Isabelle Patissier (born March 1, 1967) is a French world champion

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

and more recently a

rally driver Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

. She is known for winning two Lead Climbing World Cups (1990, 1991) and for being the first-ever woman in history to climb an

route Route or routes may refer to: * Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver * route (command), a program used to configure the routing table * Route, County Antrim, an area in Northern Ireland * ''The Route'', a 2013 Ugandan film * Ro ...

Climbing career

Patissier started climbing at age 5 or 6 with her parents. At 14 she practised mountaineering in

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

and also

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

and

downhill skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping), w ...

. In 1986 at the age of 19, she won the first French official

climbing competition A climbing competition (or comp) is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering. In lead climbing, the competitors start at the bottom of a route and must ...

, taking place in the sportshall in

Vaulx-en-Velin Vaulx-en-Velin () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Lyon, and is located to its northeast, on the river Rhône. History The rivers, including th ...

only steps from her highschool, climbing barefoot. After this she devoted herself full-time to climbing and in 1988 became both the first woman to climb an 8b (''Sortilèges'' at Cimaï) and French champion. She subsequently won this title a further 3 times.

Personal life

Between 1993 and 1996 she was married to

Nicolas Hulot Nicolas Jacques André Hulot (; born 30 April 1955) is a French journalist and environmental activist. He is the founder and honorary president of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, an environmental group established in 1990. Hulot ran as a candida ...

a TV presenter and writer. In 1995 she retired from climbing. In 2000, she made her motorsport debut in the

Rallye Aicha des Gazelles The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc is a rally which is held in the deserted parts of southern Morocco. The distinctive feature of the rally is that participation is restricted to women only. In 2009, the 20th edition of the rally took p ...

and in 2002 competed in her first

Paris-Dakar rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

.''Dakar.com''
"Fiche pilote Isabelle PATISSIER"
. Retrieved on 17 May 2013. She later married her copilot/mechanic Thierry Delli-Zotti.

Notable climbs

:* ''Les sucettes à l'anis'' - Cimaï (FRA) - 1989 :* ''Sortilèges'' - Cimaï (FRA) - 1988 - First-ever woman in history to redpoint an :* ''Échographie'' -

Gorges du Verdon The Verdon Gorge ( French: ''Gorges du Verdon'') is a river canyon located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is about 25 km (15.5 mi) long and up to 700 metres (0.4 mi) deep. It was formed by th ...

(FRA) - 1988 :* ''Katapult'' -

Frankenjura Franconian Switzerland (german: Fränkische Schweiz) is an upland in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany and a popular tourist retreat. Located between the River Pegnitz in the east and the south, the River Regnitz in the west and the River Main i ...

(GER) - 1985

Rankings

Lead Climbing World Cups

Lead Climbing World Championships

Lead Climbing European Championships

Lead Climbing
Rock Master Rock Master is an international climbing competition held every year in Arco, Italy. The event takes place in two rounds: the first is an on-sight session and the second is called "after work". The final classification is given by the sum of th ...

Number of medals in Lead climbing World Cups

Rally results

*2000 - 3Com Star Challenge - 2nd *2000 - Trophy des Gazelles - 3rd *2004 - 1st woman world champion (Production category), with Team Nissan Dessoude *2004 - Oman Desert Express - Winner *2004 - Rally of Tunisia - 9th *2006 - Rally of Tunisia - 7th *2007 - Rally of Tunisia - 4th *

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

- competed

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

(3rd in 2WD, 16th in overall ranking) and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

References

External links

Official Website

IFSC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patissier, Isabelle French rock climbers French rally drivers French female mountain climbers 1967 births Living people