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Catherine Destivelle

Catherine Destivelle

Acting

Biography

Catherine Destivelle, born on July 24, 1960, in Oran, Algeria, is a French climber and mountaineer. In 2020, she received a Lifetime Achievement Piolet d'Or for her achievements and contributions to the world of mountaineering. Introduced to climbing at a very young age, she had already climbed the most difficult routes in the French Alps by the age of twenty. By the end of the 1980s, she had become one of the world's best climbers, amassing records, trophies, and honorary distinctions. The 1990s marked a turning point towards mountaineering, as she participated in expeditions to the Himalayas and became the first woman to climb the three major north faces of the Alps solo in winter. Highly popular, she has been the subject of numerous news reports and documentaries. Catherine Destivelle grew up in Paris and was introduced to climbing at a very young age in the Fontainebleau forest. At 15, she could climb the toughest rocks. At 17, she spent her weekends scaling the highest peaks in the Alps. Around the age of 20, she embarked on a career as a physiotherapist, but after five years, the lure of the mountains proved too strong, and she began competing in international climbing competitions. From 1985 to 1988, she was considered the best climber in the world. In 1990, she returned to mountaineering with a series of incredible ascents, including solo winter climbs of the three most legendary Alpine faces—the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses, and the Matterhorn—making her the greatest climber of all time. Among her notable achievements: in 1990, she climbed the Nameless Tower in Pakistan and soloed the Bonatti Pillar on the Drus. In June 1991, she established a new route on the famous west face of the Drus during a remarkable 11-day solo ascent. On March 10, 1992, she completed a 17-hour solo ascent of the Eiger's north face (3,970 meters) in the Bernese Oberland, a legendary rock face considered the deadliest in the Alps. Later that same year, she attempted the immense Latok in Pakistan. In 1993, she made the first winter solo ascent of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses and attempted the west pillar of Makalu in Nepal. In 1994, she completed a winter solo ascent of the Bonatti route on the north face of the Matterhorn. In 1995, she climbed the southwest face of Shishapangma in Tibet and attempted the south face of Annapurna. 1996 marked a pause in her climbing activity due to an accident in Antarctica, but she recovered very quickly. In early summer 1999, Catherine climbed the direct north face of the Cima Grande di Lavaredo in the Italian Dolomites. Catherine was once again the first woman to complete this solo ascent, which took her two days. In 2020, Catherine Destivelle was awarded the Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award for her lifetime achievements and contributions to the world of mountaineering. She is the first woman to be honored with this prize. Today, in addition to her mountaineering activities, she is a lecturer and director of Éditions du Mont-Blanc.

Known For

Grimpeur Étoile
10.0

In 1984, climbing virtuoso Patrick Berhault gave a night climbing demonstration with Nico Ivaldo in Finale Ligure, Italy. This close and spontaneous connection with the audience, the silence followed by the cheers of the crowd with each move, amplified the climbers' sensations, creating a powerful feeling that gave them a state of flow. This idea of ​​climbing dance took root and culminated in the film "Star Climber," composed of parodic vignettes retracing the history of climbing through the ages. Berhault, by turns a Cro-Magnon man, a Zulu in a trance, a troubadour climber accompanied on the flute by Catherine Destivelle, a Buster Keaton trying to climb his beautiful woman's wall, as Blues Brothers, Berhault and Robert Cortijo push the dial on rock 'n' roll 10 meters above the ground solo on the facade of a building at the crossroads of West Side Story and a Terry Gilliam film.

Grimpeur Étoile

1989Movie
Faszination Bergfilm - Himmelhoch und Abgrundtief
10.0

A fascinating chronology of 100 years of mountain film history in the Alps. This documentary focuses primarily on films shot on the Matterhorn, the Eiger, and the Grandes Jorasses, considered until the 1930s as the "last problems of the Alps," and shows the evolution of mountain filmmaking through numerous excerpts from documentaries and feature films – notably on the Matterhorn in 1901. The genre, appropriated as a means of mass exaltation by "fascist" regimes during the Second World War, was reinvented in the 1950s by Gaston Rebuffat, Marcel Ichac, and Lionel Terray in the Mont Blanc massif, avant-garde figures of French mountain cinema, who reintroduced, beyond performance, the values ​​of the mountains – and in color – poetry, humor, and sharing among people from all walks of life.

Faszination Bergfilm - Himmelhoch und Abgrundtief

2008Movie
Eiger
10.0

In the 1980s, Catherine Destivelle, nicknamed "Rock Queen," won several world titles in climbing competitions. In the early 1990s, weary of competitions, world championships, and the pressure of elite sport, she chose to return to the essentials: the mountains, alone and facing the challenge. In 1991, she established a new route—solo—on the west face of the Drus in 11 days. Her ascent garnered admiration, but for many, she remained primarily a rock climber. On March 9, 1992, around 5:00 a.m., she proved the skeptics wrong. After months of preparation on ice with her friend Jeff Lowe, she set off alone on the icy north face of the Eiger, and 17 hours later, she reached the summit. The mountaineering world bowed in awe; she entered the pantheon of mountaineering. Catherine Destivelle will be the first woman to have climbed the three great north faces of the Alps: the Grandes Jorasses, the Matterhorn and the Eiger – solo.

Eiger

1992Movie
11 Days in the Drus
10.0

At 31, and with four world climbing championship titles to her name, Catherine Destivelle had already amassed numerous mountaineering achievements, notably the ascent of the Trango Tower in the Karakoram and the Bonatti Pillar on the Drus. On June 24 and July 4, 1991, she attempted to open a new route on the notoriously difficult west face of the Drus: alone, unsupported, and carrying 80 kilos of equipment. After 11 days and 11 nights battling the cold and the rock, on July 4, 1991, Catherine Destivelle reached the summit of the Drus. Following this solitary odyssey on one of the most beautiful faces in the Alps, the climbing star became a renowned mountaineer. Today, despite this line having disappeared in the major collapses of the Drus in the 2000s, Catherine Destivelle will become the first woman to have climbed the three great north faces of the Alps: the Grandes Jorasses, the Matterhorn and the Eiger – solo.

11 Days in the Drus

1991Movie