Black Diamond Presents: Hard Sends with Seb Bouin—Wolf Kingdom (9b+)

Seb is the guy I never saw pumped. Recently, he worked hard again at Pic Saint-Loup with a new mega-line. The Wolf Kingdom. I'm Thibault, and lately I've been spending a lot of time with him behind the camera. I've seen him exploring crazy places, setting up routes on scary walls, always on the lookout for the hidden gems. When he's got something on his mind, nothing can stop him, not even the worst conditions. I've seen him falling so many times, but in the end, he always manages to clip anchors. The route Thibaults are so long and difficult that we all wonder how he can endure such a sustained effort. Where does this endless passion for discovering the mega-lines come from? Let's try together to find out more about his guide through the Wolf Kingdom. I was looking for such an impressive wall for so long. Climbing is also about dreaming, dreaming about crazy lines and crazy walls. I still remember how much I was excited when for the first time I went up to this crag. The more I was getting closer, the more I could feel the craziness of this wall. I remember standing in front of the wall, amazed by the shape, the color and the steepness. Finally, I thought I found my hidden gems close to my home. At this moment, I knew I will spend the upcoming years climbing hard here. When I did my first hard route in Pixanlou, I didn't expect this crag will have so much hard and beautiful lines. I did first Morksha, which is 80 plus 90, Staphylocock, 90, Chimera, 90 plus, and then beyond, ACL. Every time, each route was just a bit beyond my limit, which helped me to progress and train in the right way to reach my next level. 10 years later, I found THE King Line, the one with the most exhausting effort I know. I always had it in my mind, and I knew when I will finish off my project, which was ACL, I should definitely put the rope on it and check out how it is. There is just the necessary hold to have a hard line, but doable. You know, it's possible to find something too easy or just too hard without any hold. Find such a beautiful route with a perfect balance is something unique in a climber life. After so many years trying to develop the most beautiful and the hardest lines possible, I wish some climbers will come to try them. I would be so happy to see people trying my route. But some routes are so difficult that, until recently, no one comes to try them. It's something super inspiring to see the best climbers in the world trying a line you spent so much time to develop. It's kind of a gift to see them climbing in this route. Oh my god. I think you will love this one so much, Adam. The lower foot, right kneebar, seems like way better. What's happening right now is something unique in the climbing community. Being three of us talking and sharing about a project at the same place doesn't happen often. You stay really low, and I think I know the place. But if I try like this, it feels... I don't know. It works, but I feel like I'm really extended. The way you do it looks so easy, and I feel like... What I find really impressive is that Sam, working on this route alone, it's really impressive that he really took so much effort into finding the best possible beta. So even though we are here for two weeks with Jakob, trying a lot, we always haven't really found anything. So we are basically just copying Sam's beta with some minor changes. Sam's first ascent is not only impressive because he did it as a physical challenge, but also this whole mental and technical approach of finding the best possible beta, even though he mostly just tried it alone. So really a lot of respect. The winter before he sent DNA, he was super close. Watching him again and again falling and never giving up was truly inspiring. The question is, will his experience in DNA become a game changer for his next future projects? This process in DNA was tough. It was really hard to believe I have a chance on this route until the end. I had to learn how to maintain my motivation at such a high level. For sure, I learned a lot through the DNA process. And now I am ready to live new experiences and face the next big challenge. It's important to learn having the right mindset. Because of this, I think there is not many people in the world that can climb 9c right now. But there might be like, especially in terms of the physical power, there are a bunch more. But then a lot of them don't have the mental power yet to do so, I think. And because I realized again that I barely have it also, you know. I kind of forgot again how tough it is to try something that hard. On the first sessions, you definitely have moments where you think like, does it make sense to even keep trying? It's definitely a mental challenge to try something this hard and this close to your level. What makes the difference between Seb and other strong climbers? Where does he get the mindset to stay focused for so long on projects so ambitious? You know, even though his climbing style is, I would say, quite modern, he has still maybe more the old school, very cool mentality, mostly just climbing a lot, training on the rock, climbing a lot, putting up first ascents, and spending just a lot of time on the rock. He is like the real rock climber. But he always wanted to make exploits. One, two, three, go! He was riding a horse, he thought he was going to jump three meters high with his thing. He was riding a camel, he was upset, you see, he had his head in the ground. It was really a sharing from the beginning of the activity, you see. He only did the cliff. Basically, it was really with that that he started. There was no room, there was nothing. We went to Château-Double, you see, the sectors over there. But we tried, when I was little, I took him to Voirent, you see, we made selections, you know, to get into the French team, alone. And Seb, he wasn't in that mood, he said, no, no, I climb as I want, when I want. And so it meant that he didn't need someone to drive him. Yes, his motivation, it is intact. We had to climb, but under water, under snow, under ... Well, it doesn't matter, it added a difficulty and when it was better, well, we would be stronger. Verdun-Gorge, Pic Saint-Loup are amazing places, maybe the most beautiful places in France. And I know if I don't like the place, if I don't like the atmosphere around, it will be super hard for me to try something that hard. Being outside, near the farm of my mother, with animals, chilling in the Verdun-Gorge during the summer, spending good times, that was a key for me in DNA. Actually, after so many years of Seb putting up just an amazing, amazing route, there's many places I have never been and many routes that I'm really psyched to climb. For example, Pic Saint-Loup is maybe a wall which looks even better than Aramidol and I've never been there, so yeah, it's definitely next on the list. It's like this move is quite hard and then this move is quite hard into the two-finger pocket. And then it's more just bumpy. So this is my day one in Pic Saint-Loup and I was expecting a lot and I'm just mind-blown. For sure, it's one of the best hardcore cracks I've ever seen and the climbing is perfect. Without Seb, I would probably never find a way how to hold it. And it's like that. So I have just tried the Le Roi de Lithium and it's just incredible. You know, the sequence of, I don't know, 20, 22 moves without any stop really. You just keep on climbing on actually quite small holds and big moves. And it's physical, it's technical and it's bumpy. It's just the perfect mixture. This is the cracks of Le Roi du Lithium. I've spent so much time watching them trying the hardest move. Even when they know how to do, they keep falling and falling. How can they even think of doing these moves after 35 meters of extreme climbing? It takes a mind of steel not to give up. Right now, I'm really struggling in this last crack. This is Gaston. And I don't think I have any chance of sending the route if I come in tired from the ground. I was waiting so much for the perfect conditions to have a chance on this route. We have some time to rely on luck to get the right friction. And when I knew the wind was going to pick up, I knew I had my chance. Le Roi du Lithium was a step for the Wolf Kingdom project. I knew I had to control every movement of this 9b before trying it from the harder entrance. Climbers love to spend hours talking about betas. When you see Seb and Adam sharing their impressions, you understand just how much precision is required to climb at the highest level. This one is not completely down, but just a bit higher. Finding the right beta is maybe the hardest thing when you walk a route. Every detail counts. Every foot. Every hand. Every finger on the hold. So when you got it, it's really nice to share it with your friends. Wolf Kingdom is going through the most overhanging part of the wall. It starts on a hard 9a and then go right to John Le Roi du Lithium. The link between these two parts of the wall looks almost impossible to me. On this last part, you have around 20 hard moves where you can barely clip one draw and put a little bit of chalk in your hand. You have to run as it was a competition route in order to keep up your level energy. Sending the 9b after climbing this first hard 9a looks like something from another world. I already did more than 50 times the first pitch and it's really hard mentally to fall every time up there. I haven't tried the whole Wolf Kingdom, but I think for a 9b+, it's definitely not an easy one. That's for sure. Having tried just the 9b version, I suppose climbing a 9a before actually adds quite a lot. It's incredible. I skipped some of the moves as I didn't really know where to place my feet, so I was just kind of strategically waiting to re-watch the video of Sepp and save some energy. But it's so, so, so, so good. It's hard to believe how good it is. It's really, really a masterpiece. Ah, it's the first one, ok. I definitely don't think it's by no means easier than the 9b+, and let's see if it's maybe not harder. I'm surprised he still kind of jumps from the two guest turns. Right now, my mindset is not so great because I keep falling on the last crux. I have to be ready at the right moment with the right conditions. And it's quite hard to align everything. Changing your mind with friends, training, helps a lot to come back stronger with a good mindset for your project. You just forgot about success or fail. You just focus on the present moment to enjoy it. We just finished the session at Pic Saint-Loup. The goal is to train after the cliff to finish and also to work on more specific things. Because the cliff is a long and tough effort, and it's not always easy to keep a high level of strength while climbing a cliff. Ah, this is the testosterone cave. Oh yeah. I'm going to let go! It's like the Wolf Kingdom. Each sentence of a sentence is always... We've been training for months. Through this Wolf Kingdom process, we are enjoying so much the time here. Projecting during the day or training after the crag is something really fun when you share it with your friends. Today, the weather is crazy. Great weather. Pure conditions. It's going to be a climbing day as we like it. What are the conditions, Saïd? 100%. 100%, we're going to say 98% because it's never perfect. There's something strange. Crag 1 is so sick. You have to crush these two crimps in order to jump on this tufa. There is this unique feeling when you do this move. Then you have big move and pumpy section to join crux 2. Crux 2 is not as impressive as crux 1 but it's definitely not easier. After this crux, you reach a good rest where you can calm down and recovery as much as you can. From this rest, you have to traverse right on this crux 3 with a huge span move. The goal of this last rest is to recovery as much as you can and get out fresh from here. If I don't, I have no chance to send Wolf King anymore. When I leave this rest, I have to give everything. I have to find the flow and let my rage go through the movement of the route. Climbing this last part of the route is like surfing a wave. You have to be at the right place and the right moment to have a chance to catch it. There is this last shitty kneebar where you can barely clip and breathe a little bit before entering the last crux. When you reach the last crux, game is on. Wait, I'm going to ring the bell. Send Wolf King please. We can hear him in the valley. You're sure that in Pompignan, we know that you did it there. There was a lot of emotion after the crux. I grabbed them, I had my elbows like this. It was awesome. Too bad I don't have another team. I'm not going to stay on the project. Thank you guys. Who should I thank? Finding, bolting and climbing this perfect line was a unique opportunity in my climbing life. Being able to share this experience with my friends and all the strong climbers was icing on the cake. Et voilà, another inspiring adventure. A journey to the heart of extreme difficulty, where ascending is more than just tightening the holds. But how far Seb will go is anyone's guess, not even his own. One thing is for sure, he's not about to stop.