Jean-Christophe Lafaille
Encyclopedia
Jean-Christophe Lafaille (31 March 1965 – 27 January 2006 [presumed]) was a French
mountaineer
noted for a number of difficult ascents in the Alps
and Himalaya, and for what has been described as "perhaps the finest self-rescue ever performed in the Himalaya", when he was forced to descend the mile-high south face of Annapurna
alone with a broken arm, after his climbing partner had been killed in a fall. He climbed eleven of the fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks
, many of them alone or by previously unclimbed routes, but disappeared during a solo attempt to make the first winter ascent of Makalu
, the world's fifth highest mountain.
, Lafaille's background was in sport climbing
, and as a teenager he climbed extensively at Céüse
and played a part in turning it into one of the world's best known climbing venues. In 1989 he became the first Frenchman to solo
a climb graded
7c+, and one of the first to climb 8c graded routes.
In the early 1990s, Lafaille qualified as a mountain guide
and began mountaineering in the Alps. He made a number of difficult ascents on the Mont Blanc
massif, including the first solo climb of Divine Providence on the Grand Pilier d'Angle
, one of the hardest routes on the massif.
On the strength of his climbs in the Alps, Lafaille was invited on an expedition to Annapurna
by Pierre Béghin, one of the leading French climbers of the day. The pair attempted the mountain's vast South Face following the monsoon season in October 1991 in Alpine style
, with no Sherpa
support, pre-stocked campsites or fixed rope
s on the upper mountain. They had reached a height of 7,400 metres when bad weather forced them to descend. The pair made a series of abseils
down the face, but due to their lightweight approach they had little protective equipment and were often forced to abseil from a single anchor
to conserve equipment. On the fourth or fifth abseil, Beghin fell to his death when the single cam he was using as an anchor became dislodged from the rock. Beghin had been carrying most of the pair's technical equipment, including all the ropes, and Lafaille was left alone on the face, a vertical mile above safety.
With great difficulty, Lafaille managed to climb down the 75 degree
face to the pair's last bivouac
site, where he found 20 metres of thin rope, allowing him to make short abseils down some of the hardest parts. With no technical equipment to use as anchors he was forced to entrust his weight to tent peg
s or, on one occasion, a plastic bottle. He finally reached what should have been the relative safety of the top of a fixed rope which he and Beghin had installed on a steep rock band, but almost immediately he was struck by a falling rock, which broke his right arm. Disabled and helpless, he lay on a ledge for two days in the hope that other climbers would rescue him. However, while there was a Slovenia
n team attempting a route on a different part of the South Face, they judged that a rescue attempt would be too dangerous to undertake, so help never came. The cruellest thing about the ordeal, Lafaille said, was being able to see life in the valley below, and by night, the flashbulbs of trekkers'
cameras. In spite of this, he later agreed that the Slovenians had made the right decision in not trying to save him.
Eventually, with all hope of rescue gone, Lafaille resolved to continue down alone. He initially tried to continue abseiling
, but unable to control the rope with only one hand and his teeth he reverted to downclimbing one-handed, and was utterly exhausted when he reached the Slovenian team's base camp. By that time the climbers at the base of the mountain had given up hope for him, and his first wife, Véronique, had already been told that he had died. Reinhold Messner
later said that the survival instinct he showed was of the sort which defines the best mountaineers.
After Annapurna, Lafaille resolved never to climb again, but during his long physical and psychological recovery he began scrambling
in the foothills of the Alps, and eventually returned to extreme climbing. In the Alps he carried out an enchainment
of nine north faces in fifteen days, skiing from mountain to mountain, and made the first ascent
of the Lafaille Route on the Petit Dru, which at the time was considered the hardest route in the Alps, but his most important climbs were in the Himalaya.
A year after his accident on Annapurna, he climbed Cho Oyo, and then in 1994 he climbed a new route, solo, on the north face of Shisha Pangma. It was the first of many solo ascents of 8000 meter peaks, including consecutive ascents of Gasherbrum I
and Gasherbrum II
in four days in 1996, and Manaslu
in 2001.
Annapurna remained an obsession for Lafaille, and he would later call his autobiography Prisoner of Annapurna. He returned to the mountain three times. The first time he made a solo attempt on the British line on the South Face, which failed due to poor snow conditions. In 1998 he returned to the same route with a larger team, but the expedition was abandoned when a team member was killed in an avalanche
. He finally reached the summit in 2002 with Alberto Iñurrategi
via the long, committing east ridge.
By 2003 Lafaille had decided to try to climb all fourteen 8000-metre peaks; but unlike many of the mountaineers who take on this goal, he had no desire simply to climb them by well established routes, in large expeditions and with bottled oxygen. He preferred to continue trying to achieve new routes or solo ascents, or to climb in the more demanding winter season. In 2003 he climbed Nanga Parbat
, Dhaulagiri
(solo) and Broad Peak
in a two-month period. The last of these nearly killed him when he fell into a crevasse
and then developed high altitude pulmonary edema
. He was rescued by Ed Viesturs
and Denis Urubko
.
In December 2004 he made a solo ascent of Shisha Pangma. It was intended to be the first winter ascent of the mountain, but he reached the summit on 11 December which was seen as too early to be classed as a true winter ascent. By this point he had completed eleven of the fourteen peaks, and needed only Everest
, Kanchenjunga and Makalu
to complete his goal.
Lafaille's last climb was one of his boldest. In December 2005 he began a solo attempt to climb Makalu
(8462m), the only 8000-metre peak in Nepal
not to have seen a winter ascent. It was a goal which would have been considered suicidal a few years previously, but for Lafaille the danger was an important part of the experience. He commented
Over four weeks in December and January, he hauled loads up the mountain, entirely alone above his advance base camp at 5300m, but was forced to retreat from the col
at Makalu La by strong winds, which destroyed his tent and twice blew him into the air. However, after two weeks at base camp the weather improved, and on 24 January he set off up the mountain. His only means of communication was a satellite phone
, which he used to speak to his wife several times a day. By the morning of the 27th he was camped on a small ledge around 1000m below the summit, and told his wife that he would try to reach the top that day. He was never heard from again. Alone on the mountain in winter, with no climbers in the world sufficiently acclimatised
to reach his high camp, there was no possibility of a rescue attempt. His base camp team gave up hope of him returning alive after he had been missing for a week, and a later helicopter flight over the mountain failed to find any sign of him. His body has not been found and his exact fate is unknown. He left his wife, Katia, and two children.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mountaineer
Mountaineer
-Sports:*Mountaineering, the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, trekking and climbing up mountains, also known as alpinism-University athletic teams and mascots:*Appalachian State Mountaineers, the athletic teams of Appalachian State University...
noted for a number of difficult ascents in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
and Himalaya, and for what has been described as "perhaps the finest self-rescue ever performed in the Himalaya", when he was forced to descend the mile-high south face of Annapurna
Annapurna
Annapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....
alone with a broken arm, after his climbing partner had been killed in a fall. He climbed eleven of the fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks
Eight-thousander
The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....
, many of them alone or by previously unclimbed routes, but disappeared during a solo attempt to make the first winter ascent of Makalu
Makalu
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world at and is located southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China...
, the world's fifth highest mountain.
Early career
Born in Gap, Hautes-AlpesGap, Hautes-Alpes
Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...
, Lafaille's background was in sport climbing
Sport climbing
Sport climbing is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors fixed to the rock, and possibly bolts, for protection,...
, and as a teenager he climbed extensively at Céüse
Ceüse
Céüse is a hamlet in the Hautes-Alpes département of France, part of the commune of Manteyer. The nearby Montagne de Céüse is home to one of France's most important venues for sport climbing....
and played a part in turning it into one of the world's best known climbing venues. In 1989 he became the first Frenchman to solo
Free solo climbing
Free solo climbing, also known as free soloing, is a form of free climbing where the climber forgoes ropes, harnesses and other protective gear while ascending and relies only on his or her physical strength, climbing ability, and psychological fortitude to avoid a fatal fall...
a climb graded
Grade (climbing)
In rock climbing, mountaineering and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a climbing grade to a route that concisely describes the difficulty and danger of climbing the route...
7c+, and one of the first to climb 8c graded routes.
In the early 1990s, Lafaille qualified as a mountain guide
Mountain guide
Mountain guides are specially trained and experienced mountaineers and professionals who are generally certified by an association. They are considered experts in mountaineering.-Skills:Their skills usually include climbing, skiing and hiking...
and began mountaineering in the Alps. He made a number of difficult ascents on the Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
massif, including the first solo climb of Divine Providence on the Grand Pilier d'Angle
Grand Pilier d'Angle
The Grand Pilier d'Angle is a buttress on the southern side of Mont Blanc in the Mont Blanc massif in the Val d'Aosta, Italy.The first ascent from the valley was by James Eccles with guides Michel Payot and Alphonse Payot on 30 July 1877 during an ascent of the Peuterey ridge, although the summit...
, one of the hardest routes on the massif.
Self-rescue on Annapurna
Annapurna
Annapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....
by Pierre Béghin, one of the leading French climbers of the day. The pair attempted the mountain's vast South Face following the monsoon season in October 1991 in Alpine style
Alpine style
Alpine style refers to mountaineering in a self-sufficient manner, thereby carrying all of one's food, shelter, equipment etc. as one climbs, as opposed to expedition style mountaineering which involves setting up a fixed line of stocked camps on the mountain which can be accessed at one's leisure...
, with no Sherpa
Sherpa people
The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...
support, pre-stocked campsites or fixed rope
Fixed rope
Fixed rope is the practice of fixing in place bolted ropes to assist climbers and walkers in exposed mountain locations. They are used widely on American and European climbing routes but disdained by purist mountaineers. Many guided expeditions to any of the eight-thousanders normally set up fixed...
s on the upper mountain. They had reached a height of 7,400 metres when bad weather forced them to descend. The pair made a series of abseils
Abseiling
Abseiling , rappelling in American English, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection.- Slang terms :...
down the face, but due to their lightweight approach they had little protective equipment and were often forced to abseil from a single anchor
Anchor (climbing)
In rock climbing, an anchor can be any way of attaching the climber, the rope, or a load to rock, ice, steep dirt, or a building by either permanent or temporary means...
to conserve equipment. On the fourth or fifth abseil, Beghin fell to his death when the single cam he was using as an anchor became dislodged from the rock. Beghin had been carrying most of the pair's technical equipment, including all the ropes, and Lafaille was left alone on the face, a vertical mile above safety.
With great difficulty, Lafaille managed to climb down the 75 degree
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
face to the pair's last bivouac
Bivouac shelter
A bivouac traditionally refers to a military encampment made with tents or improvised shelters, usually without shelter or protection from enemy fire or such a site where a camp may be built. It is also commonly used to describe a variety of improvised camp sites such as those used in scouting and...
site, where he found 20 metres of thin rope, allowing him to make short abseils down some of the hardest parts. With no technical equipment to use as anchors he was forced to entrust his weight to tent peg
Tent peg
A tent peg is a spike, usually with a hook or hole on the top end, typically made from wood, metal, plastic, or composite material, pushed or driven into the ground for holding a tent to the ground, either directly by attaching to the tent's material, or by connecting to ropes attached to the tent...
s or, on one occasion, a plastic bottle. He finally reached what should have been the relative safety of the top of a fixed rope which he and Beghin had installed on a steep rock band, but almost immediately he was struck by a falling rock, which broke his right arm. Disabled and helpless, he lay on a ledge for two days in the hope that other climbers would rescue him. However, while there was a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n team attempting a route on a different part of the South Face, they judged that a rescue attempt would be too dangerous to undertake, so help never came. The cruellest thing about the ordeal, Lafaille said, was being able to see life in the valley below, and by night, the flashbulbs of trekkers'
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
cameras. In spite of this, he later agreed that the Slovenians had made the right decision in not trying to save him.
Eventually, with all hope of rescue gone, Lafaille resolved to continue down alone. He initially tried to continue abseiling
Abseiling
Abseiling , rappelling in American English, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection.- Slang terms :...
, but unable to control the rope with only one hand and his teeth he reverted to downclimbing one-handed, and was utterly exhausted when he reached the Slovenian team's base camp. By that time the climbers at the base of the mountain had given up hope for him, and his first wife, Véronique, had already been told that he had died. Reinhold Messner
Reinhold Messner
Reinhold Messner is an Italian mountaineer and explorer from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol "whose astonishing feats on Everest and on peaks throughout the world have earned him the status of the greatest climber in history." He is renowned for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without...
later said that the survival instinct he showed was of the sort which defines the best mountaineers.
Subsequent career
Scrambling
Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...
in the foothills of the Alps, and eventually returned to extreme climbing. In the Alps he carried out an enchainment
Enchainment
Enchainment is a mountaineering term that denotes climbing two or more mountains – or routes on a mountain – in one outing . Rock climbing two or more routes in this manner is called a "link up" in the US...
of nine north faces in fifteen days, skiing from mountain to mountain, and made the first ascent
First ascent
In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route...
of the Lafaille Route on the Petit Dru, which at the time was considered the hardest route in the Alps, but his most important climbs were in the Himalaya.
A year after his accident on Annapurna, he climbed Cho Oyo, and then in 1994 he climbed a new route, solo, on the north face of Shisha Pangma. It was the first of many solo ascents of 8000 meter peaks, including consecutive ascents of Gasherbrum I
Gasherbrum I
Gasherbrum I , also known as Hidden Peak or K5, is the 11th highest peak on Earth, located on the Pakistan-China border in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and Xinjiang region of China. Gasherbrum I is part of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya...
and Gasherbrum II
Gasherbrum II
Gasherbrum II , also known as K4, is the 13th highest mountain on Earth, located on the border of Gilgit-Baltistan province, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China...
in four days in 1996, and Manaslu
Manaslu
Manaslu , also known as Kutang) is the eighth highest mountain in the world, and is located in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the west-central part of Nepal. Its name, which means "Mountain of the Spirit", comes from the Sanskrit word Manasa, meaning "intellect" or "soul"...
in 2001.
Annapurna remained an obsession for Lafaille, and he would later call his autobiography Prisoner of Annapurna. He returned to the mountain three times. The first time he made a solo attempt on the British line on the South Face, which failed due to poor snow conditions. In 1998 he returned to the same route with a larger team, but the expedition was abandoned when a team member was killed in an avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
. He finally reached the summit in 2002 with Alberto Iñurrategi
Alberto Iñurrategi
Alberto Iñurrategi is an Spanish mountaineer born in Arechavaleta, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco , 3 November 1968. In the year 2002, he became the second Spaniard and 10th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders....
via the long, committing east ridge.
By 2003 Lafaille had decided to try to climb all fourteen 8000-metre peaks; but unlike many of the mountaineers who take on this goal, he had no desire simply to climb them by well established routes, in large expeditions and with bottled oxygen. He preferred to continue trying to achieve new routes or solo ascents, or to climb in the more demanding winter season. In 2003 he climbed Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain on Earth, the second highest mountain in Pakistan and among the eight-thousanders with a summit elevation of 8,126 meters...
, Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....
(solo) and Broad Peak
Broad Peak
Broad Peak , is the 12th highest mountain on Earth, with an elevation of 8,051 meters . The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Faichan Kangri is not accepted among the Balti people.- Geography :...
in a two-month period. The last of these nearly killed him when he fell into a crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
and then developed high altitude pulmonary edema
High Altitude Pulmonary Edema
High altitude pulmonary edema is a life-threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema that occurs in otherwise healthy mountaineers at altitudes typically above ....
. He was rescued by Ed Viesturs
Ed Viesturs
Edmund Viesturs, known as Ed Viesturs is one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers. He is one of only 26 people and the only one from the United States to have climbed all eight-thousander peaks...
and Denis Urubko
Denis Urubko
Denis Urubko is a mountaineer from Kazakhstan with Russian descent. In 2009, he became the 15th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders....
.
In December 2004 he made a solo ascent of Shisha Pangma. It was intended to be the first winter ascent of the mountain, but he reached the summit on 11 December which was seen as too early to be classed as a true winter ascent. By this point he had completed eleven of the fourteen peaks, and needed only Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
, Kanchenjunga and Makalu
Makalu
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world at and is located southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China...
to complete his goal.
Death on Makalu
Makalu
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world at and is located southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China...
(8462m), the only 8000-metre peak in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
not to have seen a winter ascent. It was a goal which would have been considered suicidal a few years previously, but for Lafaille the danger was an important part of the experience. He commented
"I find it fascinating that our planet still has areas where no modern technology can save you, where you are reduced to your most basic - and essential - self. This natural space creates demanding situations that can lead to suffering and death, but also generate a wild interior richness. Ultimately, there is no way of reconciling these contradictions. All I can do it try to live within their margins, in the narrow boundary between joy and horror. Everything on this earth is a balancing act."
Over four weeks in December and January, he hauled loads up the mountain, entirely alone above his advance base camp at 5300m, but was forced to retreat from the col
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
at Makalu La by strong winds, which destroyed his tent and twice blew him into the air. However, after two weeks at base camp the weather improved, and on 24 January he set off up the mountain. His only means of communication was a satellite phone
Satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
, which he used to speak to his wife several times a day. By the morning of the 27th he was camped on a small ledge around 1000m below the summit, and told his wife that he would try to reach the top that day. He was never heard from again. Alone on the mountain in winter, with no climbers in the world sufficiently acclimatised
Acclimatization
Acclimatisation or acclimation is the process of an individual organism adjusting to a gradual change in its environment, allowing it to maintain performance across a range of environmental conditions...
to reach his high camp, there was no possibility of a rescue attempt. His base camp team gave up hope of him returning alive after he had been missing for a week, and a later helicopter flight over the mountain failed to find any sign of him. His body has not been found and his exact fate is unknown. He left his wife, Katia, and two children.