Biography of Vertical Addict

A short story of a Passion:

I discovered rock climbing at 6 when vacationing with my parents at the Col des Grand Montets near Chamonix.

At 13, I was lucky to find a local climbing club that was offering climbing sessions twice weekly and outings every weekends. Thus I started "real climbing" on a not-totally-vertical climbing wall because bouldering was not popular yet in our region.

At 16, I did my first 8a, Rêve de Papillon, at Buoux. My progression is difficult to explain: I had no goals, no ideas about planning the future and I was climbing without any ulterior motive. There were very few motivated climbers around Reims and somewhat this was an advantage since I had no way to compare myself with others. I didn’t know my possibilities and thought that I would be incapable to succeed in climbing routes as difficult as 8 or succeed in competition. I owe my progression to this incapacity to judge myself against others’ accomplishments. I was looking for a passion that would bring freedom, a way to escape normal life. At 16, I got the climbing bug and kept the same philosophy during my career.

Self-taught. I am self-taught and I climb as I feel, as I want. I have my own goals now and use my imagination to reach them.

My Life and my Plans:

Spirit…

Now, after all these years on the competition circuit, outdoor climbing takes the biggest chunk of my life thus I am very attracted by travels and foreign cliffs. My prime goal in life is live my dream, my passion, feel and share the feelings of those incredible moments with people around the world. I want to compete against myself, find the strength to go forward and be better: I want to explore and push back my limits.

Feelings…

It is difficult to keep one’s inspiration from day to day so you have to vary you way of life, to expand the scope of your experiences. That is what I do! Since 2008, I find inspiration in change and discovery. Multi-pitch routes, alpinism, cross country skiing help me gain more energy, the energy you can feel reflected by these sports. The panoramas I see when doing these activities are necessary to my equilibrium as some others activities I do, some of them in a totally different range like Breakdancing and HipHop.

Places…

After a few years coming and going around Nice, I decided, in June 2006, to live for good in St Laurent du Var. This fantastic region drenched by the sun and covered by cliffs and wild places offer year round climbing, skiing, canyoning and alpinism. No other place can offer so much within such little space and the contrasts you can see are astounding!

Pragmatism…

Produce challenging events in 2009/2010 so that I can share, with the public, the images and videos of my travels, the ambiance, the incredible lines.

Competition Climbing

Favorite – and hardest – climbs:

• L-Mens 8b+ on sight, Montsant
• Balzolita 8c flash, Basque country
• Meneo Canario 8b+/c, Canaries
• Directa Challenger 8b+/c on sight, Argentina
• Reaccion Indirecta 8c+, Argentina
• Tom et je ris 8b+, Verdon
• Mesquinerie 8b+/c, Kronthal
• La Chronique de la haine ordinaire 8c, Ceuse
• Le cadre 8c, Ceuse
• Barjoland 8b flash, Castillon
• Mortal Combat 8b onsight, Castillon
• Gogo 8c, Palais
• Trip-Tik To-Nik 8c+, Gorges du Loup
• Kinematix 9a, Gorges du Loup
• Abysse 9a, Gorges du Loup
• Punt X… Hardest of them all, Gorges du Loup

• The Grandes Jorasses