Didier Berthod

Didier Berthod (born 1981, in Bramois, Valais),[1] is a Swiss rock climber and priest. He specializes in traditional climbing, and crack climbing in particular.[2]

Climbing career

In 2003, Didier free-climbed Greenspit at 8b+ (5.14a) in the Orco Valley in Italy, which was at that time considered to be one of the hardest traditional crack-climbs in the world.[2][3][4] Berthod made trips to the America where he put up new traditional climbing routes such as Learning to Fly and From Switzerland wit Love, both at grade 5.13+ in Indian Creek in Utah.[5]

The 2006 cult climbing film First Ascent,[6] followed Didier's unsuccessful efforts to make the first free ascent of Cobra Crack, graded 5.14a (8b+) in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada;[7] then the world's hardest traditional crack climb (it was later freed by Sonnie Trotter).[2][4] The film also documented Berthod’s other climbs in Europe and his frugal lifestyle such as working in a hostel between attempts.[4]

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's Franciscan-community, the Eucharistein fraternity, in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland (close to where Berthod was born),[5] as a monk.[4][8][9] In 2016, Berthod was ordained as a priest, shortly afterward had started some climbing again.[2][4]

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".[4] 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".[5] By 2020, Berthod had completed a new 8c (5.14b) bolted route on Petit Clocher du Portalet.[5]

Filmography
  • Documentary featuring Berthod on Cobra Crack in Squamish, British Columbia: Peter Mortimer (2006). First Ascent (Motion picture). Sender Films. ASIN B000IWPP4G. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  • Documentary on Berthod: Christophe Margot (2018). Fissure (Motion picture). Cine Margot. Retrieved 4 January 2023.

See also

References
  1. Christie, Olivier (2016). "Didier Berthod: From the rock to the altar". LACrux. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  2. "Watch Didier Berthod is Back / Interview with Swiss crack climbing legend". PlanetMountain. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  3. "Didier Berthod cleans Greenspit, Valle dell Orco". PlanetMountain. 3 October 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  4. Gogorza, Oscar (15 November 2022). "Didier Berthod, from rock-climbing star to monk and back again". El Pais. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  5. Smart, Dave (18 November 2020). "Swiss trad climbing ace Didier Berthod returns to climbing". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  6. Moix, Fred (17 May 2021). "Listen to Crack-Climbing Legend Didier Berthod Give One of His First Interviews in 13 Years". Climbing. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  7. Berg, Emmet (4 October 2005). "DIDIER BERTHOD: True grit and grip". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  8. "Une heure avec… Didier Berthod - Fribourg – Unités pastorales du Grand-Fribourg". Fribourg – Unités pastorales du Grand-Fribourg (in French). 14 July 2018.
  9. "Ten years ago, Didier Berthod left free climbing for religion. Today, he returns to the underlying reasons for his choice".
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