Bibliographie 9c FA by Alex Megos UPDATED with comments

Alex Megos has done the FA of Bibliographie 9c in Céüse after around 60 days of projecting. The 35 m route was bolted by Ethan Pringle in 2009 and the 26-year-old has tried it actively for three year. In the video from 2019, some of the sequences are included. (c) Jenya Kazbekova

” The crux consists of 4 moves in the middle of the route. Approximately 8a+ boulder. You have a relatively good hold and you need to do a big gaston move to a crimp, from there you match on top of the crimp as a pinch. You do a dead point move into a bad two finger pocket and from there a long move to a crimp. Ideally you climb the boulder problem without cut loose, but sometimes my feet cut going from the pocket to the crimp."

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Sometimes the odds are against you, but it doesn't mean you don't have a chance. Yesterday evening, on my last day of the trip, it definitely wasn’t looking good after messing up the first (and only) try I wanted to do that day. I fell relatively low on the route though, so I decided to give it an infamous “one last go”. I passed the crux in the middle of the route, and found myself on the poor rest before the final hard section. 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. With approximately 60 climbing days over the past three years "Bibliographie" has been by far my longest project to date. I know there are many speculations about the grade and I think grades are very subjective. My personal suggestion for the grade is 9c (5.15d). Considering the fact, that "Perfecto Mundo" (9b+) has taken me 16 days of effort, "Bibliographie" with around 60 days and more specific training felt a lot harder. Of course, as the first ascensionist you don't have your perfect beta from the start, you have doubts whether it is possible or not for you, if you are completely missing something, or if you are just not in the best shape. It is always harder to grade something without any other opinion. I am very curious about what the future of the route will look like, and grateful for other people's opinions. Independently from the grade, this has been a very valuable experience for me. It marks a personal milestone in my climbing life, one I would have not been able to complete without the support and help of all of my friends and family. Deep gratitude and thanks goes to all of you! (And yes, there is send footage 😉) Pic @ken_etzel

Ett inlägg delat av Alexander Megos (@alexandermegos) 6 Aug 2020 kl. 12:00 PDT

In 2009 and 2010, Alex won eight out of ten Euro Youth Cups he participated in and in the remaining two, he was runner-up. He stopped competing in 2012, after having tried the World Cupo with not much success. In his comeback in 2017, he was #2 in the Euro Bouldering Championship and later in his second Lead WC, he was also runner up. In 2018, he begun his Olympic dream and won one event in Lead and got a bronze in the World Championship. Last year, he qualified to Tokyo by and he was #2 in the Lead World Championship.

Outdoors, Alex created history in 2013, with the first ever 9a onsight. In total he has done some 90 routes graded 8c+/9a and harder including his FA of Perfecto Mundo 9b+. Interesting is that his trainers Dicki Korb and Patrik Matros, have said that they deliberately have tried to hold him back and instead more focusing on a holistic approach.

"It is about balancing all things out and working hard, for a long term progress. Motivation, having fun and being creative are most important and I am not fan of strict systematic programs where you should doing fixed seconds on a hang board. Sure we sometimes do hang board excercises and we have a general plan but it can always be changed based on current feelings and almost half of Megos training is non-climbing exercises."

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"BIBLIOGRAPHIE" ✅ by @alexandermegos . Having you by my side and seeing every day the effort you are putting into your dreams will never stop amazing me. Behind the scenes of success there is always so much more. I'm unbelievably proud of how you are managing your world. There are many great athletes out there, but the difference is what a person you are. Thank you for reminding me what a huge heart you have and how much you care about being better person every day. Your contribution to this world is really meaningful. I hope you will keep your smile, your attitude and your desire to make this world a better place. Keep pursuing your dreams💫 #carrotsforpower

Ett inlägg delat av Ievgeniia Kazbekova (@jenya_kazbekova) 6 Aug 2020 kl. 7:43 PDT