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Jean-Christophe
Lafaille: Annapurna 2002
Read the dispatches from Spring 2002 here: Dispatch
April 3, 2002 Bonjour
Jean-Christophe
Lafaille, how good is he? Many think he could end up
with the best ever! His style of small expeditions,
no oxygen, not much equipment, man vs mountain
reminds some of Messner.
Jean-Christophe
Summits include: Cho Oyu via the Polish route; A new
route and solo on Shishapangma;
G2-G1 traverse and the Lhotse West Face. he also
summitted Manaslu via the North
face, the first solo ascent of the mountain! But
Jean-Christophe is not limited just to the big
mountain, for example he just completed the first
solo winter ascent of Pelerinage on the North face
of Peigne. This route is graded VI, 6, was first
climber by Beaudoin and Parkin in 92.
Jean-Christophe climbed it in 5 hours ! He is the
complete package... EverestNews.com voted him one
of the best of the best climbers today in 2002.
However,
with 8000 meter peaks the risk in high, as many
great climbing careers come to an end in a few
seconds. Jean-Christophe will attempt Annapurna this
Spring for the 4th time. His first expedition on
Annapurna, with Pierre Beghin had a tragic end when
Pierre disappeared in a fall at 7600 meter while
Jean-Christophe watched. In 98, while attempting to
do an alpine ascent of the mountain (without ropes!)
a Sherpa disappeared in a avalanche.
Read the dispatches from Spring 2002 here: Dispatch
April 3, 2002 Bonjour |
