Yvette Vaucher

Yvette Vaucher, née Pilliard on November 11, 1929, in Vallorbe, Switzerland, was a pioneer of women's mountaineering and an iconic figure in the Swiss mountains. Tall and athletic, she distinguished herself in a world then dominated by men, achieving ascents that marked the history of mountaineering. Born in the Vallorbe region, Yvette grew up in a post-war context where women rarely ventured into extreme mountaineering. Passionate about the mountains from a young age, she took up climbing and quickly ascended demanding routes such as the Bonatti Pillar of the Dru, the east face of the Petit Capucin, and the north faces of the Cima Grande and the West Summit of Lavaredo. In the 1950s, while living in Neuchâtel, she found there were no cliffs near her home and became the first Swiss woman to earn a parachutist's license, skydiving to satisfy her thirst for adventure. Married to Michel Vaucher, a seasoned mountaineer and climbing partner of Walter Bonatti, she formed a formidable duo with him. In 1962, she made a successful first attempt on the Eiger's north face with Loulou Boulaz, but had to turn back due to bad weather after reaching the Ramp; they would have been the first women to conquer this legendary wall. The following year, in 1965, during the centenary of Whymper's first ascent of the Matterhorn, Yvette, with her husband and guide Michel Darbellay, climbed the Matterhorn's north face on July 13th and 14th, becoming the first woman to complete this vertiginous 1100-…