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Double D
climber
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Nov 17, 2012 - 01:35pm PT
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Sad indeed. He was a game changer for sure. Eery that it happened just a few days after this thread. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. Hopefully he's in a much better place.
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 17, 2012 - 02:07pm PT
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hey guys, do me a favor and don't talk about me. Once it pops on the taco you end up dead like PE!
Rick D-I really wish you hadn't said that but now, yeah, I'm preparing an appreciation thread just for you.
I don't have anything more to add here so I hope those of you who knew Mr. Edlinger will turn this into a memorial thread.
Arne
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Nov 17, 2012 - 03:20pm PT
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Ego? Who cares? The lad could climb!
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Nov 17, 2012 - 05:21pm PT
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hearsay, but is was said:
The Frenchman, nicknamed "Le Blond" due to his thick blond hair held in place by a bandana, was found dead at his home in La Palud in the Verdon region, Provence. The cause of death is as yet unknown although his biographer wrote that he had an alcohol problem
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Nov 17, 2012 - 05:29pm PT
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So sad when two of the most brilliant climbers of that era pass away in their early 50s.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Nov 17, 2012 - 06:38pm PT
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This is truly sad news.Patrick was the most gifted,smooth,and natural climber I ever had the privlage of tying in with. He was also a fun person to climb with as well as do a wee bit of partying with to boot. I had the good fortune of hangin with him in Boulder and Yosemite. I remember we often would go out to some bars in Boulder after climbing and shoot endless games of pool with him and Maurice.After one late nite session he gave me his Petzl harness because he thought mine was too big and heavy(it was a Frog Harness). He was always ready to offer advice to improve your climbing,such as telling me to splay my hips in order to get my weight more in over my feet on a certain 5.12 we were doing. Or in Yosemite once when we were bouldering and he had his eye on trying Midnight lightning he pronouced he would try it right along with me.One time climbing with him sticks out in my mind the most.....We went up to a steep route in the flatirons called The Guardian 5.12c ? Bob H. went first and Patrick made sure he did not watch so as to get the true on sight(I think we distracted him by smoking something funny) Then when patrick climbed it he made it look like 5.7,but when he got to the anchors he did not have a draw to clip in with(Bob had mistakenly threaded it and removed the draws at the anchor) So Patrick just shrugs his shoulders and proceeds to down climb the entire route removing the draws as he climbed back to the belay....once again making it look like 5.7 He truly loved to climb and it showed!!!
R.I.P. Patrick Edlinger (say hi to Derek for us) Peace.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Nov 17, 2012 - 06:52pm PT
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Nice storys Steve S. thanks for sharing.
"But Patrick Edlinger also had demons. According to the writer Jean-Michel Asselin, who is working on a biography of the climber, it suffered from alcoholism. ..."
Wow, 52 years old. Way too young.
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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Nov 17, 2012 - 07:40pm PT
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Why are you posting these links that are in french?
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Nov 17, 2012 - 08:12pm PT
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Kenny, Hiker is only trying to help. Patrick died at home in the Verdon, you know. You can always use Google Translate, you know, or many different plugins or desktop tools if you don't read french. Most of the news results are in french so far. This is giant news, although at this point, mostly just abroad. Climbing has never really "taken off' here as it has in France and western Europe. As Gill just upthread implies, Edlinger and Bachar were similar grand masters and their departure is really effing depressing.
Again, what a loss, and how very sad such a great light should come to such an end.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 17, 2012 - 08:32pm PT
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So sad when two of the most brilliant climbers of that era pass away in their early 50s
make it three-- that's patrick berhault belaying in the lead pic in the dauphine article--
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 17, 2012 - 09:12pm PT
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The OP was not an announcer's hex.
Nobody ever wants to think it, but we are a superstitious lot, many of us. It's just weird, ain't it, about the timing.
Un moment de silence pour Patrick. RIP.
My condolences to you guys who climbed with and knew him.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 17, 2012 - 09:28pm PT
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Hoh man!
Just back from delicate arch hike. I read this thread the other night
And thought about watching him at snowbird ... Quel drag!
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go-B
climber
Hebrews 1:3
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Nov 17, 2012 - 09:33pm PT
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Sad news.
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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Nov 17, 2012 - 09:44pm PT
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I guess I should takes some vitamins to help boost my immune system. Not all of us are immune to arrogance as well. Sorry Professor...
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Nov 17, 2012 - 10:13pm PT
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I just got the news. Planning and operating the Snowbird '88 event was a huge risk for me, personally. We made the whole thing happen in the short span of February to June. I didn't get the invites out to the climbers until late March or maybe even April. I was extremely gratified that virtually all the top climbers came at such short notice. I took their comittment as a vote of confidence. I had never before organized any kind of event I had never designed a climbing wall and this one had to be designed with the architect of the Cliff Lodge so as to enhance the design, rather than detract from it. I also had to work out the details of the major features, including the relative friction of the climbing surface and the strength and rigidity of the whole wall, its' anchorage to the concrete walls of the Lodge. On and on, really...So it felt good to be validated by the climbers, who trusted me enough to take the big leap with me.
Most of the climbers were respectful of all the effort and money behind the show, with a few glaring exceptions. But the biggest star, Patrick Edlinger, was also the most gracious and thankful of all, Patrick let me know that he understood the risk and work behind the show and let me also know that he trusted my vision and passion as a climber, to do things well.
Before the event, I picked Patrick as the winner-on a different spiritual plane from the rest,
I'm glad to have known him.
 JelloRemembers
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Nov 17, 2012 - 10:24pm PT
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hey there say, jello... thank you for the nice note, on patrick...
i never knew or know, so many of you all...
i just got to know about patrick now...
and to ionlyski:
you see--you had a gut feeling to post about someone very special...
someone whose friends and family, as well, would agree, would LOVE
sharing and reading all this...
you gave him a wonderful salute...
only god (as in how i see it) or powers that be (as others see it)
knew that his time was short and near to end:
thus--you were the one that was 'nudged' to do a very special honor
to a very special climber, before he passed....
for that, ionlyski, be humbled and honored, and please do not
feel bad or troubled...
you were part of a deeper picture here, that was due to come to
pass, anyway...
god bless to you for posting...
and god bless and condolence to the family of patrick edlinger...
:(
and--i am glad for to know him, through this history, and through the joy
of the thread, just before his passing...
:)
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Nov 17, 2012 - 11:11pm PT
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Inspirational. It's tragic for one so young and gifted to go, and it doesn't matter if it was a fall or at home. I watched the Snowbird VHS tape until it would no longer play.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 18, 2012 - 12:10am PT
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Here's the article from Paris-Match:
Patrick Edlinger a effectué l'ultime ascension. Âgé de 52 ans, il a été retrouvé sans vie à son domicile de La Palud-sur-Verdon, dans les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, selon les informations du «Dauphiné Libéré». Le héros blond de «La vie au bout des doigts» a durablement marqué le monde de l'escalade. Dans ce film de Jean-Paul Janssen sorti en 1982, la France a découvert le style époustouflant de cet adepte de l'escalade libre. Le quotidien local ajoute que le sportif, qui devait participer à un festival de cinéma prochainement, confiait encore en début de semaine se définir comme «un homme libre».
Véritable artiste de la discipline, Patrick Edlinger avait continué de documenter ses exploits, notamment dans «Opéra Vertical», où on le voit évoluer pieds et mains nues à des dizaines de mètres au dessus du sol dans les majestueuses gorges du Verdon, qu'il s'était choisies pour voisines.
Mais Patrick Edlinger avait aussi des démons. Selon l'écrivain Jean-Michel Asselin, qui travaille à une biographie du grimpeur, celui-ci souffrait d'alcoolisme. Patrick Edlinger s'était confié à l'auteur: «Tu sais, je suis seul à pouvoir trouver une solution, c'est le combat le plus dur que j'ai jamais mené, comme un solo impossible, mais je vais m'en sortir».
My translation, loosely based on the Google Translate result:
Patrick Edlinger has made his final ascent. Aged 52, he was found dead at his home in La Palud-sur-Verdon in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, according to information from Dauphiné Libéré. The blond hero of the film Fingertip Life made a lasting mark in the world of climbing. In this film by Jean-Paul Janssen, released in 1982, France discovered the amazing style of this free-climbing master. The local newspaper adds that this athlete, who was about to attend a film festival, had earlier in the week defined himself as "a free man." (Note: although not mentioned in the Paris-Match article, the rest of that quote, from the Dauphiné Libéré, is "I have no regrets about the path I've taken.")
A true artist of the discipline, Patrick Edlinger had continued to document his exploits, notably in The Vertical Opera, where we see him flowing, hands and feet bare, tens of meters above the ground in the majestic Gorges de Verdon, which he had chosen to live near.
But Patrick Edlinger also had demons. According to the writer Jean-Michel Asselin, who is working on a biography of the climber, he suffered from alcoholism. Patrick Edlinger had confided in the author: "You know, I'm alone in trying to find a solution, this is the hardest battle I've ever fought, like an impossible free solo, but I'll top out. "
Rest in peace, Patrick.
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