If the peaks make you dizzy and your head spins at altitude, do not dive into
A life above the void
, directed by Nicolas de Virieu and available on L'Équipe Explore, on the sports daily website.
Lovers of freedom and nature, get started without delay!
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"Above the Gas"
From the first moments of the documentary, when the camera lingers on the young Patrick Edlinger climbing a limestone wall, the magic happens.
Shirtless and barefoot, the
“climbing madman”
advances with insolent ease
“above the gas”
, as he calls the void.
Beneath his blond hair, the boyish-faced kid, just 20 years old, swings, sure of himself:
“No, I'm not crazy.
»
Two films devoted to him –
Life at the Fingertips
and
Vertical Opera
–, shot by Jean-Paul Janssen, will change his destiny.
The INA archive images taken from it and illustrating this documentary are each more maddening than the other.
"The game with death allows you to know what you are worth
," admits Edlinger.
From French peaks to American rocky peaks, the child of Toulon is building his legend.
The speed of its ascents fascinates.
No rope, no pitons, nothing… He climbs using his body alone.
Interviewed by Michel Drucker in “Champs-Élysées”, Edlinger embodies climbing for the general public.
His notoriety exploded before a fall, at age 35, of a dozen meters: cardiac arrest without any fracture.
The birth of his daughter, Nastia, stopped him in his quest for exploits at the age of 42.
“I prefer not to take any more risks, because I think that she will need her dad”
, he explains then.
Read alsoEdlinger: death of a mountaineering pioneer
The end of his life will however be tragic.
Ten years later, the blond angel falls again… at home, on the stairs, and dies, drained of his blood, at the bottom of the steps.
Sad and ironic epilogue of a vertiginous destiny.