Climbing
Janja Garnbret conquers one of the hardest climbs on Earth
The two-time Olympic gold medallist completed the first female ascent of Bibliographie (9b+), mastering a route that demanded a new mindset and a different approach.
On June 6, 2026, Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret added another historic chapter to her already remarkable career by becoming the first woman ever to climb Bibliographie (9b+) in Céüse, France, and only the second woman in history to achieve a confirmed ascent of a 9b+ sport climb. That's just one step away from 9c, the hardest grade on the planet.
Garnbret began the year with silver medals both at the Pro Climbing League in London, UK, and at the World Cup in China and is now chasing a milestone few athletes ever reach – her 50th World Cup gold medal.
Garnbret's ascent of Bibliographie taught her new things
© Jessica Glassberg/ Red Bull Content Pool
This route required me to be a different climber
Every competition, success and training session had prepared her for this moment, but Bibliographie posed a challenge unlike any she had faced before. “This route required me to be a different climber,” Garnbret revealed after the send. Not because it pushed her physically, but because it forced her to think differently.
Why Janja Garnbret needed to change her mentality to conquer Bibliographie
By the time Garnbret arrived beneath the towering limestone walls of Céüse, she had already put together a strong winter of training and felt physically ready for the challenge ahead. The 27-year-old had all the tools needed to climb one of the hardest routes in the world. Yet Bibliographie quickly revealed that this project wasn't going to be won through strength alone.
Instead, success depended on something she couldn't build in the gym: patience.
"I'm a very impatient person. I want everything now. Probably because I’m a perfectionist, a high achiever – I want to achieve and achieve and achieve," she admits. "But this experience taught me that patience really is the most important thing. You can train hard all you want, you can do everything right, but it’s still not guaranteed that you will succeed.”
Patience was key to conquering an ascent like this
© Jessica Glassberg/Red Bull Content Pool
For most of her career, that mentality has helped Garnbret collect gold medals at a pace few climbers in history have ever matched. Bibliographie, however, played by different rules.
She had previously joked that if Bibliographie could somehow be moved into a gym, she would probably climb it much faster. There, she could set the temperature exactly how she liked it, control the conditions, and remove the uncertainty.
But for one of the most successful climbers, uncertainty wasn’t going to stop her. “I’m not used to projecting and I’m nowhere near being a perfect rock climber, but this route lit a fire in my heart. It made me feel something special, and I kept coming back to it.”
Bibliographie doesn't care about gold medals
Two Olympic gold medals. 49 World Cup gold medals. Years of domination on the competition circuit. None of that matters when you're hanging beneath Bibliographie.
I was really struggling with the conditions… it’s very unpredictable
Nestled high in the legendary limestone cliffs of Céüse, France, Bibliographie has earned a reputation as one of the most difficult and respected sport climbs in the world. Ethan Pringle first bolted the line back in 2009, but for more than a decade it remained an unsolved puzzle.
Alexander Megos finally completed the first ascent in 2020 and proposed the route at 9c. When Stefano Ghisolfi repeated it a year later, the grade settled at 9b+, where it remains today. Since then, only three other climbers have managed to clip the chains.
Bibliographie has more than 80 moves into its 35 metres, featuring two incredibly challenging crux sections separated by a brief rest. Apart from the route itself, Céüse adds another challenge that no climber can control.
A battle like no other for the body and mind
© Jessica Glassberg/Red Bull Content Pool
Janja adds, "I was really struggling with the conditions, but that’s the game when you climb outside. It’s also challenging because Céüse is at around 2000m, where the conditions change all the time – sometimes it’s very windy, sometimes no wind at all – so it’s very unpredictable. That also made a huge difference."
The route decides when it's ready.
Learning to slow down helped Garnbret overcome Bibliographie
The reality of projecting a route like Bibliographie is far less glamorous than the final send video. One day it throws you off the first crux, the next day it lets you glimpse the finish before shutting the door again. After enough falls, the doubts begin to creep in.
Will I ever do it?
For a climber who has spent much of her career standing on top of podiums, that question carries a different weight. One of Garnbret's biggest lessons during the project had nothing to do with strength. It was mental.
“It definitely helped me become a better athlete and a better climber – especially in terms of patience,” she admits. “And this route taught me that with a calm mind and with patience, anything can happen. Never count yourself out until the very last try, you need to fight hard. And this is something that will stay with me forever.”
Ironically, the winning attempt wasn't supposed to be the winning attempt. “I honestly thought it would just be a warm-up,” she remembers. “But my head was super calm. I was honestly just vibing on the wall. I had zero thoughts – just warming up, trying to feel the moves.”
Garnbret is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner
© Jessica Glassberg/Red Bull Content Pool
It feels incredible. It’s honestly really hard to describe
After weeks of waiting, calculations and expectations, the overthinking disappeared. What remained was pure movement, pure flow, and the kind of feeling climbers spend their entire lives searching for.
"It feels incredible. It’s honestly really hard to describe," she smiles. "When the send happens, everything is smooth, everything is perfect. You basically don’t feel what you’re climbing anymore."
The real victory: what Garnbret learned from the historic climb
Many athletes spend their entire careers chasing one defining moment. Janja Garnbret seems to collect them and then move on to the next challenge.
Despite already achieving more than most climbers could dream of, she continues searching for projects that excite her, challenge her, and force her to grow. That's exactly what Bibliographie became. While the route will be remembered for its grade and historic significance, Garnbret will remember it for something much more personal.
"This route required a lot of commitment, going up, all the time, trying, failing, failing again, failing again. Again and again until I succeeded. Usually, in the past, if I couldn't do a route in two to three tries, I would walk away and never come back. But this route required me to be a different climber. To commit, to be patient – the challenge was mostly mental."
That feeling when it's all over
© Jessica Glassberg/Red Bull Content Pool
I want to enjoy this moment, then I’ll look for a new project
The ascent also places her in one of the sport's most exclusive elites: the 9b+ club. But if history has taught us anything about Janja Garnbret, it's that she rarely stays satisfied for long.
The fire still burns
"Now I want to enjoy this moment," she says. "Then I’ll look for a new project – something that lights a fire in me like Bibliographie did."
There is another milestone already looming on the horizon. The road to Los Angeles is getting closer, qualification events begin next year, and the possibility of a third Olympic gold medal is becoming one of the biggest storylines in climbing.
But before the focus shifts back to plastic holds and competition arenas, there is this moment.
A moment built on patience, commitment and a warm-up attempt that somehow turned into climbing history.