Claude Kogan 2 - Expédition féminine de 1959 au Népal

Claude Kogan (1919–1959) was a pioneering French mountaineer who, after climbing a number of peaks in South America, turned to the Himalayas. After notable feats such as the first ascent of

Nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

(7,135 m (23,409 ft)), she died in October 1959 while leading a women-only expedition to climb Cho Oyu.

Biography

Kogan was born in Paris in 1919. Born to a poor mother, she quit school at 15 and got a job as a seamstress. Her first climbing experience was in the Ardennes of Belgium. She moved to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

during the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

where she had a business designing women's swimwear, with Christian Dior as one of her clients. There she met and married mountaineer George Kogan, who was the first to introduce her to climbing. Following the war, the couple became members of the Groupe de Haute Montagne and climbed

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

, the north face of the Dru, and the south ridge of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey. In the early 1950s she and her husband climbed in South America and claimed the first ascent of

Alpamayo Alpamayo (possibly from Quechua ''allpa'' earth, ''mayu'' river, "earth river") or Shuyturaju (possibly from Ancash Quechua ''huytu, shuytu'' oblong, slim and long, Quechua ''rahu'' snow, ice, mountain covered in snow) is one of the most conspicuo ...

, and also reached the summit of Kitarahu (both with Nicole Leiniger). Her husband died in 1951, but Kogan returned to South America in 1952 and climbed Salcantay with the expedition led by Bernard Pierre. In 1953, she climbed

in India in a Pierre-led expedition, summitting with Pierre Vittoz after the other climbers had been caught by avalanches; in the American press, the newspapers reported on here as a "Paris dress designer" who realized the "dream of every mountaineer".

Cho Oyu expedition and death

The expedition to Cho Oyu in 1959 was noteworthy not just because it consisted of female climbers but also because it was international: besides the French Kogan it included the British Dorothea Gravina and the Belgian Claudine van der Straten-Ponthoz. In 1954, Kogan, with

Raymond Lambert Raymond Lambert (18 October 1914 – 24 February 1997) was a Swiss mountaineer who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached an altitude of 8611 metres (just 237 metres from the summit) of Mount Everest, as part of a Swiss Expedition in Ma ...

, had been forced to turn back 500 meters from the summit, and she was eager to prove herself. Claude Kogan et deux porteuses - Expédition féminine de 1959 au Népal

Claude Kogan et deux porteuses - Expédition féminine de 1959 au Népal

Kogan and van der Straten-Ponthoz and two Sherpa porters perished in an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...

. Dorothea Gravina then took charge of the expedition.

Ascents and attempts

Aiguille du Dru The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The m ...

, north face, 1946 *

, claimed first ascent, 1951 * Kitarahu, second ascent, 1951 * Salcantay, first ascent, 1952 *

, first ascent, 1953 * Yangra in

Ganesh Himal __NOTOC__ Ganesh Himāl ( ne, गणेश हिमाल) is a sub-range of the Himalayas located mostly in north-central Nepal, but some peaks lie on the border with Tibet. The Trisuli Gandaki valley on the east separates it from the Langtang Hi ...

, first ascent, 1955

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kogan, Claude 1919 births 1959 deaths French mountain climbers Female climbers French female mountain climbers 20th-century French women

Biography

Cho Oyu expedition and death

Ascents and attempts

See also

References