Ah haw-hee haw-hee haw, Eurphiles, Franco-Prussians and French loafers. Your next instalment of Jam Crack Podcast has landed on your doorstep.
Cast your mind back to the 1980s. Think sunshine, vertical limestone, swimsuits and lycra. That's right, La Reine de l'escalade, Catherine Destivelle has popped up to tell you all about it.
Thrust to the forefront of our redundant consciousness in those Wham!-heavy days by the film of her soloing in Mali, which, James 'Don't Look Down' MacHaffie told me the other day, still impresses him, Catherine was the very definition of climbing celebrity. She was famous all through France, she looked smoking hot and she crushed.
Her sport climbing was just behind the make level and when competitions first happened, she won 'em all, just about. Then she became a mountaineer, soloed loads of North Faces in the Alps, including the first onsight solo of the Eiger (GULP!), then loads in the Himalayas.
She's cool. You're not. Have a listen, losers.
As usual listen via the player below. Better again go via iTunes, or to Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, I'd really appreciate it if you would subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically. That way it won't just be shows from famous people who get heard, but also the less famous who will be equally interesting (or boring).
The techno at the end is by big Guy Keating. Turn up the Strobes.
Over and out, Crackheads x