François Legrand

François Legrand was born in Grenoble in 1970, into a family of mountaineers (mountain guides and alpine skiers). Present at the forefront of climbing competitions for 15 years, François Legrand is also renowned for his passion for cliffs. To his credit more than 10,000 routes, some of which are among the most difficult in Europe and the United States. François grew up in Chamonix, where his parents are from, and took his first steps as a climber at the age of 2, to become the very first world champion in history at 21 years old. Very early François understands that he wants to become a professional climber. Yet fate fails to prevent him from achieving his dream. At the age of sixteen he fell 20 meters in which he broke his wrists and several vertebrae. The doctors then tell him that he will never be able to play sports again. However, after several operations and a year of rehabilitation, François is climbing again like never before. The following year (in 1988), during the very first French championships, François, totally unknown and who arrived in the competition "by chance", challenged the tenors of the time (Edlinger, Raboutou, Jibé Tribout and Alex Duboc ...) and narrowly lost to the illustrious Jacky Godoffe, winning the title of vice-champion of France Senior. From then on, he never stopped becoming world number one, sacrificing everything for climbing, even living for several months in the "Grotte de La Plage" in Buoux where he also met Yuji Hirayama, a young Japa…