We wish Alizée Dufraisse would talk about us the way she talks about a rock face. The French professional climber acknowledges the focus and discipline required on a difficult ascent, but she finds romance where her peers find only challenge and exhilaration. This perspective gives her climbing a fluidity that, even to a layman’s eye, appears uniquely effortless. Someone who knows what they’re seeing could call it poetic.
Dufraisse’s fascinating worldview and intimidating athleticism are on full display in this profile by Prana Living. She describes her conquests of the Siurana countryside as “projects” — artistic pursuits, fueled more by the quest for beauty than athletic achievement. To get to know a route, she falls in love with it. We must learn this mountain’s secrets.
