The iceman. Interview with Christophe Moulin.
45 years old, French, alpine guide, ski instructor, trainer of the national teams of high level alpinism and ski mountaineering. Christophe Moulin is sport professor, a civil servant paid by the Ministry Jeunesse et Sport to take care of French mountaineering. Incredible things for our mentality, but in France they have worked, and well, for many years. For our cousins on the other side of the Alps sport has always been important as a mean to educate the youth. Christophe is the example of the application of this philosophy that has the aim of helping young talents of minor sports to improve their capabilities while going to school.
We spoke about alpinism and climbing as if they were generic sports, because in France they are considered like this. They enjoy the same dignity of more established sports, like the Olympic ones, and they can count on the support of the Sport Ministry.
A few years ago Christophe has completed his professional courses specializing in the mountain sector, winning the contest for a place as National Technical Consultant of FFME, the Mountain and Climbing French Federation. He became ski instructor, then alpine guide, then national ski instructor and teacher of the Ensa Mountain Guide Courses. (Ensa is the Ecole Nationale de Ski et d’Alpinisme, ndr), and finally he got the above-mentioned job as trainer. But Christophe is also (and above all) a strong alpinist, specialized in extreme ice climbing.
Let’s go and learn something about this peculiar personality, one of the main characters of the French ephemeral world, who has experienced strong emotions, especially alone. Let’s discover a careful observer of the planet mountain, in continuous contact with the youths, who represent the future and the mirror of the new trends. Which better opportunity could we have, to understand the situation of modern ice climbing?

The start
When did you discover the Hautes Alpes?
I was born in Paris and after four years my mother moved to Briançonnais. At 5 I started skiing and at 14 I discovered climbing.

In which way did you approach climbing?
Thanks to Jean Jaques Rolland, today CTR (Alpinism and alpine ski regional technical consultant, ndr), who already in those years, we speak of the early Seventies, worked on the promotion of youth activity. In that period Jean Jaques collaborated with the schools and thanks to him I have discovered alpine hiking, ski mountaineering and the first climbs.

How did your passion for climbing develop?
I would say in a logical and natural way, especially for the time. It is normal that a young man who loves nature and mountains will find climbing a fantastic activity. It has been a great passion, a strong energy that pushed us to look all the time for something new and stimulating. With this principle we have looked for, found and equipped Saint Crépin, the first crag in the Briançonnais with one rope length routes.

With a group of friends, I imagine...
Yes, but not even that many. In particular with Max Imbert, who has then continued and has become alpine guide too. After the period in Saint Crèpin came the one of Pouit, this time again together with Jean Jaques Rolland, and last came Panacelle. In those years I have equipped and free climbed routes up to 7c, my highest level. I left the hardest routes for the others.

Life in the outdoor at 360°, that means school and climbing in the good season, school and skiing in the winter. It was an almost normal development to transform the big passion of your life into a job…
I made ski competitions for many years and I took advantage of this experience to become ski instructor in 1981. Then I started to work straight away. In 1982 I became aspiring guide, completing the planning of what would become my professional activity in the following twenty years.

In this context, when did you discover ice climbing?
I learned ice climbing in 1978, with friends, on the icefalls of Freissinieres. It seems incredible how much destiny influenced these things. I started by chance in a place where today you can find the hardest climbs in France. I remember in those years we looked at the routes that we climb today in five hours and we seriously thought that, might be in the future, they could have been possible in a few days climbing. I would have never thought that the things that are climbed today would become possible.

In which area of Freissinieres have you started?
On the southern flank of the valley. The hard routes of today are exactly in front of it, facing north, on the Gramuzat. We climbed in front of those frozen curtains and it’s normal that we thought, “May be one day somebody will be able to climb also there”.

How often did you climb?
At the beginning we climbed now and then, later we went always more often. In those years I made ski competitions, therefore I had time during the week, in the afternoons, when I didn’t train. Only a few years later, motivated by a great passion, I progressively increased my activity as mountaineer and ice climber. I also had to climb as many routes as possible, in order to be admitted to the alpine guide courses.

What did you climb?
I repeated and opened many routes in the Massif des Ecrins, in Oisans and on the Mont Blanc. All this happened in the years between ’79 and ’82, when I became aspiring guide.

Didn’t you climb anything in Italy in those years?
Something on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, and then in Valle Argentera, below Sestriere. I was introduced to Giancarlo Grassi, who became a good friend of mine. At the beginning of the Eighties he brought us several times to his frozen little worlds in his back yard.

The rage of the extreme
After all these years of experience, what is behind this big passion for ice and ephemeral world?
A big enthusiasm, above all. And then the passion for things like nature, mountain, cold and difficulty. I have always tried to “perform” a lot, because I didn’t feel in balance with myself and I looked in the extreme for a solution to my existential problems.

Ice, therefore, was a mean through which you could find yourself?
Not necessary only ice, but anything extreme in general. I find that my strong desire to perform always better and to overcome myself came from a lacking interior balance. In those days that way of acting seemed to me the only possibility to calm down this thirst of emotions. The “extreme” for the sake of it had become almost an existential need.

And practicing it let you feel better?
No, and this is the paradox. Also when I had just realized something important I was always unhappy, I wanted to make more, straight away. I think that the main mistake was being caught in the mechanism and, almost unintentionally, not to be able to escape anymore. The worst moment has been when I started with the extreme solo ascents and the media began to be interested. At that point I felt prisoner of myself, of my lust and something clicked inside me, may be the survival instinct was telling me that I was losing the contact with reality.

You reached a point when you understood that something wasn’t working anymore.
I would say yes, and that happened in 1996. Extreme soloing has represented an important period in my life. Eight years of high performances, those were necessary to better understand myself, and the world around me. At a certain point, all of a sudden, and apparently without any reason, I said, “That’s enough.”

What was behind such a radical decision about an activity that was the center of your thoughts just a day before?
I think that I suddenly realized that a period of my life was ending, and that I needed other stimulations to go further. I continued to love those things a lot, but I didn’t feel the physical need anymore, a kind of emotional dependency was finished, may be because other values were getting more important. All of a sudden I felt different, more mature. In a short period I started to feel well with the others, to live with the others. Funny thing, for a lone wolf like me.

When did you start soloing?
In the period 1988-1996, the “extreme” season in my life. I had climbed solo also before, I always loved being alone in the mountains, but these first experiences were a way of discovering a completely new world that fascinated me. I think that it was a kind of discovery of identity: I had finally found the dimension through which I could express myself freely.

Tell us just one name, a realization that left something behind…
A route that left a deep impression was the Cousy-Desmaison on the North Face of Olan, in the French Oisan. It is an 800-meter route, rated ED. At the time the line had been repeated in winter only once, after a month of siege by the Army GHM (Groupe Haute Montagne, ndr). I managed to climb it in 24 hours, in the by now far away 1989. It was a great adventure, a trip at the discovery of the psychophysical limits of the human being and the behavior in certain conditions.

What recollections do you have of that day?
The desire to act and the great determination I felt at the base of the wall. With me I had only the bare essential to try a speed ascent, accepting all possible risk. Two liters of water, two chocolate bars and nothing else. I had already repeated the route two years before, in the summer, with a friend in two days. It was about realizing a dream. In the past I had tried twice to start for the winter ascent but for one reason or the other I never managed to do it. For this reason one day I decided to start alone and at last I realized one of the dreams of my life.

Did you climb also many icefalls in those years?
I quickly started to solo also on ice. It’s even easier to solo on ice than on rock, because on ice you always climb with the principle of “no falls”, and therefore you climb all the time as if you were unroped. You never consider the possibility of falling. The possible fall isn’t part of the game, and therefore it’s only a question of mind and concentration. As of today solo climbs on ice are the only extreme activity that I still practice, also if I must admit that I don’t feel like I am taking any risk, otherwise I would stop immediately, no doubt.

Did you ever fall, in all these years?
Unfortunately yes, once: 25 meters and my ankle exploded. I was climbing on a free hanging icicle in Freissinières. At one point a loud noise and we both crashed on the ground. Today, when I recall that day, I am aware that I am lucky to be still alive. It could have gone much worse than a simple fracture of my ankle. No doubt it wasn’t my destiny. In that occasion I was roped to my wife. I landed on soft ground and I didn’t realize what had happened, until I looked down to my ankle and saw that is was broken.
These are all things that let me realize that experience in ice climbing is very important, may be more than in other mountain activities. In that occasion I had made a grave evaluation mistake about the conditions of the wall and unfortunately I paid for it. This is exactly the concept I try to point out to the youth: always remain aware and humble, to be able to evaluate things correctly.

Considerations
What comes to your mind, if you think back to the last twenty years of ice climbing?
That we really went on, we improved. I find it great what is happening today. We have climbed for years with the fear of falling, and that was almost the same for rock climbing, before bolts became popular. Today we climb on ice with the same attitude of rock climbing. We have little ice crags; the hardest mixed routes are also equipped with bolts, and then we have the adventure terrain in the mountains. If we think about it, it is exactly the same thing that happens in rock climbing: single pitch routes, 400-meter bolted lines and itineraries in the mountain, where you have to place the protections.

Interesting this comparison…
In the early days there weren’t ice crags, we started directly with the long routes and this is also the reason why the increase of the difficulty was slow. Today, a young climber begins with equipped routes. If he is talented, in two years he reaches the highest level: that was unthinkable only a few years ago. I find the new reality very interesting, because it offers a bigger choice to everybody. Everybody can choose the kind of activity he prefers. The offer outside has improved.

Ice climbing is becoming trendy again. Is it just a short living trend or what?
I don’t think that it is just a temporary trend, but more an evolution of mentality. People need more and more the contact with nature and ice climbing today represents an ideal extension of modern climbing. In a few years I think that it will become exclusively a question of mentality and “sportive” approach, with all the pros and contras.

We can imagine the favorable points. Which are instead the dangers that we can encounter?
We must pay a lot of attention to the fact that ice is a raw material that must be “known”, in the true sense of the word. Rock, if it’s solid, is solid, and it doesn’t change. It’s different for ice: it is alive. We can compare ice climbing with climbing on rotten rock. There are people who can easily climb on bad rock, while others cannot, because you need experience and this comes only with practice and time.

Not only muscles, but also head…
Muscles and general physical preparation are very important, for both ice climbing and other more established disciplines. But they are less important for ice climbing, though. Better expressed: the importance of muscles isn’t primary, because without full command of technique, row power is less useful than somewhere else. With the same technical knowledge, however, it’s logical that the stronger ones climb higher than the others. In any case it isn’t so immediate to transform a good sport climber in a valid ice climber: you need time, passion, humility and lots of experience, to reach important results without risking more than necessary.

We are making several parallels between ice and rock: do you find that there are so many common points between these two activities?
The actual movements of ice and mixed climbing are always more similar to the movements on rock, unthinkable until a few years ago. Back then there was always the “three points” rule, with only one moving limb at a time. Today you can “dare” new movements: there is more imagination in the mind of the climbers, thanks to the help of new progression techniques and the new materials, always more performing.

Which role had the new materials in the evolution of ice climbing, in your opinion?
Like in all sports, ice climbing has evolved looking for technical solutions that satisfy best the requirements of a continuously evolving market. We have had big changes of the picks of the ice axes, always more refined and functional. The crampons offer thousand solutions, some even feature points similar to the blades of the picks. Not to speak about the last new products of the footwear technology, that proposes always more precise and lighter boots that allow incredible flexibility in the ankle. An example above all is the just out product of La Sportiva, the Mega Ice: the first true ice-climbing shoe. Today, thanks to these shoes, you can grab with your feet, besides just edging. In this way you can take advantage of the muscles of the thigh, moving the hips toward the wall and reaching further with the ice axe. Also the clothing has become more technical and lightweight.

And the protections?
Also the protections are easier to place. When I started ice climbing, we placed the ice-screws while hanging from the ice axes, and not like today, sinking easily the screw with one hand, while the other one holds the ice tool. Today we “free” climb on ice, that means without leashes on the tools, exactly like rock climbing. The problem of safety doesn’t come from the screws, but from the position of the placement, position suggested only from good judgment and experience. A well-placed titan screw holds a possible fall, a bad placed one of course doesn’t. And if it doesn’t hold, it becomes absolutely useless, and therefore dangerous.

Do you find that ice climbing is a good possibility for a young person who wants to approach a particular kind of mountain?
I would say yes, also if it is a different and more complicated approach than the one of climbing on artificial walls in the school. We must say that today the starting conditions are much more favorable than in the past, there are icefalls everywhere in the mountains. A lot of them are also near the road. You can see already the first artificial ice climbing walls, especially in the alpine locations that are open to novelties and promotion of the mountains.

Which are the most common reactions of young people approaching ice climbing?
Ice is in general harder to accept than rock; the initial approach to the activity is fundamental. The impact must be as soft as possible, otherwise the beginner is scared and loses his interest. I find that the actual image of the “ice climber” is too extreme and spectacular. Don’t misunderstand me: the videos or the awesome pictures that make you dream are all right, but we must pay attention not to create a reasoning of the kind: “It’s very beautiful, but it isn’t for me.” Ice climbing is starting to be more and more a trendy sport. Today it is normal to see pictures of ice climbing also on very popular magazines, like L’Equipe magazine.

What can you tell me about the evolution of mixed climbing?
I think that it is a good thing, especially interesting because it represents the synthesis between rock and ice climbing. The modern extreme mixed is concentrated, in most cases, in 20 – 30 meters. For me it is a possibility to develop pure difficulty of a certain kind, a transition towards mixed climbs in the mountain. There are people who are specializing in this direction. That means that mixed climbing is achieving more and more its identity. In mixed climbing it becomes fundamental to have the best knowledge about the tools: jamming the picks into the cracks, climbing overhangs with ice axes and crampons isn’t easy. Besides the grading of the performance, it is also a way to push technique to the extreme, thanks to extraordinary requests.

Do you like mixed climbing?
As of today I could say that I love mixed climbing more than pure ice. The reason is that in mixed climbing it’s still possible to go “further”. This is less possible in ice climbing, because physically the inclination can’t get steeper than a certain angle. Mixed climbing is an open frontier that requests a lot of preparation, but also long experience. Further, I would say that mixed climbing is the winter activity where the highest percentage of experience is requested, to reach a certain level.

How do you see the evolution of ice climbing?
On ice a lot has been done, in fact, almost everything. It’s clear that there are different ways of interpreting things, because every year waterfalls change, but at the end the substance remains the same. Today I see ice climbing more like a game than something else. Mixed climbing instead is more severe: you must be mature and robust, to experience it in a positive way, from the psychophysical point of view.
On the other side, in the mountains, what is still left to be done? Everything that could be done on pure ice has been done. Everything that could be done on pure rock has been done. Only the universe of extreme mixed climbing has still to be discovered, may be because people haven’t thought about it yet. And here it is important to pay big attention to ethic and safety.

What do you mean, when you speak about ethic?
I am especially concerned with the concept of ethic. It is like a not written moral law, on which is based the very existence of alpinism. For me you can do everything in the mountains, but with knowledge of the things. You must respect the others, the adventure terrain, and the youth that will arrive after us. It is necessary to avoid presumption at all costs and not to think to be the best. Who can say it? Therefore, we should not use bolts everywhere and indiscriminately; it is necessary to try to understand, with humility, which can be our limits and leave space for the future generations.

How do you see your evolution as an alpinist?
I believe that I have been a privileged person in life, because I have had the chance to change job at the right moment. My activity, until yesterday, was very “physical”, on the field. Today I continue to live in the environment I love, but in a different way, with still technical functions, but less “muscled” than before. I think that this is the normal evolution as a sports man, who begins to feel some little aches at forty. The opportunity to change job has donated me new stimulations, and I am sure that these new inputs will contribute to let me grow as a person.
I find that in life you should always adhere to the reality of things and, therefore, accept the natural course of the events. This is exactly the main problem of many sportsmen, who don’t accept ageing, the reduction of the physical performance that causes, unavoidably, a progressive detachment from reality, with consequent psychic frustrations. You must feel well in your skin, always. You must feel in harmony with the world around you.

Which importance has had your family for gaining this awareness?
Without doubts it has been fundamental. Family harmony has helped me to understand why the seasons end and that life is beautiful exactly because of this, because for each season that finishes a new one starts, to live with the same intensity. With time I have understood that there are also other things in life, besides mountains, that still remains important: family, the woman you love, children. Oscar Durbiano