Seb Bouin has added another hard first ascent to his list: Le Chant des Muses, a steep prow at Romeyer, just outside Die in France's Drôme region, which he proposes at 9b.

Local developer Quentin Chastaigner bolted the line and tipped off Bouin, betting the sustained overhang would fit him. The route stacks an 8c entry directly into an 8c+ boulder problem separated only by a kneebar rest. Bouin repeatedly blew the finish on the deadpoint to the left-hand sloper before finally clipping the chains.

As usual Bouin is careful with the grade: it could be a hard 9a+ or a soft 9b. Because the style fits him so well, he settled on 9b and left the final word to future repeaters. The route joins a strong run of his first ascents, including El Gran Cabrón (9b) in China, Vidra La Vida (9b/+) in Croatia and Wolf Kingdom (9b+) at Pic Saint-Loup. In the film the route is also called "Le Champ des Muses".

Black Diamond released a short film of the ascent, featured as UKClimbing's Friday Night Video, showing the kneebar sequence in detail.

Sources: UKClimbing, Lacrux. More climbing news on climbing.place.

Cover photo via Lacrux (Black Diamond film, Jose Parada Ortega / Thibaut Marot)