Didier berthod biography examples

Didier Berthod

Swiss rock climber and priest

Didier Berthod (born )[1] is a Swiss rock climber and priest. He specializes in traditional climbing, and crack climbing in particular.[2]

Climbing career

In , Berthod came to international prominence when he pinkpointed the unfinished sport climbing route Greenspit8b+&#;(a) in the Orco Valley in Italy, as a traditional climbing route.[3] Converting a sport route to a traditional route is known as "greenpointing" (although the route's name came from its green colored sport bolts).[3] In , Berthold returned to do the route without any pre-placed protection,[3] and Greenspit was recognized as one of the hardest traditional crack climbs in the world.[2][4][5]

Berthod then made trips to America where he put up new traditional climbing routes such as Learning to Fly and From Switzerland with Love, both at grade + in Indian Creek in Utah.[6]

The cult climbing film First Ascent,[7] followed Berthod's unsuccessful efforts to make the first free ascent of Cobra Crack, a b&#;(8c)-graded traditional climbing route in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada;[8] which was at the time considered the world's hardest traditional crack climb (it was later free climbed by Sonnie Trotter).[2][5] The film also documented Berthod’s other climbs in Europe (including Greenpoint), and his frugal lifestyle such as working in a hostel between attempts.[5]

After quitting climbing for over a decade, Berthod returned to international climbing attention in June , when he went back to Squamish where he completed the first pinkpoint of a long-standing open project called The Crack of Destiny that he graded as being harder than a&#;(8b+).[9][10][11] In May , Berthod returned to Cobra Crack to make the 20th ascent of the route saying "It is more so the end of a book, than a chapter".[12]

Religious life

After completing First Ascent, Berthod, then aged 25 and carrying a serious knee injury, decided to completely abandon rock climbing and joined Nicolas Buttet&#;[fr]'s Franciscan-community, the Eucharistein&#;[fr] fraternity, in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland (close to where Berthod was born),[6] as a monk.[5][13][14] In , Berthod was ordained as a priest, and shortly afterward began climbing again.[2][5]

In a documentary on Berthod called Fissure, he explained his reasons for leaving climbing: "I felt like a junkie, someone who craved a daily dose of climbing. If I didn't get it, I got angry. I hated that feeling because it kept me from being truly free. I needed to be free, and that’s what my faith gave me – that and spiritual healing".[5] On his return to climbing, he told German TV: "In recent years I quit this [monastic] way of being Christian and I embraced a way more humanistic way of being Christian".[6] By , Berthod had completed a new 8c&#;(b) bolted route on Petit Clocher du Portalet.[6]

Filmography

See also

References

  1. ^ abChristie, Olivier (). "Didier Berthod: From the rock to the altar". LACrux. Retrieved 4 January
  2. ^ abcd"Watch Didier Berthod is Back / Interview with Swiss crack climbing legend". PlanetMountain. 19 May Retrieved 4 January
  3. ^ abc"Greenspit, the dream of a generation climbed in Valle Orco by Matteo della Bordella, Francesco Deiana". PlanetMountain. May Retrieved 16 September
  4. ^"Didier Berthod cleans Greenspit, Valle dell Orco". PlanetMountain. 3 October Retrieved 4 January
  5. ^ abcdefGogorza, Oscar (15 November ). "Didier Berthod, from rock-climbing star to monk and back again". El País. Retrieved 4 January
  6. ^ abcdSmart, Dave (18 November ). "Swiss trad climbing ace Didier Berthod returns to climbing". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 4 January
  7. ^Moix, Fred (17 May ). "Listen to Crack-Climbing Legend Didier Berthod Give One of His First Interviews in 13 Years". Climbing. Retrieved 4 January
  8. ^Berg, Emmet (4 October ). "DIDIER BERTHOD: True grit and grip". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 January
  9. ^"Didier Berthod Redpoints New Trad in Squamish". Gripped Magazine. 25 June Retrieved 15 September
  10. ^Bailey, Nat (10 July ). "Didier Berthod Returns to Climbing Limelight With FA of Crack". Climbing. Retrieved 15 September
  11. ^Zeidler, Maryse (18 July ). "Legendary free climber conquers the 'Crack of Destiny' in Squamish, B.C."CBC News. Retrieved 16 September
  12. ^Bailey, Nat (16 May ). "After 10 Years in a Monastery, Climber Send One of the World's Toughest Trad Routes". Climbing. Retrieved 17 May
  13. ^"Une heure avec… Didier Berthod - Fribourg – Unités pastorales du Grand-Fribourg". Fribourg – Unités pastorales du Grand-Fribourg (in French). 14 July
  14. ^"Ten years ago, Didier Berthod left free climbing for religion. Today, he returns to the underlying reasons for his choice".

External links