Patrick Berhault

Born: 1957-07-19

Patrick Berhault, born July 19, 1957 in Thiers (Puy-de-Dôme), grew up by the sea between Nice and Monaco. He joined the Club Alpin Monégasque at the age of 13 and started climbing with friends at La Turbie. He left school after the second, and devoted himself to his passion for the mountains and opened these first routes in the Mercantour massif. In 1978, Patrick Berhault had his first accident in the mountains with his friend Pierre Brizzi, following the break of a ledge, they descended an 814 meter corridor at the three Dents du Pelvoux. and should only salute them to a rope of mountaineers bivouacking near the place of their fall. At the end of the 1970s, together with Patrick Edlinger, he took part in the free climbing revolution in France. In 1980, he "released" the first 7c+ in France. He also practices full soloing in a confidential manner, always in a style based on fluidity and the search for gestural aesthetics. He will share three years of climbing and mountaineering with his brother in arms Patrick Edlinger, and will live from day to day solely for their passion between climbing and intensive training. In 1980, with Jean-Marc Boivin, they took the incredible gamble of connecting the summits of Les Drus and Le Fou during the day by hang-gliding after having climbed the south face for Le Fou and the direct American for Les Drus. He will achieve in record time, and most often solo, the toughest routes in the Alps. The “Berhault style” was born, calling into question many uses hitherto based on slowness, and imposing technology. In particular, he does major routes in the Verdon, and "liberates" climbing routes marked as the first 8c in France. From 1985, while his colleagues were pushing for competition, Berhault refused competition by signing the Manifesto of 192. An admirer of Rudolf Nureyev, he developed a new discipline: “Dance-Climbing”; he has developed choreographies and gives shows, notably at the Châteauvallon festival. At the same time, he became involved in social action by participating in climbing training courses for young people in Vaulx-en-Velin, today the 40-meter artificial climbing wall in the Mas du Taureau district. , bears his name. His project of a life in the countryside as a “farmer guide” materializes in Auvergne in his native hills of Forez; He moved into a farm in the hamlet with his company and his 2 daughters. Mason, farmer or carpenter, he spends his days without mountains driving his tractor and fixing up his farm. In the early 1990s, Patrick Berhault began his return to the mountains, passed his guide diploma and trained aspiring guides at ENSA, and returned from 1992 with express ascents. He then divided his life between expeditions in the Himalayas and Latin America, ENSA in Chamonix, and the development of climbing in Auvergne. In 1996, he opposed a controversial Franco-Chinese expedition to Tibet. His last project (March-April 2004) will consist in chaining the 82 peaks over 4000 m in the Alps, in the company of Philippe Magnin. Patrick Berhault will have a fatal fall on April 28, 2004, after the 64th summit, on the snowy ridge interspersed with rocky outcrops in the Mischabels massif in Switzerland.


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Jean-Marc Boivin, Extremely Yours

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2006-01-01

Jean-Marc Boivin had chosen the natural elements as his playground. In his quest for extremes...

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Metamorfosi

as Self
Released: 1987-01-01

Metamorphosis is a real ballet dance on the rocks, interpreted by a great climber, Patrick...

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Fortune Express

as Doublure séquence montagne
Released: 1991-04-24

Following a climbing accident in the mountains, Pascal loses the use of his legs and is confined...

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Là-Haut, Un supplément d'âme

as Self
Released: 2001-12-01

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When the Mountaineers Make Their Cinema

as Self
Released: 2000-01-01

Many mountaineers as part of their activity have used cameras and films to allow us to...

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Oversand

as Self
Released: 1981-01-01

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La Cordée de Rêve

as Self
Released: 2001-01-01

La Cordée de Rêve traces the great alpine journey made from August 2000 to February 2001 by...

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Over-Ice

as Self
Released: 1981-01-01

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The Backstage Wall

as Self
Released: 1983-01-01

Behind the scenes of the filming of a film on climbing a cliff by Patrick Berhault and Georges...

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Sur Le Fil Des 4000

as Self
Released: 2004-07-01

Sur le fil des 4000 is a documentary film by Gilles Chapaz, which traces the last rope of the...

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Dévers

as Self
Released: 1981-01-01

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Verdon Forever

as Self
Released: 1998-01-01

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Overdon

as Self
Released: 1980-01-01

First film in a series of three with Over-Ice and Oversand and one of the first films on free...

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Berhault

as Self
Released: 2008-01-01

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Voie Express

as Self
Released: 1979-01-01

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First On The Rope

as Fernand
First aired: 1999-04-19

Chamonix in the 1930s was a resort where a cosmopolitan, fashionable and sporting society...

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