Nicolas Jaeger

Nicolas Jaeger, born in 1946 in Boulogne-Billancourt and died in 1980 in Lhotse, is a French doctor and mountaineer. He is the author of more than a hundred solo ascents in the Mont-Blanc massif and in the Andes, including many “first solos”. On October 15, 1978, he was one of the first French people to reach the summit of Everest, with Pierre Mazeaud and Jean Afanassieff accompanied by the Austrian Kurt Diemberger, altitude cameraman. Son of photographer Janine Niépce and film producer Claude Jaeger, Nicolas Jaeger was born on October 20, 1946 in Boulogne-Billancourt. He was very close to his grandfather Niepce, one of the pioneers of aviation, co-founder of the Construction of flying machines and spare parts company, with whom he learned whole passages from the Adventures of Tintin albums by heart, developing according to his mother his vocation as an adventurer. He studied medicine and practiced mountaineering: he became a doctor and in 1975 graduated from his promotion as a mountain guide. In 1977, Nicolas Jaeger was the leader of an expedition to Peru during which he opened new routes alone on several peaks over 6,000 meters. He returned to Peru in 1978 for an ultra-light expedition which again allowed him to make his first solo ascents. The same year, Nicolas Jaeger participated in the first ascent of Everest by a French expedition led by Pierre Mazeaud, with Jean Afanassieff and Kurt Diemberger. He reached the summit on October 15 with Afanassieff and they were the…