Paul Petzl named ‘OutDoor Celebrity of the Year 2011’
At the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen, Germany (13-17 July, 2011), Paul Petzl, the president of Petzl, a company located in Crolles, France, was named the “OutDoor Celebrity of the Year 2011”.
Paul Petzl was born in Saint-Ismier, at the base of the Dent de Crolles, a 2062 metre-high mountain in the Chartreuse mountain range, on 5 April 1950. Home to one of Europe’s most complex and most expansive cave systems,the mountain was investigated by Paul’s father, Fernand Petzl, during the Second World War.
Paul Petzl followed in his father’s footsteps and also became an enthusiastic caving expert –but one who had decided to combine work with pleasure. Paul first used his equipment for sports climbing and mountaineering and then later in the working world for work-at-height jobs. After completing his university education, he joined his father’s company; a small-scale workshop with seven employees at that time.
Father and son achieved a breakthrough in 1973 with the development of a new type of rope clamp and a new headlamp. In 1975, the company became a corporation and the first building was completed.
A short time later, Petzl invented special climbing harnesses for rock climbers and designed the machinery required to produce them. In 1986, Petzl was the first company in this sector to set up its own test laboratory. The Petzl Foundation was formed in 2006 to focus on three main areas: Safety / Environmental Protection / Research Project Funding. V.axess, The Petzl Institute, was formed two years later. It is used as a research as well as a training centre.
Today, Paul Petzl heads Petzl, a sports-climbing equipment and work-safety gear firm with sales amounting to more than EUR80 million, 450 employees and a distribution network spanning 51 countries.
He hopes that all his employees, suppliers and customers would say: “We would be happy if our children worked for Petzl – it’s a place where people get the respect that they deserve, where common values are established and lived, based on a job well done, and where the employees learn how to continue to develop by working together.”
Paul Petzl was chosen by a group of internationally leading trade journalists and representatives of this industry: Klaus Haselböck (Land der Berge, Krems/Austria), Piotr Turkot (4outdoor, Krakow/Poland), Mikko Lamminpää (RETKI – The Finnish Outdoor Magazine, Lahti/Finland), Christian Jaeggi (Black Diamond, Reinach/Switzerland), Nicolas Warchalowski (Haglöfs, Avesta/Sweden), Chris Townsend (TGO Magazine, Grantown on Spey/Great Britain), Peter Luscombe (Outdoor i, Cumbria, Great Britain), Therese Iknoian (SNEWS, an Active Interest Media company, Grass Valley/USA) and Birgit Lutz-Temsch (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich/Germany).
“An internationally acclaimed company, Petzl designs are recognised worldwide and Paul has never strayed from its core values, his commitment to product and the outdoor environment as strong today as it was all those years ago. In today’s world he remains, and continues to be the embodiment of authenticity,” said jury-member Peter Luscombe of Outdoor i, Cumbria, UK.
