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Swiss rock climber and priest From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Didier Berthod (born 1981)[1] is a Swiss rock climber and priest. He specializes in traditional climbing, and crack climbing in particular.[2]
Personal information | |
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Born | 1981 (age 42–43)[1] Bramois, Valais, Switzerland |
Occupation(s) | Rock climber, priest |
Climbing career | |
Type of climber | |
Highest grade | |
Known for |
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First ascents |
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Updated on 16 September 2023 |
In 2003, Berthod came to international prominence when he pinkpointed the unfinished sport climbing route Greenspit 8b+ (5.14a) 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 2005, 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 5.13+ in Indian Creek in Utah.[6]
The 2006 cult climbing film First Ascent,[7] followed Berthod's unsuccessful efforts to make the first free ascent of Cobra Crack, a 5.14b (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 2023, 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 5.14a (8b+).[9][10][11] In May 2024, 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]
After completing First Ascent, Berthod, then aged 25 and carrying a serious knee injury, decided to completely abandon rock climbing and joined Nicolas Buttet 's Franciscan-community, the Eucharistein fraternity, in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland (close to where Berthod was born),[6] as a monk.[5][13][14] In 2016, Berthod was ordained as a priest, and shortly afterward began climbing again.[2][5]
In a 2018 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 2020, Berthod had completed a new 8c (5.14b) bolted route on Petit Clocher du Portalet.[6]
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