Adrien Dagory

Adrien Dagory, born January 7, 1922 in Vanves (France) and died December 31, 2026 in Narbonne (France), was a French grimeur and mountaineer. In 1952, he successfully climbed the west face of Les Drus, which many thought impossible with intensive use of artificial climbing, with the Bleausards team of which he was a member: Guido Magnone, Lucien Bérardini, Adrien Dagory and Marcel Wool.

In 1954 he was part of a French expedition to the south face of Aconcagua, a 6,962 meter high summit located in Argentina. This expedition, led by René Ferlet, also includes Lucien Bérardini, Guy Poulet, Robert Paragot, Pierre Lesueur, Edmond Denis. Here, no altitude Sherpas, no one to share the hard work of the successive and trying portages. They have to set up everything themselves: tents, bivouac equipment, fixed ropes. Progress is slow, nerve-wracking, they suffer from cold and thirst, but morale is high. Moreover, they finally abandon the Himalayan progression on fixed ropes laid all along the route. Too long, and the wall is too steep. They will go to the top in one go, using alpine technique.

This enterprise was a success, but the harsh conditions of the ascent and the bad weather caused some mountaineers severe frostbite on their hands and feet, which necessitated amputations. At 5 p.m. on February 25, 1954, exhausted, they reached the summit. The return, despite the victory, is a real ordeal because of the severe frostbite from which all suffer, with the exception of Robert Paragot: “All had frozen feet, blue toes and some well beyond the toes. Me, I had nothing. I remember feeling ashamed. (…) I felt like I had cheated. At the military hospital in Mendoza, under the horrified gaze of Robert, the surgeon cuts the toes with secateurs. Only the screams of Guy Poulet manage to convince him to stop the massacre and to proceed with a general anesthesia!