Bernard Gorgeon, born in 1953 in Marseille, is a French climber, mountain guide, and author. He is one of the leading figures in French climbing, whose biography is intrinsically intertwined with the history and culture of climbing in the South of France.
Introduced to climbing at just ten years old in the calanques of Marseille, it was there that he forged his first memories as a climber, accompanied by his father, a passionate self-taught climber, passionate about mountaineering and the classics of Rébuffat. His childhood was divided between school, rocks, and precious moments spent exploring the region's cliffs, his fingers using hemp ropes, symbols of an era marked by freedom and resourcefulness.
In the 1970s, Gorgeon was part of a nonconformist youth movement that revolutionized climbing, seeking to break away from traditional practices and invent a new way of life. Along with Patrick Edlinger and other companions, he contributed to the emergence and democratization of free climbing, which became a true philosophy and way of life. He was one of the pioneers of fixed equipment, of the club that invested in opening and securing routes, and of the mountain guide who didn't limit his practice to mountaineering.
Bernard Gorgeon is primarily recognized for having "invented" the first routes in Buoux, an emblematic site in the Luberon, which he describes as a magical valley where the rock is "round, soft, perforated like St. John's wort, gray, yellow, red, green, fresh, secret, captivating, reassuring, cozy... a cocoon, a treasure chest." The Buoux site quickly became a stepping stone to the climber's holy grail: the Verdon, whose Grand Canyon remained largely unexplored at the time. Gorgeon opened several legendary routes there, many of which would become classics and shape his legend. He contributed to the writing of major guidebooks such as "Climbing the Verdon, the 500 Most Beautiful Routes" and "Climbing the Verdon, 984 Routes from 5b to 8c," listing the routes that have made this site's international reputation. Among the most notable are legendary routes in Buoux and the Verdon, often opened in epic conditions, combining daring, humor, and camaraderie. He was also a pioneer in the practice of canyoning in the Verdon Gorges.
His book "A Life of Climbing, from Hemp to the Olympics" (Glénat, 2021) retraces his journey with humor, sensitivity, and a spirit of adventure, evoking his numerous route openings in the calanques, in Buoux, on the Sainte-Victoire mountain, but especially in the Verdon Gorges, where he settled in La Palud-sur-Verdon as a guide, in the heart of this temple of verticality. His story is also the story of his accidents, his friendships, the values of the practice, and the transmission of the art of climbing.
Through his atypical journey, he embodies the spirit of the rope team, the beauty of the rock, and the art of living specific to climbers from the South—between frugality, nonconformity, and freedom.
1980
