Alex Megos Sends Multi-Year Project Bibliographie, Suggests 5.15d

Alex Megos announced on Instagram that he has redpointed his multi-year project, Bibliographie in Céüse, France. Megos has proposed 9c [5.15d], making it the world’s second route of the grade after Adam Ondra’s Silence. “Considering the fact, that Perfecto Mundo (9b+, 5.15c) has taken me 16 days of effort, Bibliographie with around 60 days and more specific training felt a lot harder,” he wrote.

Bibliographie is located just to the right of Chris Sharma’s iconic Biography, which was considered the world’s first 5.15a at the time of the first ascent. Ethan Pringle bolted Bibliographie in 2009. The route follows 35 meters of overhung rock, according to the French website Fanatic Climbing. 

Megos can be seen climbing on the project in the beginning of the film Rotpunkt. Bibliographie starts at :35 in the video below.

In the film’s opening monologue he discusses his mental challenges regarding the line:

 “I never thought I would be able to push the limits of sport climbing. I mean, I was scared of failing, so I would then end up not trying certain things because I knew that I might not succeed on them. Now I’ve already spent more than 40 days on the project, and I don’t even know how close I am to sending.”

Megos redpointed the route on the last day of this trip, after falling low on the route on a previous attempt. It was the infamous ‘one last go,” he wrote. He described the send on Instagram:

“I passed the crux in the middle of the route, and found myself on the poor rest before the final hard section,” he wrote. “Twice prior to this burn I had fallen on the last hard move of the route, so I wasn’t feeling super confident. Nonetheless I started off after the rest with full pace and only briefly slowed down to adjust one hold and to get it perfectly. I passed my ‘trouble move’ seemingly effortlessly and despite being completely pumped out of my mind, I was able to pull off the sequence of the last four moves … After clipping the anchor it seemed like all of the days of work I have put into the route were passing in front of my eyes.”

To celebrate his accomplishment, Megos ordered a stack of pizzas at the nearby Le Crux Pizzas. A video of his ascent is forthcoming.

Alex Megos is one of the most accomplished sport climbers of all time. Prior to this ascent, he completed the first ascent of Perfecto Mundo (5.15c) in 2018. He is the only climber besides Adam Ondra to complete a 5.15c first ascent. In 2013, he completed the first-ever onsight of a 9a [5.14d] route with Estado Critico. In 2015, he climbed his first 5.15b with First Round, First Minute. Recently he completed the first ascent of Upgrade U (V15), the hardest boulder problem in Germany’s Frankenjura. He estimates that he has climbed over 1,000 routes that are 8a [5.13b] or harder.