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[sneoh]

Well, if the fall (down the stairs) were truly sport, it would be "all air".
Sorry, could not resist but I am truly sad that he is gone. 

[smartpig]

My only encounter with Patrick Edlinger was at Castle Rock, Boulder Canyon, CO in 1985.  I was climbing Country Club Crack with Ken Reville and a climbing bum** while Edlinger and Christian Griffith were project freeing an old aid route to the right.  Griffith may have bagged the FFA that day.  Patrick took whipper after whipper on the crux, lowering off, pulling the rope, and lighting a smoke after each attempt.  I remember Ken yelling down to him in anger when he pissed into the river and flicked his cig butts into there as well. Edlinger ignored Ken.

To add to Ken's angst, our climbing bum, threw one of our coiled ropes down to the base of Castle Rock because he was too lazy to carry it down. About half way back to Boulder it occurred to us that we forgot to pick up the errant rope.  Luckily we found it where it landed.

I can't help but think that Ken reprimand and the bums rope throwing high jinx contributed to the routes name: Tourist Extravagance, 5.12D!

Patrick Edlinger's French Revolution certainly rubbed the some of the American old guard the wrong way.  As in most things it takes certain radicals to create new ways and push standards.  He came across the water and elevated the American climbing scene as a result.

I can forgive the cigs and piss.  Apparently the cigs did him in.

Edlinger style of climbing was beautiful to watch and inspired those who followed!       

                                                                                                           >_________________RIP PE...........>

**The bums name is long forgotten but I do know he died the following year soloing Bastille Crack in Eldorado.   RIP the bum!

[kenreville]

The "bums" name was Ken Black. He was the 1st person I ever heard call something "jingus". A former character for sure.

[kenreville]

Oh, and Luke, nothing personal but you've got a few loose screws.

[strandman]

The "bums" name was Ken Black. He was the 1st person I ever heard call something "jingus". A former character for sure.

AKA Psycho Kenny.. not like out Sycho at all !

[M_Sprague]

... Apparently the cigs did him in....

No. He hit his head falling down the stairs, then dragged himself into the bathroom and died. http://qn.quotidiano.net/cronaca/2012/11/20/805224-morto-edlinger-triste-destino-re-climber-arrampicata.shtml  "È caduto da una ripida scala di casa, battendo la testa e procurandosi una fatale emorragia. Lo hanno trovato privo di vita in bagno, dove si è trascinato agonizzante."

The Italian is typically  dramatic and brutallly blunt.

[Admin Al]

Aosta, November 20, 2012 - The fate was mocking with Patrick Edlinger, climbing star and icon, died yesterday in a trivial fall at home. The 'blonde' for friends and 'the dieu' for climbers from around the world was 52 years old and a blazing between past successes and excesses. Has fallen by a steep staircase of the house, hitting his head and by getting a fatal hemorrhage. They found him lifeless in the bathroom, where he dragged dying.
He slammed the wounded temple against the floor between two mattresses that had placed 'for security' under the stairs, at his home in La Palud, in Verdon, a land of rocky cliffs that separate the Alps from the plains of Provence in the south of France. He who had defied the vertical alone, detached, becoming a myth for at least a generation of climbers and not only betrayed by a trivial step.

Born just a few kilometers from the Pyrenees began to climb to eight years in the mountains of home. The turning point in the meeting with Patrick Berhault almost the same age, a great French climber who died in 2004. 'Les deux Patrick' began to climb the gorges of Verdon, opening ways hitherto thought impossible. In the early 80's fame Edlinger was boosted by two documentaries by Jean-Paul Janssen, who have made ​​him a star in the eyes of the general public and have opened the doors to the jet-set. Sculptural Body, flowing blond hair, harsh nature, quickly became a star. newspapers and magazines stood out on his photo 'cult' while stripped to the waist and shorts, stretched out his hand to a tiny grip on the rock.

The rockstar certainly had the look, but also the curse. "His gruff-Cotè tells Guido Azzalea, president of mountain guides in the Valle d'Aosta and his close friend and hid a great fragility. Was very sensitive. Maybe he has not been able to support the weight of success. " Edlinger in 1995 had been the victim of a serious accident in the Calanques in France had fallen down from a wall of 18 meters, suffering a cardiac arrest and was saved by the intervention of a resuscitator. Past few years, says the author of the Biography, Edlinger had drinking problems. Problems that might have led to the fatal accident. Friends of La Palud had seen him more depressed than usual, while walking in the country. "I am a free man and I do not regret anything in my path" will be his epitaph.

[strandman]

No matter.. very sad. he was so good at so many things.

Died at the same age as John bachar... more than ironic. if you ever saw them climb together.. well it wasn't climbing.. it was MOVEMENT

bachar- ' it sure dind't take him long to learn cracks"  after onsighting Love Supreme 12+ in Tuolumne around '86

[sneoh]

So very sad for a guy who has free soloed up to 5.13.
PE was a year older than I am.
RIP, Le Blond.

John, got any footage of Bachar climbing with Edlinger?  What a pair!! Must have been just awesome to wtach.

[lucky luke]

My only encounter with Patrick Edlinger was at Castle Rock, Boulder Canyon, CO in 1985.  I was climbing Country Club Crack with Ken Reville and a climbing bum** while Edlinger and Christian Griffith were project freeing an old aid route to the right.  Griffith may have bagged the FFA that day.  Patrick took whipper after whipper on the crux, lowering off, pulling the rope, and lighting a smoke after each attempt. 

drinking problem is a very big one and Edlinger had it. Competition, trying to show that you are better than him by climbing side by side, and a bad day is not a reason for smoking and do bad things. He his a human an I respect what he did for climbing.

Neverthless, I admit he had the mentality of sport climbing that many people don't like in many aspect. Sport climbing is a very interessant ethic for those who really enjoy to push there limit on hard move with a reasonable safety. For those who prefer commitment, an as I thing that bolts place at fifteen feet under the crux on take it or leave it (30 feet fall) in verdon is not in the ehic of sport climbing in general, I can think that trad is still a different ethic 

[eyebolter]

Luke, did you watch the video Al posted?  Calling him a "sport climber" when he soloed 5.11+ barefoot a thousand feet off deck is not exactly doing him justice, not to mention soloing 5.13 b.

[tradmanclimbz]

Anyone  who is really really good these days sport climbs at least some of the time. Even Donnini sport climbs

[strandman]

Ya but Donini only uses old bolts..

the only visual of bachar and Mr Ed i have is tucked in my head.. Tuolumne '85 or "86

I would love to hear LL's version of a :drinking problem"   then again,, maybe not. ever been to a party in Camp 4  ? or even a little post climb bash at callaghan's    Didn't think so

[sneoh]

Don't you get LL going about non climbing stuff like drinking, John!
LL/Champ, you have made it clear that you prefer to enjoy climbing in a personal and non-competitive way.  We get that since there is at least a bit of that in everyone in us.  But competitiveness among climbers is not limited to sport climbing.  There is competitiveness in trad too I am sorry to break it to you, especially for "trophy" climbs, just as in sport, mountaineering, and ice. 
A little friendly competition is good for motivation and advancing the sport.  I hang around with climbers, male and female who are all competitive in a friendly way and we definitely elevate each other's "game" in a good way.
And, competition climbing is very different from sport climbing in many ways these days.  I can't say whether there were more similarities back when the first Snowbird was held.  Even so they have surely diverged the past 20+ years. 

[strandman]

Competition is part of climbing.. like it or not. Even if it's only with yourself.. like ego.. it's always there, admit it or not.