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2000
Catherine Destivelle (France)
 Born in 1960 in Oran, French Algeria, Catherine
Destivelle discovered climbing at the age of five in the forest of Fontainebleau, near
Paris. By sixteen, she was leading classic routes in Chamonix, including the American
Direct route on the Petit Dru. After training as a physiotherapist, and doing some film
work, she began climbing competitively, winning the prestigious Bardoneccia sports
climbing contest in Italy in two consecutive years, despite a near-fatal accident shortly
after she won the first title. The film Seo! with its amazing balletic sequences on cliffs
in Mali, West Africa, brought her to international recognition. She has now abandoned
competition climbing for natural challenges. In March 1992 she made the first female solo
ascent of the Eiger Nordwand.
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