It is considered an historic and important route in rock climbing, and one of the most attempted climbs at its grade. Biographie remained a long-standing open project, and in 1996, French climber freed the lower half, added an anchor at his high-point and graded it at .

Sharma did not assign a grade to the climb. however he did name it Realization. The naming was a source of controversy as in France climbing routes are named by the person who first bolted the route, while in the U.S. (and the U.K.), they are named by the first person to successfully free climb the route.

Though only aged 20 at the time of the ascent, Sharma considered retiring, but found new inspiration in extreme deep-water soloing routes in Mallorca.

On 24 September 2017, American climber Margo Hayes became the first female climber to climb the route. On 5 August 2020, German climber Alexander Megos created Bibliographie, a route, a few metres to the right of Realization/Biographie.

Route

The route starts with an immediate hard "four-move boulder problem", which partially broke in 2010, potentially rendering the lower section even more difficult (it has been compared to the notable bouldering problem, Necessary Evil, an 8c+ route). Sustained 5.13 climbing after the initial bouldering problem leads to the main rest, a large right-facing flake. After this pause, a series of "super-resistant two and three-finger pocket moves", with cross-throughs, underclings, and high-steps lead to Arnaud Petit's old anchor (now since removed), The quality and sustained difficulty of Realization means it is still considered an important rite-of-passage for the world's best rock climbers, whose repeat ascents of the "legendary" route, are covered by the climbing media. In 2014, National Geographic called it, "one of the most famous sport-climbing routes in the world".

In 2012, when Adam Ondra attempted to flash the route (i.e. complete on the first attempt) he said: "It had always been my long-term crazy dream to flash this route". On repeating the route in 2014, German climber Alexander Megos said: "I wanted to climb this route because it is the world’s first 9a+ and definitely one of the most famous routes worldwide! But it’s not just the history behind the route, also the route itself is one of the best ones I ever climbed!". In 2016, remembering his own 2015 repeat of the route, Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi called it, "..perhaps the most famous cutting-edge route in the world".

Subsequent first 9a+ contendors

Many years after the ascent of Realization, other earlier sport climbs have been revisited as potential first-ever 9a+ routes:

  • In 2008, Adam Ondra completed the second ascent of Alexander Huber's 1996 route Open Air at Austria's Schleierfall, and felt it was ; Huber freed it in 1996 and graded it as , but Ondra felt that Open Air was harder than "benchmark" climbs such as Weiss Rose, Action Directe, and even La Rambla, which are or .
  • In 2021, Will Bosi completed the second ascent of Steve McClure's 1998 route Mutation at Raven Tor crag in Millers Dale, in the Peak District in England, and felt it was ; McClure freed it in 1998 and graded it as . Bosi felt it was possibly even .

Ascents

Realization, or Biographie, has been ascended by:

  • 3rd. Patxi Usobiaga on July 29, 2004
  • 4th. Dave Graham on July 30, 2007
  • 5th. Ethan Pringle on September 2, 2007
  • 6th. Ramón Puigblanque on July 27, 2008
  • 7th. on August 15, 2010
  • 8th. Jonathan Siegrist on June 1, 2014
  • 9th. Alex Megos on July 11, 2014
  • 10th. Adam Ondra on July 22, 2014
  • 11th. Sachi Amma on August 7, 2014
  • 12th. Stefano Ghisolfi on June 22, 2015
  • 13th. Jon Cardwell on May 25, 2016
  • 14th. Sean Bailey on August 5, 2016
  • 15th. Margo Hayes on September 24, 2017
  • 17th. on September 22, 2018
  • 18th. Jorge Díaz-Rullo on July 13, 2019
  • 19th. Sébastien Bouin on June 13, 2020
  • 20th. Matty Hong on May 29, 2023.
  • 21st. Satone Yoshida on August 16, 2025.

First female free ascents (FFFA):

  • 1st. Margo Hayes on September 24, 2017