A novel about a company and its environment. From the first caving ladders to
self-adjusting headlamps, the Petzl story is one of a series of inventions
that revolutionized access to the vertical world.
For forty years, Petzl and its founders have played a major role in the
history of the mountains. With caving as the starting point of its legacy – an
activity in which Fernand Petzl played a pioneering role – the equipment
manufacturer has explored vastly different realms of the vertical world: rock,
ice, snow, and nighttime. The company has also successfully transferred its
expertise to both rescue and work-at-height.
To tell the history of Petzl means telling the story of a team of cavers who
discovered an underground network of galleries and shafts while at the same
time inventing the means with which to explore them. This is also the story of
a family that started out with almost nothing and built, through sheer
determination and ingenuity, a world-renowned company.