Patrick Cordier (29 December 1946 – 5 June 1996) was a French alpinist. He was killed on 5 June 1996 in a motoring accident riding his motorcycle whilst travelling on the

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

to Aix-en-Provence motorway. Gilles Modica, "Patrick Cordier Un grimpeur libertaire", ''Montagnes Magazine'', n°236, mai 2000

Career

Born in 1946, ''Grande encyclopédie de la montagne'', éditions Atlas, Paris, 1977, t. 3 p. 717 Cordier learned to climb at Fontainebleau near his home in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He moved on quickly to the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

, where he became one of the most recognizable climber of his generation. In 1967 he was a member of the French team that made the first ascent of the French Direct on

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Troll Wall The or is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene (Troll Peaks) in the Romsdalen valley in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located to the south of the towns of Åndalsnes and Molde inside the Reinheimen Nationa ...

. Through the 1970s he climbed many new routes in the Vercors and the Chamonix Aiguilles, the Cordier Pillars on the Grands CharmozPilier Cordier – Cordier Pillar – 5.9 TD
/ref> and the Aiguille de Roc bear his name. He climbed, solo, the Nose on

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about from base to summit along its talles ...

in America's

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

in 1972. His new route on the East Ridge of the Lepiney was accomplished using new climbing ideas brought back from the USA. Cordier climbed further a field making the first ascent of Bubulimoting Spire above the

Hunza Valley The Hunza Valley ( bsk, , Wakhi: '; ur, ) is a mountainous valley in the northern part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, formed by the Hunza River, bordering Ishkoman to the northwest, Shigar to the southeast, Afghanistan's Wa ...

in the Karakoram.Patrick Cordier, "Bubuli-Mo-Tin", American Alpine Journal 1983, pp. 280–281.
/ref> In 1976, Cordier accomplished a solo ascent of the American Direct on the South face of the Fou in the Chamonix Aiguilles. His ascent took three days to accomplish. In 1977, he became a founding member of the Independent Company of Mont Blanc Guides. Now Doctor Cordier, from 1977, he worked as an instructor for the Ecole National de Ski et Alpinisme at Chamonix.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordier, Patrick 1946 births 1996 deaths French mountain climbers Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in France