New Film on Climbing Star Patrick Edlinger

Watch the newest film on the legendary climbers and the one he was featured in back in the early 1980s

Gripped June 9, 2024

Patrick Edlinger, who rose to fame in the 1980s for his radical style and free-solos, has been featured in a new film called Patrick Edlinger – Free for Life, which you can watch below.

Edlinger, who was also known as Le Blond, once famously said, “Climbing for me is a way of life, not just a sport. It’s an excuse to travel the world, to find new places and new people. The most important thing is to remain free for life, this is my real plan for the future.” In 1982, he was featured in a film called La Vie Au Bout Des Doigts (watch below) by Jean-Paul Janssen, which showed him free-soloing tall routes.

In 1983, he made the first ascent of Ca Glisse, one of the first 513b sport routes in France. He went on to win Sportroccia, one of the world’s first climbing competitions in 1986. In 1988, he won Snowbird, the first climbing competition ever held in the US.

“Patrick will always have a place in my heart and memories,” said leading American climber Lynn Hill. “The times I spent eating dinner at his house, laughing, working together for Rock and Wall magazine, and climbing on the beautiful cliffs of Southern France were precious moments of life. Being from the same generation, I was inspired by Patrick’s visionary achievements when he came to the States and on-sighted many of the hardest routes in the country.”