2024-02-04 06:00:20
During the Tokyo Olympics, August 6, 2021. JEFF ROBERSON / POOL VIA REUTERS
Antoine Le Menestrel has not forgotten the year 1985. That time when he climbed on weekends, in Verdon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Var) or in Saussois (Yonne), with a circle of friends . Climbing was then independent of the Olympic world. Urban cinemas, which are now sprouting like mushrooms, did not yet exist. We were very far from the 25 million practitioners currently recorded in the world.
With his “gang of Parisians”, Le Menestrel climbs, camps, hi-fi system placed on the rock. “Freedom” is then the watchword. “We were opposed to conquering the summitsremembers the man who is today a front dancer and choreographer. Everything was horizontal between us: there was emulation, no rivalry. »
In 1985, however, the sporting potential of climbing was already evident, and the French Mountain and Climbing Federation planned to set up the first competitions. A development denounced by the “gang” and other climbers in the “Manifesto of the 19”, a text written by David Chambre and published in the specialist magazine Mountaineering and Hiking. “For us, climbing was about solving a problem posed not by someone, but by the rock or by a cliff”remembers Jean-Claude Droyer. “We were also against events in a natural environment with an audience and new routes, which would destroy rockscontinues Catherine Destivelle, 25 years old at the time and already well known. We also didn’t want a Russian-style climb, that is to say, quickly. It was not suited to our freestyle practice. » Rivalry, role of money, potential influence of the media… The list of grievances is long. “For us, it was nothing but money”summarizes Antoine Le Menestrel.
“We were young and idealistic”
And after ? Not much. Only the Au Vieux Campeur brand will cancel an event that it finances to ease tensions. Very quickly, reality freezes the revolt. In Bardonecchia, in the warm summer of Piedmont, the pioneer of international difficult events even recognizes Catherine Destivelle. Jean-Baptiste Tribout, one of the signatories of the “Manifesto”, took part in various meetings from 1986 and accumulated performances. “My position was ambiguous, because I was professional”he nuances.
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A photo dating from that year alone sums up the ambivalence: the gang brought together by its sponsor Beal, a French manufacturer of climbing ropes. “We really turned our coat around in the literal sensesmiles David Chambre. We were young and idealistic, but deep down, we knew that this text went against the grain of history. » Patrick Edlinger (1960-2012), who was then the great star of the discipline, did not join the rebellious initiative. To better participate in the first competitions.
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