“To climb trees is to love them, to feel the desire to protect them” | EUROtoday
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IIt’s 8:51 a.m. Léo Urban texts us to say he is on his method. The adventurous YouTuber organized to satisfy us in Boulogne-Billancourt, very near Canal+ Studio, the place he’ll go an hour later. At the Jean-Baptiste brasserie, that morning, there have been no regulars, however a coming and going of consumers in search of a fast espresso. The quarter of an hour of politeness passes with out him arriving – his taxi misplaced him, a number of kilometers away.
Léo Urban enters, a robust odor of lemongrass precedes his steps. Cap screwed on his head, black t-shirt and jogging pants, well-trimmed beard, the thirty-year-old impresses along with his presence. “It was a little morning run to wake me up better! » he smiled, barely out of breath, his cheeks pink from the winter temperatures. He is one of those who shake hands and converse without ever looking away. He has the sure movements and the physique of his appearance, a great sportsman.
Léo Urban’s real name: Léopold Hurbin
And he proves it every day, on social networks, in videos of adventure and challenges across the country and the world. Among them: surviving a week in the forest, hunting antelopes in South Africa, or even climbing with orangutans in the jungle of Sumatra… On Instagram, he has more than 2 million subscribers.
A figure that easily makes you dizzy. He obviously doesn’t have it. Perched several meters above the ground, Léo Urban jumps from tree to tree, climbs from branch to branch. Bare hands and feet. A ” parkour primal”, as he calls it – the parkour being this sporting self-discipline which consists of shifting by overcoming obstacles – which he invented and which he performs within the method of an animal which strikes within the forest. His method, he assures, of “expressing himself fully in nature, an environment in which he feels most comfortable”. He recounts his “French Tarzan” itinerary in his first e book. Humane* (Grasset), co-written with the journalist from PointNathalie Lamoureux. ALSO READ Meeting with Catherine Destivelle: “I have always been respected as a climber, not a “climber”” Léo Urban – real name Léopold Hurbin – was born in 1994, in Créteil, in the Paris region. He was barely 4 years old when he moved to Andorra, between France and Spain, with his restaurateur parents. He then discovered this forest and mountainous landscape. At more than 1,600 meters above sea level, little Léopold spends most of his time outside, little attracted by the comfort of his room and his toys. His mother already saw him running “like Mowgli”. “Wild nature, with foxes, chamois, eagles… All this was part of my daily life,” he explains. When I think about it, I realize how lucky I was to have been able to evolve in this environment. »
A “cool childhood” until… he was “catapulted into school”. The boy, a fan of the outdoors and freedom, finds himself confined between four walls, sitting on a chair, having to raise his hand to speak in the middle of 30 students. Pampered by his mother, he discovers that the attention is no longer focused only on him and “cries all the tears in his body”.
He experiences his schooling as “a castration”, and feels that someone is trying to “train” him. “I didn’t understand what I was doing there,” he says. All my individual awakening was crushed by the masses, and I waited a long time to regain my freedom. I never lost sight of my desire to be in the trees, to move as I pleased. »
Léo Urban, “almost wild child”
His seriousness and calm today contrast with his rebellious childhood. The kid, “gifted in the plastic arts and in sport”, quickly becomes insolent. Because he can’t “do what he desires”, he causes “mess”. Got kicked out of college several times. Goes through boarding school without managing to “fall into line”.
His salvation? He will find it in distance learning, the only way to continue “his learning about nature”. His parents enroll him there in exchange for promises: the teenager will help them in the restaurant, and undertakes to complete his baccalaureate. Thing done: he gets it, in the literary section.
ALSO READ Meeting with Victor Le Masne: “The music of the Olympics no longer belongs to me and I am very happy about it! » But what interests him is in no way academic. “Almost a wild child,” he admits, Léopold is fascinated by animal documentaries, carefully observing the movement of elephants, cheetahs, monkeys… “Each animal has its function and its perfection in what it embodies,” says he said. There is no striving for goals like us humans, just instinct. »
He then attempts to reproduce the movements, to at least get closer to them. He trains more and more long and intensely to acquire the agility of the primates he admires. In particular, the orangutan, “heavyweight boxer in a dancer’s physique”, and the chimpanzee for “the warrior facet and the energy of the physique”.
No wonder the Jane Goodall Foundation, created by the famous English primatologist, spotted it: Léo Urban became its ambassador and acts to protect the environment and wildlife. Canal+, too, did not miss out on The Child of the Forestwho is the main character of a documentary series where he uses his exceptional physical abilities and his community of followers to carry out actions in the four corners of the planet.
Léo Urban inspired by the Yamakasi
But how high will it climb? This is perhaps the question those close to him are asking themselves. “They always warn me, but don’t make me feel their fears,” he muses. By force of habit, surely. It doesn’t matter that his hands, calloused in places, bear the marks of his adventures, Léo Urban intends to push his physical limits as much as possible, like his climbing models: Georges Hébert and Alain Robert, in the lead. His next challenge: exploring the jungle of Costa Rica and, of course, climbing trees!
As a child of the 1990s, he grew up watching the Yamakasi, these followers of parkour who climb facades and overcome urban or natural obstacles. At 13, he began to dazzle his classmates by jumping on roofs and felt that “something was happening”, that what he had always done in the forest could also be applied to the city.
“Up there, the gesture is repetitive and alienating, and there is no room for error,” he describes. You really have to be in a good place in your head to free yourself from all your fears and jump over the void. I wanted to be at peace with myself and to cultivate this capacity. »
HIS IDEAL SUNDAY: “It’s simply a day spent in nature, perhaps by a fire. A Sunday during which I could swim in the river. »
His epic journey through the “urban canopy” takes him from tour to tour – notably Montparnasse, La Défense, or a Catalan skyscraper – and from police station to police station. “Police custody becomes almost pleasant, after so many hours of effort and concentration,” he jokes. When you fight against your demons, when you fight for your life, the atmosphere changes, and all simple things take on flavor again. »
As a remedy for loneliness and the desire to free himself from all constraints, the climber launched onto YouTube to share his passion. “I was fed up with odd jobs and I wanted to train more,” he explains. I wanted success with my videos. I had no doubt, it was the only way for me to continue doing what I wanted. »
The anxiety of the city
Léo Urban then made a name for himself. But, despite his performance and his ease on skyscrapers, the city worries him. And he doesn’t mince his words: “Noise, artificial lights, pollution, it’s a waste of energy. All the people who live there, sometimes despite themselves, are sick and stuck in this environment. This hyperstimulation of all the senses and this permanent stupefaction of the brain… None of this allows us to freely express our full potential. »
Léo Urban hides, behind his smile, a “great pessimism” in the face of modern life, responsible for global warming. “There is no real desire to change, to fight against this disruption, because it must emerge from above, from the government,” he complains. How can we be optimistic when most people think of nature as an exploited resource or as an object? To understand it, you have to feel it with your senses. Climbing trees is already loving them, feeling the desire to protect them, and that goes well beyond what you can intellectually imagine. »
ALSO READ Meeting with François Gabart: “Solitude has never been a need for me” In his eyes, outings in the forest should even be included in school curricula, “so that kids recognize a great tit or a finch, rather than a Citroën or a Ferrari”. Although he recognizes that he is not beyond reproach, that his carbon footprint is not very good, he hopes to embody a model for young people, to encourage them to “discover their environment” through his videos. And then get off their screen.
Funny speech for a YouTuber, whose project is necessarily part of a commercial approach and in an ultra-connected era. He refuses to see himself like other videographers. He would do well without his phone, which he acquired only five years ago. He would also stop all his online activities if he could “obtain monetary stability, and be free.” He would therefore swap Léo Urban to remain, perhaps, Léopold Hurbin. In the middle of nature.
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Answer
*144 pages, 17 euros.
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/rendez-vous-avec-leo-urban-grimper-dans-les-arbres-c-est-les-aimer-ressentir-l-envie-de-les-proteger-10-11-2024-2574900_23.php