Didier berthod biography of nancy

Swiss rock climber and priest

Didier Berthod (born )^[1] is a Swiss rock climber and priest.

Didier berthod biography of nancy wilson Didier was unable to to imagine a life as a father and he fell back on his Catholic faith, first becoming a Monk with the Eucharistein Fraternity and later being ordained as a priest. This route is truly amazing and stand at around the same level of quality and difficulty as Cobra or Destiny , even if its style is very different. Placing the gear on lead. To other climbers thinking of tackling the Crack, he advises patience and perspective.

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

External links