Lionel Terray

In 1940, when he was nineteen, Frenchman Lionel Terray left school to become a farmer and mountain guide. He came from a well-to-do family that had high hopes for him, but Terray had lower ambitions — to live simply in the mountains, with plenty of time to climb. By his own admission, Terray was never more than a mediocre farmer, but he developed into a superb climber, known for his speed and prodigious strength. In the years immediately after the Second World War, he set speed records on many of the routes around Chamonix, often roped with his great friend and collaborator Louis Lachenal.

Together they made an electrifying ascent of the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif, then the north spur of Les Droites, the northeast face of the Piz Badile, and many more. Their masterpiece was the second ascent of the Eiger’s North Face, which they climbed in three days in July 1947, topping out in a blizzard and descending