Janja Garnbret repeated Bibliographie 5.15c in Céüse, France, and the climb gave the two-time Olympic gold medallist her first ascent at that grade. It also made her the second woman to climb 5.15c, adding a new line to one of sport climbing’s hardest routes.

The route is no ordinary test piece. Bibliographie stretches for more than 80 moves across 35 metres, a long, punishing climb that first drew attention when Alex Megos made the inaugural ascent in August 2020 and originally suggested 5.15d. Stefano Ghisolfi later repeated it and settled on 5.15c after finding more efficient beta, while Sean Bailey followed in September 2021 and Sébastien Bouin and Jorge Diaz-Rullo added ascents in 2023. Garnbret is the first climber to send the route since Diaz-Rullo.

Garnbret said the climb demanded commitment, patience and repeated attempts, and she made clear that this one did not come quickly. She said she usually walks away after two or three tries if a route does not go, but Bibliographie kept her there through failure after failure until she finally linked it. That is the friction point in the ascent: one of the strongest climbers in the sport had to abandon her usual rhythm and stay with a problem long enough for it to give way.

Her send lands after a year that already had pushed the ceiling for women’s climbing, with Brooke Raboutou becoming the first woman to climb 5.15c on Excalibur in spring 2025. Garnbret’s repeat of Bibliographie now extends that small, elite club to two. She had already shown she could climb near the edge of the grade scale, with a flash of Pure Dreaming 5.14+ in Italy last fall, but this was her first at 5.15c. What remains unanswered is not whether she belongs in that company. It is what grade she will choose to chase next after proving she can stay on a route long enough to break it.