Matia Edlinger

In the 1980s, Patrick Edlinger, nicknamed "Le Blond", painted with the grace of a poet the first chapter in the world history of free climbing. In his hands, marginal exercise has become a real lifestyle, carrying a message of freedom. His famous solos, beyond the proven feat they represent, bear witness to this. Life at Your Fingertips, the first internationally known climbing film, touched and inspired by generations of climbers; Edlinger was one of the meteors that shone light on the cliffs of the world by following the trajectory of a single idea: to be free to live only by "climbing". Yet the man capable of concessions in the face of the necessities of life (competitions, advertisements) and pressure from the media, his public and the desires he aroused.

This documentary by Maurice Rebeix—conceived by Patrick Edlinger and released by the French climbing magazine *Roc'n Wall*—features several elite climbers tackling difficult routes in the Verdon Gorge. In the first part of the film, Patrick Edlinger teams up with Patrick Berhault and meets up with climbers such as Cécile Martha, Olivier Fourbet, Axel Franco, Martina Polackova, Laurent Paoletti, and Frédéric Devoulet. The film marks the 30th anniversary of the first route established in the Verdon in 1968—a location that has since become a premier destination for French climbing.