Catherine Destivelle

Catherine Destivelle

Catherine Destivelle climbing on the Adrachti tower in Greece
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1960-07-24) 24 July 1960 (age 63) Oran, French Algeria
Occupation(s)	Professional rock climber and mountaineer, and publisher
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)[1]
Spouse	Erik Decamp (m. 1996)
Website	www.catherinedestivelle.com
Climbing career
Type of climber	Traditional climbing Sport climbing Competition climbing Free soloing Alpine climbing Big wall climbing Ice climbing
Highest grade	Redpoint: 8a+ (5.13c)
Known for	First female to climb sport 7c+/8a , and 8a+ (5.13c), and second to climb 7b+ (5.12c) First female to climb the Bonatti Pillar (1990) First female winter solo ascent of the north face of the Eiger (1992), Grandes Jorasses (1993), and Matterhorn (1994) First female to free climb Nameless Tower (1990) First female to climb southwest face of Shishapangma First female to win the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Award (2020)
First ascents	Voie Destivelle (VI 5.11b A5) on the Petit Dru (1991) Losar (ice grade WI5), in Namche Bazaar (1994) South Face (TD: V 5.10) of Peak 4111 (1996)
Named routes	Voie Destivelle in Petit Dru
Medal record Women's competition climbing Representing  France Sport Roccia Winner 1985 Lead Winner 1986 Lead Winner 1988 Lead
Updated on 12 December 2022

Catherine Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by winning the first major female climbing competitions, and by being the first female to redpoint a 7c+/8a  sport climbing route with Fleur de Rocaille in 1985,^[a] and an 8a+ (5.13c) route with Choucas in 1988. During this period, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world along with Lynn Hill, however, in 1990 she retired to focus on alpine climbing.

In 1990, she made the first female alpine ascent of the Bonatti Pillar on the Petit Dru, which she followed up in 1991, by becoming the first female to create a new extreme alpine route, also on the Petit Dru, which was named Voie Destivelle in her honor. From 1992 to 1994, Destivelle became the first female to complete the winter alpine free solo of the "north face trilogy" of the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses, and the Matterhorn. She made Himalayan and high-altitude ascents such as Nameless Tower in 1990, the southwest face of Shishapangma in 1995, and the south face of Peak 4111, in Antarctica, in 1996.

As well as her Alpine free solos, she made other notable free solos, such as the Devils Tower in 1992, and the Old Man of Hoy in 1997. She is the subject of several documentaries, including Rémy Tezier's, Beyond the Summits, which won the best feature-length film award at the 2009 Banff Film Festival. In 2007, she was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour, and in 2020, became the first female recipient of the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award.

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