Benoît Chamoux

Benoît Chamoux was a French mountaineer, born on February 19, 1961, in La Roche-sur-Foron, Haute-Savoie, and died on October 6, 1995, at the age of 34, on Kangchenjunga in Nepal. A reserved but curious child, he grew up in a mountain environment where peaks were part of the daily landscape and developed a strong taste for physical exertion, navigation, and the outdoors from a very young age. As a teenager, he discovered mountaineering in local clubs, trained in climbing and ice climbing techniques, and quickly demonstrated extraordinary abilities, both in terms of his endurance and his determination. Drawn to high mountains from a young age, he climbed the Diamond Couloir on Mount Kenya, Kenya, in 1982. The following year, in 1983, he climbed the south face of Huascarán in Peru, before turning his attention to the Himalayas, where he quickly established himself as one of the most brilliant mountaineers of his generation. From 1985 onwards, he summited a string of 8,000-meter peaks, climbing thirteen of the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks in the world between 1985 and 1995—a feat that made him a major figure in French mountaineering. A proponent of fast and lightweight ascents, which he called "express ascents," he completed several high-level solo climbs, notably on Gasherbrum II, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, and K2, which he summited in record time. A leader of international teams in extreme conditions, he also spearheaded the "Team Spirit" project, where he demonstrated his leade…