Alain Robert is nicknamed “the French Spiderman”. The high-level climber first made a name for himself in rock climbing in full solo, that is to say without a rope. He then specialized in urban climbing, climbing by the sheer force of his wrists, to the top of buildings, skyscrapers or exceptional historical monuments.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazuhe confides in his passion for this discipline, where the risk of dying is omnipresent.
An accident that could have been fatal
For Alain Robert, climbing without safety, in full solo, is the “quintessence” of discipline. “There are two options, if you fall, it’s the fall, if you fall, it’s the grave said Coluche. Every climb must end at the top, there is no alternative”. However, in 1982, the climber was made a nice scare which almost put a net stop to his career.
Alain Robert was helping a group of young people and their climbing instructors to install ropes on a small cliff 15 meters high. “They gave me gear, a strap with two carabiners, screws and a rope. I went up, I installed the thing”, he says. But, at the top, nothing went as planned. “As soon as I put myself in tension on the rope, the knot was badly made, it let go, I turned back and fell head first”, remembers Alain Robert. The base of the cliff consisted of a limestone slab and the impact has been phenomenal.
I lost 45% of my blood, elbows burst too. – Alain Robert
It was his wrists that made contact first, “completely pulverized, skin torn”he describes, “I lost 45% of my blood. Elbows erupted as well, as forearms worked like shock absorbers”. It was then his head that hit the wall, causing him to faint.
Following this accident Alain Robert remained six days in a coma and he was invalidated at 66%, his wrists no longer being able to rotate on their own. The doctors immediately told him that he could never climb again. “A great surgeon took care of me and he had never seen wrists so exploded. He compared them to scrambled eggs”he says.
Nevertheless, Alain Robert has not given up on his sport. “Climbing is my whole life, it’s my childhood dream that I realized. I didn’t want the fear of dying to become an obstacle to this passion.”, he explains. Even with weakened joints, he became the best solo climber at the end of the 1980s, before setting off to conquer the tallest towers in the world.