lafaille had decided to try to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders ; but unlike many of

252-481: A solo attempt to make the first winter ascent of Makalu , the world's fifth highest mountain. Born in Gap, Hautes-Alpes , Lafaille's background was in sport climbing , and as a teenager he climbed extensively at Céüse and played a part in turning it into one of the world's best known climbing venues. In 1989 he became the first Frenchman to solo a climb graded 7c+, and one of the first to climb 8c graded routes. In

288-423: A steep rock band, but almost immediately he was struck by a falling rock, which broke his right arm. Disabled and helpless, he lay on a ledge for two days in the hope that other climbers would rescue him. However, while there was a Slovenian team attempting a route on a different part of the South Face, they judged that a rescue attempt would be too dangerous to undertake, so help never came. The cruelest thing about

324-455: Is almost halfway. To the anchor, the route is considered 5.14c  (8c+), although some have suggested an upgrade to 5.15a  (9a+) due to the initial bottom boulder breaking. There is a small rest at the old anchor, then sustained resistance climbing leads to a slightly better rest just below the finishing crux . This final crux is 12 moves, described as "a bunch of foot movement, and some very fickle pockets and crimps ". Its difficulty

360-409: Is amplified by the amount of hard climbing undertaken to reach it. Above this crux is a small rest, and 5.11 climbing for 50 feet leads to the final anchor at around the circa 35-meter mark". Realization was the first route to carry a consensus 9a+  (5.15a) grade, and Climbing called it a "technical revolution" in rock climbing. The quality and sustained difficulty of Realization means it

396-494: Is no way of reconciling these contradictions. All I can do it try to live within their margins, in the narrow boundary between joy and horror. Everything on this earth is a balancing act." Over four weeks in December and January, he hauled loads up the mountain, entirely alone above his advance base camp at 5300m, but was forced to retreat from the col at Makalu La by strong winds, which destroyed his tent and twice blew him into

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432-422: Is still considered an important rite-of-passage for the world's best rock climbers, whose repeat ascents of the "legendary" route, are covered by the climbing media. Outside magazine called it "the benchmark for the grade", and it has become one of the most attempted and repeated routes at the grade at 9a+  (5.15a). In 2014, National Geographic called it, "one of the most famous sport-climbing routes in

468-688: Is the world’s first 9a+ and definitely one of the most famous routes worldwide! But it’s not just the history behind the route, also the route itself is one of the best ones I ever climbed!". In 2016, remembering his own 2015 repeat of the route, Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi called it, "..perhaps the most famous cutting-edge route in the world". Many years after the ascent of Realization , other earlier sport climbs have been revisited as potential first-ever 9a+ routes: Realization , or Biographie , has been ascended by: First female free ascents ( FFFA ): Jean-Christophe Lafaille Jean-Christophe Lafaille (31 March 1965 – 27 January 2006 [presumed])

504-422: The 75 degree face to the pair's last bivouac site, where he found 20 metres of thin rope, allowing him to make short abseils down some of the hardest parts. With no technical equipment to use as anchors he was forced to entrust his weight to tent pegs or, on one occasion, a plastic bottle. He finally reached what should have been the relative safety of the top of a fixed rope which he and Beghin had installed on

540-534: The Top ). His son, Tom Lafaille has become an alpinist and ski mountaineer, and has returned to his father's routes in the Himalayas. In 2023, Tom Lafaille made the first successful French ski descent from Broad Peak . 10. No Short Cuts to the Top , by Ed Viesturs with David Roberts (Broadway Books, 2006), p. 223-248. Description of Annapurna Expedition led by Ed Viesturs, April - May 2002. Viesturs abandoned

576-419: The air. However, after two weeks at base camp the weather improved, and on 24 January he set off up the mountain. His only means of communication was a satellite phone , which he used to speak to his wife several times a day. By the morning of the 27th he was camped on a small ledge around 1000m below the summit, and told his wife that he would try to reach the top that day. He was never heard from again. Alone on

612-529: The climb on the long east ridge, while J.C. continued and summited on May 16, 2002. An exploit labeled by himself as "the hardest thing he'd ever done in life", and by Viesturs "one of the most remarkable ascents of modern times." Crux (climbing) Glossary of climbing terms relates to rock climbing (including aid climbing , lead climbing , bouldering , and competition climbing ), mountaineering , and to ice climbing . The terms used can vary between different English-speaking countries; many of

648-584: The early 1990s, Lafaille qualified as a mountain guide and began mountaineering in the Alps. He made a number of difficult ascents on the Mont Blanc massif, including the first solo climb of Divine Providence on the Grand Pilier d'Angle , one of the hardest routes on the massif. On the strength of his climbs in the Alps, Lafaille was invited on an expedition to Annapurna by Pierre Béghin , one of

684-535: The failure of other strong climbers to repeat the route (e.g. Patxi Usobiaga , and Dave Graham ), implied that 9a+ was the likely grade. On 24 September 2017, American climber Margo Hayes became the first female climber to climb the route. On 5 August 2020, German climber Alexander Megos created Bibliographie , a 9b+  (5.15c) route, a few metres to the right of Realization/Biographie . The route starts with an immediate hard "four-move boulder problem", which partially broke in 2010, potentially rendering

720-403: The first time that I saw the route — it is truly magnificent. I was shocked to see that such a bold and impressive, seemingly perfect line exists. Add to that, the historic significance of this climb, not to mention its unique and brilliant holds and movement — it really is a proud route". On repeating the route in 2014, German climber Alexander Megos said: "I wanted to climb this route because it

756-644: The foothills of the Alps, and eventually returned to extreme climbing. In the Alps he carried out an enchainment of nine north faces in fifteen days, skiing from mountain to mountain, and made the first ascent of the Lafaille Route on the Petit Dru , which at the time was considered the hardest route in the Alps, but his most important climbs were in the Himalaya. A year after his accident on Annapurna, he climbed Cho Oyu , and then in 1994 he climbed

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792-478: The history of the line and the tradition in France that the bolter names it, and I told them "that's fine with me to call it Biographie". ... I guess the whole thing was a bit confusing due to the middle anchor and not wanting to discredit the first pitch or have the name be exactly the same as the first part. For me personally, people can call it whatever they want. Naming things is just for fun. ... That piece of rock

828-597: The leading French climbers of the day. The pair attempted the mountain's vast South Face following the monsoon season in October 1992 in Alpine style , with no Sherpa support, pre-stocked campsites or fixed ropes on the upper mountain. They had reached a height of 7,400 metres when bad weather forced them to descend. The pair made a series of abseils down the face, but due to their lightweight approach they had little protective equipment and were often forced to abseil from

864-423: The lower section even more difficult (it has been compared to the notable bouldering problem, Necessarily Evil ). Sustained 5.13 climbing after the initial bouldering problem leads to the main rest, a large right-facing flake. After this pause, a series of "super-resistant two and three-finger pocket moves", with cross-throughs, underclings , and high-steps lead to Arnaud Petit's old anchor (now since removed), which

900-604: The mountain in winter, with no climbers in the world sufficiently acclimatised to reach his high camp, there was no possibility of a rescue attempt. His base camp team gave up hope of him returning alive after he had been missing for a week, and a later helicopter flight over the mountain failed to find any sign of him. His body has not been found and his exact fate is unknown. At the time of his death, he left his wife, Katia, and 3 children (2 from previous marriage and 1 from Katia, as Ed Viesturs writes in No Short Cuts to

936-422: The mountaineers who take on this goal, he had no desire simply to climb them by well established routes, in large expeditions and with bottled oxygen. He preferred to continue trying to achieve new routes or solo ascents, or to climb in the more demanding winter season. In 2003, he climbed Nanga Parbat , Dhaulagiri (solo) and Broad Peak in a two-month period. The last of these nearly killed him when he fell into

972-534: The ordeal, Lafaille said, was being able to see life in the valley below, and by night, the flashbulbs of trekkers' cameras. In spite of this, he later agreed that the Slovenians had made the right decision in not trying to save him. Eventually, with all hope of rescue gone, Lafaille resolved to continue down alone. He initially tried to continue abseiling , but unable to control the rope with only one hand and his teeth he reverted to downclimbing one-handed, and

1008-490: The person who first bolted the route , while in the U.S. (and the U.K.), they are named by the first person to successfully free climb the route. Sharma would later clarify: I named the route Realization because the first part "Biographie" ended in the middle and I wanted to differentiate the two. Then there was some frustration from the French that I changed the name etc. So upon speaking with some French friends, I understood

1044-548: The phrases described here are particular to the United States and the United Kingdom. Also aid climbing grade . Also V-thread . Also assisted braking device . Also rappelling . Also active camming device or ACD Also IFAS grade , and UIAA Scale of Difficulty Also angel jumping , deepelling and rap jumping . Stepping on a hold while climbing on lead such that

1080-482: The remaining unclimbed section was about 8b+  (5.14a) but had a very difficult 7C  (V9) boulder problem that he could not overcome. American climber Chris Sharma made over 30 attempts from 1996 to 2000 but could also not overcome the boulder move. In 2001, Sharma skipped the Bouldering World Cup in Gap , and after three days working on the route, on 18 July 2001, successfully free climbed

1116-509: The route, linking up Petit's first section to Lafaille's final bolt. Sharma's first ascent was captured in Josh Lowell 's 2002 climbing film, Dosage Volume 1 . Witnessing his ascent was a 10-year old Charlotte Durif  [ fr ] , who was out hiking with her father. Sharma did not assign a grade to the climb. however he did name it Realization . The naming was a source of controversy as in France climbing routes are named by

Realization (climb) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-436: The world". PlanetMountain included Realization on its list of important climbs in the evolution of free climbing (1918–2013). In 2012, when Adam Ondra attempted to flash the route (i.e. complete on the first attempt) he said: "It had always been my long-term crazy dream to flash this route". In 2014, when American climber Jonathan Siegrist made the eighth ascent of the route and told Outside magazine: "I can remember

1188-524: Was a French climber noted for a number of difficult ascents in the Alps and Himalaya , and for what has been described as "perhaps the finest self-rescue ever performed in the Himalaya", when he was forced to descend the mile-high south face of Annapurna alone with a broken arm, after his climbing partner had been killed in a fall. He climbed eleven of the fourteen eight-thousanders , many of them alone or by previously unclimbed routes, but disappeared during

1224-494: Was seen as too early to be classed as a true winter ascent. He had now completed eleven of the fourteen eight-thousanders , and needed Everest , Kanchenjunga and Makalu to complete his goal. Lafaille's last climb was one of his boldest. In December 2005, he began a solo attempt to climb Makalu (8462m), the only 8000-metre peak in Nepal not to have seen a winter ascent. It was a goal which would have been considered suicidal

1260-570: Was there long, long, before us, so to get worked up about naming it is kinda ridiculous. Though only aged 20, Sharma considered retiring after completing the ascent, but found new inspiration in extreme deep-water soloing routes in Mallorca . It took almost three years until the second ascent was made by French climber, Sylvain Millet, who also refused to grade it given his lack of experience of other equivalent reference climbs, however, he noted that

1296-541: Was utterly exhausted when he reached the Slovenian team's base camp. By that time the climbers at the base of the mountain had given up hope for him, and his first wife, Véronique, had already been told that he had died. Reinhold Messner later said that the survival instinct he showed was of the sort which defines the best mountaineers. After Annapurna, Lafaille resolved never to climb again, but during his long physical and psychological recovery he began scrambling in

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