Marc Batard

Marc Batard is a French mountaineer, lecturer, painter, born November 22, 1951 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. He is best known for having made the first ascent of Everest alone and without oxygen in less than 24 hours. At 18, he discovered the high mountains. He begins mountaineering in the Pyrenees, in Luchon. Despite his small size (1.67 m for 55 kg), he has an exceptional physique that ranks him above the average of other great mountaineers. With only two years of mountaineering behind him, he ranks 22nd out of the 45 places available, for the 200 candidates, in the aspiring guide competition. His technical skill and his very strong endurance allow him this performance.

At 23, Batard is the youngest mountaineer to climb an 8,000 meter without oxygen: Gasherbrum II (8,035 meters). He became a guide and began a series of exploits, notably in the Himalayas. He achieved firsts in terms of speed of ascent, such as on April 27, 1988 when he climbed the southwestern pillar of Makalu (8,481 meters) alone and in 18 hours, Cho Oyu (8,200 meters ) in 19 hours. On September 26, 1988, he climbed Everest alone without oxygen in 22 hours and 29 minutes from the base camp on the South face. He appears as such in the Guinness Book as the first mountaineer to climb Everest in less than 24 hours. During this ascent, he lost eight kilograms, and weighed only 46 kilograms on the descent for a fitness weight of 54 kilograms at the start, he considers to have been at the extreme limit of his body. He is nicknamed the Everest sprinter. During the same year 1988, and in 9 months, he climbed four peaks over 8,000 meters without oxygen and achieved the Dhaulagiri (8,167 meters) in winter.

At 43, he retired from the mountain of “committed” challenges. He definitively stopped mountaineering to devote himself to his children and grandchildren. Then he resumed the first passion of his childhood: painting. Currently, he writes and works as a speaker addressing the themes of prevention and safety, team spirit and self-transcendence.

He has given public and school lectures since 1975. In 1989, in Washington, he gave his first lecture abroad, followed by other lectures in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Canada and Portugal. Since 1990, he has been involved in the business world on topics such as prevention and safety, having a vision in advance, the courage or exemplary nature of the leader, etc. With his trumpeter friend Maurice André, in 1995 he created the association “Passing through the mountain”, the association allows young people and adults who are in a difficult situation, social exclusion, school failure, illness or disability, to find, through the mountains, a motivation to overcome their conditions.