Louis Lachenal

Louis Lachenal, born July 17, 1921 in Annecy and died November 25, 1955 in the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix, is a French mountaineer, first winner with Maurice Herzog, in 1950, of one of the peaks over eight thousand meters: Annapurna (8091 meters). Louis Lachenal made his first ascents on the Biclope rock in 1934. An assiduous choir boy, he preferred the world of the street to school benches. His taste for risk and the search for danger will be for him a sort of ideal of life. Thus, at the age of 13, his vocation called him to the mountains surrounding Annecy: La Tournette, Parmelan, Arcalod. In 1941, he became a member of the organization Jeunesse et Montagne. In 1942, he became a certified member of the Club Alpin Français. In June-July he took part in a mountaineering course from which he graduated as first roper and met Lionel Terray. Later, he meets Gaston Rébuffat, by chance, in a stationary train. On October 1, he was hired as a mountaineering and ski instructor at the Contamines-Montjoie center. On November 12, 1942, he married Adèle Rivier (1920-1983). From this union were born two sons, Jean-Claude (1944) and Christian (1946).