Georges Bettembourg was a French mountaineer and skier. He came from a family of climbers and guides,[1] and is regarded as an elite alpinist who made numerous significant ascents in the French Alps, North America, the Himalayas and Karakoram including a two-man ascent of Broad Peak (1978); Kangchenjunga (descended prior to summiting) (1979); Kusum Kangguru (1979); Nuptse (1979); and Shivling (1981).[2][3] He also made numerous ski descents of big mountains including Broad Peak, Makalu II and Mont Blanc.[4]
He climbed and/or skied with other luminaries of his era including Doug Scott, Joe Tasker, Peter Boardman, Greg Child, Yannick Seigneur and Patrick Vallencant.
Bettembourg's 1981 autobiography is The White Death.[5]
He died aged 32 on 18 August 1983 by stone fall on Aiguille Verte.[4]
References
edit- ^ Child, Greg (1998). Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas. Mountaineers Books. p. 154. ISBN 9781594856907.
- ^ Dean, Steve (30 May 2019). "Kangchenjunga 1979". Boardman & Tasker. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ Steffen, Will (2010). Himalayan Dreaming: Australian mountaineering in the great ranges of Asia, 1922–1990. Canberra: Australian National University Press. ISBN 9781921666162. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ a b Nyka, Jozef (1984). "In Memoriam". The Himalayan Journal. 40 (26): 45. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ Bettembourg, Georges; Brame, Michael (1981). The White Death. Reynard House. p. 309. ISBN 978-0932998057.