Hiking Born to be Wild

INTERVIEW LIVE
FROM THE DODTOUR
Where did the idea for Dodtour come from?
Eco
friendly
We all believe that adventure means something or somewhere far away in a place that is rarely explored. I love experiencing adventure right here on my
doorstep. And for the last few years I have enjoyed mixing and making up my own routes near my home. An alpinist is someone who tracks routes in a
rock face, routes that are more and more dicult to follow. ese routes can begin in a simple mountain pasture for example on a departmental boundary
(the 05 tour produced the 3 month adventure “e High Alpine Ridge” in 2007) or on a country’s border. In fact the idea for the DodTour sprung from
this tour of the High Alpine Ridge where I live. A girlfriend jokingly said to me: “And so why not do the tour of France?” e seed was sown! e tour
of France had already been done in many dierent ways, but it had never been done in such an extremist way, most probably because you need mountaineering
experience to be able to complete it in this way.
A part from mountaineering and rock climbing were you already highly competent at all the other sports
necessary for this trip?
h no! And this is why the DodTour isn’t just this little guy trying his best to stay close to the boundaries and coastline it is about all these people who join
in and help. ey range from Olympic champions to anonymous geniuses with their common denominator being their enthusiasm. anks to them the
DodTour is what it is: a fabulous adventure, both sporting and humane. Nonetheless I did train my “weaknesses” before leaving (especially kayaking and
in a dug out canoe) so that I didn’t nd it too tough during the tour and to give myself a certain amount of autonomy.
Which parts of the trip have been the easiest and the most dicult up until now?
One of the noticeable consistencies about this project is that there is very rarely an easy day, as each day is long and very oen covers tough terrain that
has seen very few visitors. Now I can truthfully say that going through a town is easy, sometimes it’s a relief to be on tarmac! (laughs). So far though,
without question the toughest has been crossing the Mont Blanc massif: crossing many summits above 4000m and narrow ridges that have almost never
been traversed, itineraries that travel in the “opposite direction”, changing meteorological conditions to deal with and long 14 hours days that me my
climbing partner Philippe Pellet did in succession.
What’s your funniest anecdote so far since starting out?
Crossing 25km of beach slap bang in the middle of a military zone in Les Landes: I obtained authorisation on the condition that they would escort me.
So, three policemen accompanied me in their 4X4. I did suggest that they join me on mountain bikes but they were worried that they would slow me
down, so there was me on a bike and them in a blue 4X4, a surrealistic moment both brilliant and denitely funny!
All being well you are hoping to nish in October 2012 in Chamonix. Are you already thinking of what
you will do next?
I have enough dreams for nine lives, but for now I’m focused on enjoying this project: I know from experience that you must keep up the pressure until
the very end of an adventure if you want to succeed. It’s just as hard physically as it is mentally.
You have written two books recounting your adventures: La Montagne Intérieure (e Interior Mountain)
and Versant Océan (Ocean Mountainside), co-written with Isabelle Autissier. Will there be another
book telling the tale of this extraordinary adventure around France?
Of course! For me writing is the way of nishing the “ascension”, to give back all this light and joy that I have encountered, to those who wish to take it!