MOVIE • 1980

The Gate of Heaven

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A legendary film in the history of rock climbing in the Verdon Gorges, shot in 16mm between the autumn of 1978 and the spring of 1979 by Henri Agresti, a high mountain guide. For the first time, acrobatic shots were taken on the walls of the Verdon. We rediscover a whole generation of pioneers on routes like Dingomaniaque, Triomphe d'Eros, Péril rouge, Luna Bong, Pichenibule or Necronomicon, routes which, like Dingomanique or Triomphe d'Eros, had just been opened. We witnessed a major turning point in the style and possibilities of rock climbing at the end of the 1970s: anchors sealed by drilling used as belaying and no longer as aids, new equipment: climbing shoes and chalk, harnesses and figure eights. Henri Agresti's unfinished and silent film, lasting around fifty minutes, was presented in the form of a nine-minute fragment at the Trento Film Festival in 1981.