Raymond Despiau

Raymond Despiau, born January 20, 1935 in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, died October 6, 2013 in Collegats, La Pobla de Segur (Lérida, Spain), was a French pyreneist and mountaineer.

Raymond Despiau is recognized as one of the great climbers of the mid-20th century. During his studies in Paris, in 1956, he practiced climbing in Fontainebleau. The following year, he tackled the high mountains in the Alps and completed major races such as the Aiguilles d'Argentière. In 1959 he returned to Bagnères-de-Bigorre and worked as a technician at the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. He is one of the first to practice artificial climbing in the Pyrenees, often with makeshift means and achieves many firsts; From 1963 to 1967, he equipped the Ansabère spigolo route. In 1964, with Jean-Louis Ferrané, he opened the south-west route of the small peak of Ansabère, between...

He made first-rate ascents in the Alps (north face of the Eiger, Bonatti pillar of the Drus, direct from the Cima Canali in the Dolomites), but also in the Caucasus and the Hoggar in Algeria.

In 1978, he will be part of the expedition to Everest led by Pierre Mazeaud, who, accompanied by a handful of experienced mountaineers, decides to undertake the ascent of the highest roof in the world, several nations have succeeded in the feat, except France. Obsessed with this quest, the French will take with him a Pyrenean: the Bagnérais Raymond Despiau, then 43 years old. Le Bigourdan has a great business card: the north face of the Eiger, the Bonatti pillar at Les Drus, the direct Cima Canali in the Dolomites... Climbs performed both in winter and in summer, "demonstrating its strength of character “, underlines Pierre Mazeaud in his book Everest 78.

Engineer at the Pic du Midi