I was born in Rennes, Brittany, northwestern France. I discovered the mountains for myself at the age of 14, thanks to the novels of Roger Frison Roche, which became very famous, and on a visit to one of my uncles who lived in Chamonix. After several personal adventures climbing in the Alps, I had the good fortune to meet Fernand Audiber, one of the prototypes of the characters in Frison Roche's books. This really great guide from the guides association in Chamonix, was kind enough to listen to me and reciprocate my growing attraction.
On my return home, at 15, I told my father that mountains and Brittany rhyme, and I would become a guide...
From that moment everything developed very quickly, climbing prestigious peaks I skipped whole stages in preparation: Triolet's north face, Contamin's Mazo Tour - solo, Frendo's Edge - solo, Bonati's Edge on Petit Drou, Nan Blanc on the Vert Needle, Pierre Alain's Tour on Petit Drou, Mont Blanc's Red Gendarmes, Walker's Edge on the Town of Joras, to stay only up to the more famous classics in the Mont Blanc massif. At 18, my hunger for climbing was unsatisfied. I took advantage of a period of bad weather in Chamonix to go to the most fashionable climbing sites of the time, such as Bijoux, Verdon, Presl., Calanque and so on. Somewhere around that time I also discovered ice climbing for myself. In it I saw a direct application of everything I had mastered in free climbing, such as the finality of movement and muscular strength needed to progress on perfectly vertical terrain characterized by a brittleness that was difficult to predict.
The sequel was clear: I threw myself into the search for challenges with an unclear ending. Barely into my 20s, I threw myself headlong into setting new routes, premiering free traversing long classic routes, climbing for time. The 1980s were the golden period where everything was yet to happen. I achieved record-breaking traverses of the Cape of El Capitan, free and expert traverses of big tours on Pti Drew, a premiere Category 6 in ice climbing - Shiva Lingham, new pure rock tours in the Mont Blanc massif with a client, and generally reaching a level 8a on sight in rock climbing, which was too much for me to pursue my alpine projects.
In the 90s I'm in top form, and indulge in all sorts of crazy ideas for climbs, and in the ice climbing field climbs follow one after the other on steep climbs, the top being the Lyre of NP Sirk de Fer a Cheval. An equally amazing summer follows with the first free traverse of Divine Providence on the Pilier d. Angle on Mont Blanc, with self-provisioning.
The icing on the cake, in conjunction with Alain Gersin, is the free passage of the Digital Crack tour. This gendarme, a stone's throw from the terrace of the Aiguille du Midi, is Bijoux but in the mountains, a granite cliff at 3800m with Mont Blanc for scenery. What's more.
And all without turning down commitments as a mountain guide for climbs on the most beautiful tours in the Alps and the most beautiful walls in the world.