Mélissa Le Nevé (born July 8, 1989) is a French professional

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 ...

specializing in competition bouldering, but and also in outdoor

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

and

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...

Early life

Le Nevé grew up in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

until she was 10, and later began climbing at age 15, at a gym near

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Climbing career

Competition climbing

Le Nevé focused her

competition climbing 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 c ...

career on the discipline of

. Le Nevé was the French women's

champion in 2010 and 2013, placed fourth in the 2011 IFSC Bouldering World Cup overall standings, and placed 2nd at individual IFSC World Cup events in Slovenia (2013), Switzerland (2016), and Japan (2016). She retired from competitive climbing in 2016, after finishing third in that year's IFSC Bouldering World Cup.

Rock climbing

In 2015, she became the first woman to climb a set of boulders in Fontainebleau called the "Big Five", one of which–''Atrésie''–is rated . In December 2016, she climbed an boulder in Fontainebleau, ''La Cicatrice de L'Ohm''. In 2017, she climbed the problem, ''Mécanique élémentaire'', at Fontainebleau. Le Nevé has also climbed some of the hardest outdoor sport climbing routes. In 2014, she made the first female free ascent (FFFA) of , an sport climbing route in the

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 ...

. In April 2020, she made the first free female ascent of Wolfgang Güllich's iconic route '' Action Directe'' (XI, 9a) in Frankenjura.

Personal life

She lives in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

...

Filmography

* Le Nevé's 2020 ascent of '' Action Directe'':

References

External links

MELISSA LE NEVE
IFSC Database
VIDEO: What Gets Melissa Le Nevé Out Of Bed In The Morning
''

Rock & Ice ''Rock & Ice'' is a magazine published by Outside focusing on rock and ice climbing. The first issue came out in March 1984. The first publisher was Neal Kaptain. George Bracksieck worked for him, beginning in January 1984, and the two became e ...

'' (February 2021) 1989 births Living people French rock climbers French female climbers Sportspeople from Gironde IFSC Climbing World Cup overall medalists Boulder climbers French competition climbers {{France-sport-bio-stub