Catherine Destivelle

Catherine Destivelle (born July 24, 1960 in Oran , Algeria ) is a French alpinist . She is considered one of the world's best mountaineers.

Destivelle grew up in Paris and as a girl often accompanied her father to bouldering in the forest of Fontainebleau . At the age of 11 she started to train intensively. At 16, Catherine climbed the route opened by Devies and Gervasutti on L'Ailefroide , and at 17 the so-called American route on the Petit Dru .

Destivelle retired from climbing for a few years to study physiotherapy from 1981 to 1984 . In 1985 she won the 1st "western" climbing competition, Sport-Roccia in Bardonecchia (Italy). For a few years she became one of the dominant figures in women's competitive climbing and was able to push the performance limit upwards enormously. A short time later, she had a serious accident in a 35-meter fall into a crevasse , but still won the second edition of the Sport-Roccia in 1986, this time in Arco . In 1988 she became the first woman to complete a route with the French difficulty level 8a +.

After 1990 she returned to alpine mountaineering and climbed the most difficult routes around the world:

• 1990 second free ascent of the Slovenian route at the Nameless Tower in Pakistan with Jeff Lowe for a film project by David Breashears ;
• 1990 solo ascent of the Bonatti pillar on the Aiguille du Dru ;
• 1991 Opening and solo ascent of the Destivelle Route (VI 5.11b A5, 800 m) on the west face of the Petit Dru in eleven days;
• 1992 winter solo ascent of the Eiger north face in 17 hours;
• 1993 winter solo ascent of the Grandes Jorasses north face;
• 1993 experiments on the western pillar of Makalu , on the Annapurna south wall and on Shishapangma ;
• 1993 Winter solo ascent of the Matterhorn north face on the Bonatti route.

In 1996 Destivelle suffered a serious accident in Antarctica , from which she recovered well. In the same year she married Erik Descamp. A year later their son was born. In 1999 she managed the solo ascent of the Große Zinne -North Face on the Hasse - Brandlerführe with only partial self- belay .

Since December 2008 Destivelle has been co-chair of the Groupe de Haute Montagne . In 2005 her autobiography "Ascension" or "Solo through large walls" was published by AS Verlag , Zurich, translated by Gaby Funk (mountain journalist / author).

In 2020 she was awarded the Piolet d'Or for her life's work, probably the most important award in extreme mountain sports.

Web links

• Official website
• Literature by and about Catherine Destivelle in the catalog of the German National Library
• Catherine Destivelle in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gaby Funk: dancer in the vertical. (PDF) German Alpine Club , April 2005, accessed on August 5, 2017 . 
2. ↑ COMPTE-RENDU: ASSEMBLÉE GENERALE DU GROUPE DE HAUTE MONTAGNE. CHAMONIX LE 13 DECEMBRE 2008. (No longer available online.) Groupe de Haute Montagne , 13 December 2008, archived from the original on 5 August 2017 ; Retrieved on August 5, 2017 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Piolet d'Or for Catherine Destivelle. July 21, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 .