Jean-Christophe Lafaille

Born

1965-03-31

Died

2006-01-25

Birthplace

Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France

Biography

Jean-Christophe Lafaille, born March 31, 1965, in Gap and who disappeared on January 26, 2006, on the slopes of Makalu, Nepal, is a French mountaineer. He was an "international guarantor" for the Mountain Wilderness Association. Married twice, he is the father of two children: Marie with his first wife, Véronique (Lafaille gave his name to a 6,250-meter peak in the Himalayas, Mari Ri) and Tom with his second wife, Katia (a route on Nanga Parbat is named after his son). Jean-Christophe Lafaille, originally from Gap, began climbing at the age of 7. During his adolescence, he was inspired by the books of Walter Bonatti and Reinhold Messner. He participated in numerous sport climbing competitions. A mountain guide, Jean-Christophe Lafaille teaches at the National Ski and Mountaineering School and is also a member of the GHM. The definitive impetus didn't come until 1990 with the discovery of solo climbing in winter conditions. During the coldest months of that year, he climbed the Bonatti route on the Grand Capucin, the Sud du Fou, the Directe Américaine des Drus, and other great classics, although, for posterity, these climbs have been eclipsed by the first solo ascent of "Divine Providence" on the Grand Pilier d'Angle of Mont Blanc, a route considered the most difficult in the entire massif. He completed it, thus fulfilling a dream common to former guides of the Chamonix company. In an interview with the newspaper Le Monde, he said this about the Drus: "I thought that, when I'm an old guide, it would be nice to be able to say that I opened 'my route' there. It's a symbolic mountain, it's the laboratory of mountain difficulty." Attentive to new trends, he discovered new sensations in the icefalls of Yosemite, on the extreme routes of the Alps, and in dry tooling. In October 1992, for his first experience in the Himalayas, he set out with Pierre Béghin to tackle the south face of Annapurna (8,091 meters) "alpine style," meaning without oxygen or a high-altitude camp. At 7,100 meters, due to a rappel anchor breaking, Pierre Béghin fell to his death, taking all his equipment with him. Lafaille took five days to descend alone, with an arm broken by a rockfall. According to Messner, he demonstrated "the ability to survive that makes the greatest mountaineers." Suffering from a form of survivor's guilt, he believed he was responsible for Béghin's death upon his return to France. In the winter of 2000-2001, he soloed the hardest route in the Alps, on the legendary West of the Drus. His climbing style required him to work like an ant, progressing no more than 100 meters per day and carrying 70 kilos of equipment, until he finally completed the 800-meter route. He attempted the feat of becoming the first Frenchman to climb all fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters, but he died on January 26, 2006, while attempting the first solo winter ascent of Makalu, his twelfth 8,000. He has climbed 11 8,000 meters without oxygen, most of them solo.