Catherine Destivelle is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. At her Hory a mesto / Mountains and City presentation, Catherine will recount her life journey from the small boulders of Fontainebleau to the largest emblematic peaks of the Alps.

Catherine came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by winning the first major female climbing competitions in Bardonecchia, Italy, and by being the first-ever female to redpoint a 7c+/8a sport climbing route (Fleur de Rocaille) in 1985, and an 8a+ route (Choucas in Buoux) in 1988. During this period, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world along with Lynn Hill. In 1990 she retired from sport climbing to focus on alpine climbing.

In 1990, she made the first-ever rope solo female alpine ascent of the Bonatti Pillar on the Petit Dru in Chamonix. In 1991 she became the first-ever female to climb a new extreme alpine first ascent on the Petit Dru named Voie Destivelle. From 1992 to 1994, she became the first female to complete the winter alpine free solo of the "North Face Trilogy" of the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses, and the Matterhorn. She made Himalayan and high-altitude ascents such as Nameless Tower in 1990, the southwest face of Shishapangma in 1995, and the south face of Peak 4111, in Antarctica, in 1996. In 2020 she became the first-ever female recipient of the prestigious Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award.