Seb Bouin makes first ascent of Les Rois du Lithium (F9b)
- Friday 26th April 2024
French climber Sébastien Bouin has made the first ascent of Les Rois du Lithium (F9b/5.15b) at Pic Saint Lou in France. He bolted the project in Spring 2023 after the first ascent of another F9b, Ariégeois Cœur Loyal (or ACL for short) - click here for news on that. Les Rois du Lithium takes a straight line up the middle of the crag.
In a message sent out to media outlets, including Climber, Seb commented:
“From the ground, Les Rois du Lithium looked like the perfect line. Straight in the wall with a 20m hardcore ending. When I bolted it, I couldn’t imagine there will be so much perfect holds. And when I first tried it, I was amazed by the moves and the line.
[It is] basically split in two parts. There is an easy approach around F8b/5.13d tiering you for the main part. And then, there is this beautiful power endurance part counting 22 hard moves in a row. The line and the moves are so fun. Every try was a pleasure. It’s like surfing a wave.
Les Rois du Lithium is possibly my favourite F9b/5.15b climbed. The difficulty meets the beauty here. The fun fact is quite important on a hard project. When you like the effort, when riding the rock is inspiring yourself, you know you got the right project. There is another hard and inspiring project in Pic Saint Loup: The Wolf Kingdom project. It will be harder than Les Rois du Lithium. Let’s continue the fight!”
Seb is a very prolific climber at the top end of the sport and is well known for hard ascents with countless repeats and first ascents above F9a including the first ascent of the 50m long DNA (F9c and the world’s second route at this grade after Adam Odra’s Silence in Norway) at La Ramirole, Verdon Gorge in France.