Patrick Cordier

Patrick Cordier, born on December 29, 1946, in Besançon, and died on June 5, 1996, in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, was a French climber, mountaineer, and researcher. The son of teachers living in Paris, he discovered the mountains at a young age in Chamonix, where the family owned a chalet, and learned to climb on the crags of Fontainebleau and Saussois. A rock climber first and foremost, specializing in big walls and solo climbing, he became one of the best climbers of his generation within a few years. In 1967, he was the youngest member of the French team that established the direct route on Trollryggen, on the Trollveggen in Norway, a then legendary and feared face, which brought him international recognition in the mountaineering community. Between 1968 and 1970, he achieved several major first ascents on the limestone faces of southeastern France, notably the Duc wall in the Verdon Gorge with the route Les Enragés, as well as the Voûtes wall in the Dévoluy massif, establishing a committed style in which he deliberately limited the use of pitons. In the Mont Blanc massif, and more specifically in the Chamonix Aiguilles, Patrick Cordier opened or participated in the opening of routes that would become classics, such as the northwest pillar of the Grands Charmoz, later known as the Cordier Pillar. He played a key role in introducing "clean" climbing techniques to France, inspired by what he discovered in North America in the early 1970s. In 1972, during a trip to Alaska, Canada…