Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray was a French mountaineer born on July 25, 1921 in Grenoble and died on September 19, 1965 at the Gerbier ridge in the Vercors massif.

At 11, he made his first easy climbs near Grenoble and then in Chamonix at the age of 12. In the 1940s, he settled as a farmer in the Chamonix valley. In the summer of 1940, he ran on the south ridge of Le Moine. During the winter of 1940-41, he achieved many successes in alpine skiing in the French championship. In May 1941, he met Gaston Rébuffat. He married in 1942 with Marianne, a teacher in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, and took part in the war with the famous Compagnie Stéphane à ski on the Maurienne front.

In 1945-46, he was an instructor at the École de Haute Montagne, ski instructor and instructor at ENSA, and a guide. At that time, Lionel made his first races with Louis Lachenal, it was the beginning of great epics on the biggest faces of the Alps and in particular the north faces of the Grandes Jorasses and the Eiger. Then, he left France for Quebec, and became coach of the national ski team.

He returned to France in 1949 and set up as an independent guide. In 1950, he participated in the famous French expedition to Annapurna, alongside Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Ichac (filmmaker), Jean Couzy, Marcel Schatz, Jacques Oudot (doctor), Francis de Noyelle (diplomat ), Adjiba (Sherpa).

In February 1952, he made the first ascent of Fitz Roy with Guido Magnone. On July 7 of the same year, he made the first ascent Nevado Pongos (5,710 m) and Huantsan (6,369 m) by its North face with Cees Egeler and Tom De Booy. In 1954, Terray took part in an expedition to Makalu (8,481 m) with Jean Couzy. On October 22, they made the first ascent of Kangchungtse (7,678 m) and on October 30 that of Chomo Lonzo (7,790 meters). On May 15, 1955, still with Jean Couzy, they reached the summit of Makalu. In 1956, Terray performs the first Chacraraju (6,112 meters), he continues with the Taulliraju. Before that, between the months of May and June, he had climbed the peaks of Veronica (5,893 meters), Soray (5,428 meters) and the second ascent of Salcantay (6,271 meters) taking a new route along from the north face. Returning to France, he took part in the attempt to rescue Vincendon and Henry on Mont Blanc.

In August 1957, Terray participated in rescue operations on the north face of the Eiger to rescue Italian climbers Claudio Corti and Stefano Longhi. During the summer of 1958, he appeared in Marcel Ichac’s film “Les Étoiles de Midi”.

In July 1961, Gallimard published his first book, Les Conquérants de l’Inutile. In April 1962, Terray returned to the Himalayas and made the premiere of Jannu. The same year, he climbed the East Chacraraju (Peru) and the Nilgiri (7,061 meters) in the Annapurna massif (Nepal). In 1964, Lionel Terray led an expedition to climb Mount Huntington (3,731 meters). During the climb, Terray fell and injured his elbow and right hand, he nevertheless reached the summit on May 26.

On September 19, 1965, with his friend Marc Martinetti, Lionel Terray fell to his death at the Arc de Cercle crack, at the Arêtes du Gerbier, in the Vercors. He is buried in Chamonix.