Seb Bouin has made the first ascent of Les Rois du Lithium, 9b, in Pic St Loup, France.

Bouin bolted the route last spring after he made the first ascent of Ariégeois Cœur Loyal, also at his home crag of Pic Saint Loup.

In an email sent to us earlier today, Seb told us:

'From the ground, Les Rois du Lithium looked like the perfect line. Straight in the wall with a 20m hardcore ending. When I bolted it, I couldn't imagine there will be so much perfect holds. And when I first tried it, I was amazed by the moves and the line'. 

'[It is] basically split in two parts. There is an easy approach around 8b/5.13d tiring you for the main part. And then, there is this beautiful power endurance part counting 22 hard moves in a row. The line and the moves are so fun. Every try was a pleasure. It's like surfing a wave'.

'Les Rois du Lithium is possibly my favorite 5.15b climbed. The difficulty meets the beauty here. The fun fact is quite important on a hard project. When you like the effort, when riding the rock is inspiring yourself, you know you got the right project'.

'There is another hard and inspiring project in Pic Saint Loup: The Wolf Kingdom project. It will be harder than Les Rois du Lithium. Let's continue the fight!'

The route is Bouin's twelfth at 9b, and his seventh first ascent at the grade. He has a further five 9b+ ascents to his name, as well as the only ascent of the world's second 9c route, DNA. 

You can watch a short clip from Seb's successful attempt below: