After his interview with the mother of fallen climber Marc-André Leclerc, podcaster Andrew Petty, of Steamboat, spoke to Sky-Hi News about what listeners can take away from the episode that differs from the documentary made about Leclerc, “The Alpinist.” “It goes even further behind the scenes of Marc-André’s story… We get an even better understanding of how he became the best alpinist of his generation, if not of any generation ever,” Petty said.
Andrew Petty/“Andrew Petty is Dying”
Canadian Alpinist Marc-André Leclerc completed some of the world’s most difficult summits in his short life, including Torre Egger in Patagonia and the Emperor Face of Mount Robson, in British Columbia. In the 2021 documentary “The Alpinist,” viewers watch Leclerc, a tiny speck in an enormous landscape, accomplish feats other climbers only dream of — and he does this while free soloing, arguably the world’s most extreme sport. A free soloist climbs rock or ice faces on mountains with no harnesses or protection — nothing but skill and willpower keeping one from falling into the abyss.
Leclerc had achieved more than most free soloists when his life was cut short during a climb in 2018. He was 25. “The Alpinist” chronicles both his achievements and untimely death.
“The Alpinist is … not a climbing movie, merely,” said Andrew Petty, a life coach and podcaster based in Steamboat. “It’s a story about how writing a great story with our life can change other people’s lives.”
Petty’s podcast, “Andrew Petty is Dying,” is inspirational rather than morbid.
“The podcast is (about) confronting our mortality so we can use it to motivate us to live as well as we can,” said Petty.
On Mother’s Day, Petty talked with Leclerc’s mother, Michelle Kuipers, about her son’s childhood, climbing accomplishments and how she raised such an adventurous individual.
Kuipers, who was featured in “The Alpinist,”was Leclerc’s first and most pivotal influence. Kuipers inspired in her son a love for adventure and nurtured his free spirit, rather than trying to reign it in.
“I used to say he arrived on this planet enraged to be in the body of a helpless infant. I knew that we would both be happier as soon as he could start moving and he could express his avid mental activity through physical activity,” Kuipers said during her interview with Petty.
The overly active child, branded a misfit by a school system that tried to keep him contained, eventually found a sense of belonging in the mountains.
“Marc-André lived the life he was meant to live,” Kuipers said, speaking about how she responded those …….