Pastry chefs started climbing with their parents when they were 5 or 6 years old. At 14, she climbed mountains in Chamonix , did slalom and downhill ski races. In 1986, at the age of 19, she won the first official French climbing competition in Vaulx-en-Velin , climbing barefoot. After that she devoted herself entirely to climbing. In 1988 she became the first woman to climb an 8b route ( Sortilèges near Cimaï ) and became a French champion. As a result, she won this title three more times.
Between 1993 and 1996 she was married to Nicolas Hulot , a television presenter and writer. In 1995 she ended her climbing competition career.
In 2000 she competed in her first motorsport competition, the Aicha des Gazelles rally, and in 2002 she took part in the Paris-Dakar rally for the first time . She later married her co-pilot and mechanic Thierry Delli-Zotti.