Benoît Chamoux

Biography

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 leadership qualities as well as his commitment to humanity. In 1992, Chamoux distinguished himself by directing the first satellite measurement of Everest's altitude from the summit, installing some fifteen kilograms of instruments on the peak to obtain a reading of 8,846 meters with unprecedented precision. He then continued his scientific and sporting expeditions, notably climbing Dhaulagiri in 1993 and Lhotse in 1994, while also participating in high-altitude medical research. On May 7, 1995, he reached the summit of Makalu, his thirteenth 8,000-meter peak, although this ascent would later be debated by some Himalayan mountaineering commentators. In the autumn of 1995, he set out for his fourteenth and final major summit, Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak at 8,586 meters. On October 6, 1995, just a few dozen meters from the summit, he disappeared along with cameraman Pierre Royer and their Sherpa Riku, leaving his quest to summit all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks unfinished. Five months after his death, his widow, Fabienne Clauss, established the Benoît Chamoux Foundation, under the auspices of the Fondation de France, to honor his memory and continue his commitment to the communities of the high Himalayan valleys. Through his sporting achievements, his penchant for taking risks, and his reflections on the meaning of commitment in the mountains, Benoît Chamoux remains an emblematic figure of modern Himalayan mountaineering, often referred to as a “little prince of the Himalayas.”