Jean-Pierre Bouvier

Jean-Pierre Bouvier, born May 6, 1957 in Taverny, is a French climber and pioneer of free climbing. Nicknamed "The Fly" due to his small size (1.62 m / 48 kg), he is one of those who launched free and sport climbing in France, often offering routes that were simply exceptional, beautiful, and even enjoyable to climb. He is also one of the very first climbing instructors. In Bleau and on cliffs, he has completed numerous extreme routes around the world, of which only a handful have been repeated. JPB began climbing in Mortain at the age of 14, practiced mountaineering for a few years, and then participated in the development of free climbing. He then spent several trips to England practicing Trad' (rock climbing using nuts) and became famous in 1981 when he opened Chimpanzodrome, the first 7c+ crag in the north of Saussois (in the south, Patrick Berhault had opened the first French line at this grade with La Haine in November 1981 at La Loubière, La Turbie, Monaco).