Seb Bouin's 'DNA Project': Is this the other hardest climb on the planet?

Sen Bouin climbs the 'DNA Project' route.Lena Drapella

The French climber Sébastien Bouin announced this Thursday an achievement as unexpected as it is capital: the second 9c proposal in history (it would be the third, after the one proclaimed in 2019 by Álex Megos and later lowered to 9b+) for a route baptized as

discovered and equipped by himself in the Gorges du Verdon, in France.

Bouin, from the Black Diamond team, managed to chain her up a few days ago.

That is to say, he climbed it without hanging to rest or holding on to the insurance to progress until reaching the drop or chain (hence the term chaining).

To indicate the difficulty of a sport climbing route, that is, a protected route with fixed anchors that more than support the weight of a person in free fall, a scale of degrees is used and in Europe the French graduation is used.

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To date, the most difficult route on the planet is called

, it is in Norway and was conceived and chained in 2017 by the Czech Adam Ondra, reputed to be the best climber of this century.

Five years later, Seb Bouin would have overtaken the Czech: if this were the 100-meter dash in athletics, we would have something like a tie for the world record.

There is a problem, however: here there are no judges, no stopwatches, no official establishment that validates the ascents.

The difficulty of the routes is reached by consensus of many climbers, but there are so few human beings capable of reaching difficulties of 9c that today it is not even known if that degree exists beyond the imagination of its applicants.

No one has repeated the chaining of

after Ondra's announcement.

And, of course, the only one to have chained

, Séb Bouin, has serious doubts: is it a 9b+ or a 9c?

To begin with, the French has more than 60 routes of difficulty between 9a and 9b/+.

He has never chained a confirmed 9b +, sticks that he himself assumes when he explains his degree proposal.

“I have spent several sleepless nights thinking about the graduation of this route, wondering if I was entitled to make such a proposal, comparing it with other routes of maximum difficulty that I have climbed.

If I say 9b+ I know I'm not wrong;

if I say it's 9c I'm taking a risk... but I'm going to take it.

And my reasons are these: no one has yet repeated the 9th grade routes that I have equipped since 2014 on this Ramirole wall.

If I compare the time spent on

with the invested in the hardest routes I have climbed, this one is harder and that its collapsed style is the one that suits me best.

As there is only one 9c proposal in the world, it is very difficult for me to be sure and confident with my proposal because I have never tried something so difficult before,” said the Frenchman.

Bouin asks himself questions: “The fact that it is a first ascent adds more doubts: What if it cost me so much because I started from scratch, without information, and those who come later, with more information, find it easier?

Despite so many doubts, I decide to propose 9c and I need other climbers to come, climb it and give their opinion to confirm its difficulty or adjust it.

The sum of opinions makes degree proposals less and less subjective.

Our sport is beautiful: we don't need judges because we are the judges… but it's hard to judge yourself… That's why I invite the strongest climbers to come and try the route, which is in a central location in Europe and very beautiful”.

The French climber discovered the possibility of creating the route in 2019. He tried it for six months in 2020 and for another six months in 2021. Until the day he chained it, he spent almost 200 days on the wall and tried the route about 250 times .

The work on the wall has been immense, almost infinite, a particularly severe test psychologically: Bouin was not even sure that he would be able to climb the route and there came a point where he fell and fell again and again past the lowest area. severe.

“There are certain hopes that we cling to.

Dreams that keep us alive.

At many times it seemed like an impossible undertaking, but I kept a small glimmer of hope to try again and again... although I confess that there were times when I felt lost and lost hope”, admits the Frenchman.

In these more than two years of testing, Bouin has also tried unsuccessfully to chain the

route , the same one that Megos erroneously pointed out as a 9c: “It is not my style at all and in the end I gave up to return to my own project where I have I have faced my fears, I have fought against frustration, I have dealt with many doubts and I have felt great joy”, admits the French climber.

And he hopes not to have to wait five years, like Ondra, until someone repeats his deed and judges the difficulty of his work.

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