Stephanie Bodet and Arnaud Petit

Stéphanie Bodet recently featured in the video "Of the Rock I asked for the Moon", balancing her way up a delicate slab and eloquently describing the evolution of her climbing career through the narration of a text which she had written. Stéphanie's philosophy on life is intricately linked to and influenced by 20 years of climbing adventures, which she has experienced all over the world in a variety of forms - whether in world-cup competitions or on hard sport, trad, alpine and big-wall routes. Alongside husband Arnaud Petit, she has lived a life in the mountains which has enriched her life as a whole.

In the video "Of the Rock I asked for the Moon", you read out a beautiful text which you wrote. When did you write it and what inspired you to share your personal perspective on climbing?

The writing of this text is linked to Octogénèse 8a+, the route which Arnaud opened in 1991 on the Teghie Lisce at Bavella in Corsica. We went there together three years ago so that I could try to complete it and it was a success. After two trips to la Pedriza in Spain, slab climbing made me experience new things and following this ascent in Corsica I wrote a little poem. I’ve always written throughout my life and it is as necessary for me as climbing.

Later we returned with Bertrand Delapierre to take some pictures in Corsica, planning to make a short video as he often does for us. We filmed the project in two days as we didn’t have much time or budget. At the end of it, whilst recording the interviews which would serve as narration, I had the idea of writing a text. I wrote it pretty much in one push. Bertrand was motivated to work on a different project and from my point of view, I wanted to share what I had felt even if I doubted that it would resonate with all climbers. We then completed the voice recording and Bertrand did what he could with the montage as we were missing some scenes to correspond with the length of the text, but in the end I’m happy with the finished product. It’s the first time that I’ve expressed such personal emotions and the fact that they resonate with others really touches me.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=7156

Natalie Berry, UKClimbing

In the first episode of Céüse with Arnaud Petit, Arnaud reveals his long-term project Biographie and explains how difficult it is to keep motivation rolling when you've been working on the same climb for 20 years. Everything has to be perfect, you have to be fit in particular ways, and even if you're feeling good, it still doesn't mean you'll finish the climb.
There are about ten men who have ever climbed this benchmark route and Arnaud, who lives in Céüse, wants to be the next. He's never going to give up trying to clip the anchor at the top of Biographie, but he's not afraid to try other routes.

For Stéphanie, climbing is a poetic expression. When she’s on a wall, she loves to live outside of time, in the moment. “One can be more attentive to the minute, to the details,” she says. “I can stand on the infinitely small surrounded by the infinitely big.” When she’s not traveling, Stéphanie loves to write from her basecamp near the base of Ceüse, France.

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