Patrick Gabarrou a.k.a. "Le Gab" (born 19 July 1951 in

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

), is a French

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

and

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

who is credited with more than 300

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

s, most of them in the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

. He has been the president of the international environmental

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

Mountain Wilderness Mountain Wilderness is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the preservation of mountain areas, in their natural and cultural aspects. The organization was founded in Europe and has a stronger presence in alpine and pyrene ...

from 2006 to 2010. He is mostly an

ice climber is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the arcade Nintendo VS. System, VS. System in 1984, and for the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System consoles in 1985. The characters Popo and Nana (Pepe and Nana in the German lan ...

, and is considered to be a pioneer of the modern wave of ice climbing. He also opened routes in several other regions like Canada, Bolivia and Patagonia.

First ascents

Mountain routes

* ''Boivin-Gabarrou'' on the north face of

Les Droites Les Droites () is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps and is the lowest of the 4000-metre peaks in the Alps. The mountain has two summits: * West summit (3,984 m), first ascent by W. A. B. Coolidge, Christian Almer and Ulrich ...

(with

Jean-Marc Boivin Jean-Marc Boivin (6 April 1951 – 17 February 1990) was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, film maker and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paraglid ...

), 1975 * ''Supercouloir'' and Gabarrou-Albinoni on

Mont Blanc du Tacul Mont Blanc du Tacul (4,248 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the French Alps situated midway between the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc. The official first ascent of Mont Blanc du Tacul was by a guideless party comprising Charles Hud ...

* ''Hypercouloir'' on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...

(with Pierre-Alain Steiner), 1982 * ''Divine Providence'' on the

Grand Pilier d'Angle The Grand Pilier d'Angle (4,243 m) is a buttress on the southern side of Mont Blanc in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. The first ascent from the valley was by James Eccles with guides Michel Payot and Alphonse Payot on 30 July 1 ...

, 1984 * ''Gabarrou-Silvy'' on the Aiguille Sans Nom, 1985 * ''Directissime'' on the

Grandes Jorasses The Grandes Jorasses (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy. The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (''Pointe Walker'') was by Hor ...

(with Hervé Bouvard), 1986 * ''Aux amis disparus'' on the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

(with Lionel Daudet) * ''Directissime de la Margerita'' on

Monte Rosa : , other_name = Monte Rosa massif , translation = Mount Rose , photo = Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) and Monte Rosa Glacier as seen from Gornergrat, Wallis, Switzerland, 2012 August.jpg , photo_caption = Central Mon ...

(with Christian Appertet), 1992 * ''Alexis'' on Point Whymper of the Grandes Jorasses (with Benoît Robert), 1993 * ''A Leï'' on the Grandes Jorasses (with Philippe Batoux and Benoît Robert), February 2003 * ''Heidi'' on the Grandes Jorasses (with Philippe Batoux and Christophe Dumarest), 17–21 March 2005 * ''Ciao Walter'' on Mont-Blanc (with Simon Deniel and Ben O'Connor-Croft), 2012 * ''Brigite'' on the Arête des Grands Montets (with his wife Franca et Philippe Lansard), 5 April 2013 * ''René Croft'' between the ''Boivin-Gabarrou'' and the ''Barnoud-Marsigny'' on the north face of

(with Ben O'Connor-Croft), 25–26 April 2013 * ''Padre Pio, Une Echelle Vers le Ciel'' on the south face of

, 2015 (see Alpinist article)

Ice climbs

* ''Cascade Notre Dame'', 700 m, V, WI6 (with François Marsigny), 1984 * ''Freneysie Pascale'', 1984 * ''Abominette'', 700 m, IV, 5.8, WI3 (with

Christophe Profit Christophe may refer to: People * Christophe (given name), list of people with this name * Christophe (singer) (1945–2020), French singer * Cristophe (hairstylist) (born 1958), Belgian hairstylist * Georges Colomb (1856–1945), French comic str ...

and Sylviane Tavernier), 1984 * ''Fantomastic'', 700 m, V, WI6 (with François Marsigny), 1985 * ''Patagonic'', 700 m, M6, V+, WI6, A1 (with Christophe Dumarest), 2003

Skiing

* First descent of the north face of the Col de Peuterey, with

, 1977 * Winner, French championship of ski-mountaineering 1989, together with

Pierre d'Alboy Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

* Sixth place,

Pierra Menta The Pierra Menta has been an annual competition of ski mountaineering at Arêches-Beaufort in the region of Beaufort, Savoie south-eastern France since 1986. The Pierra Menta is one of the three best known races of the Alps (''les grandes trois de ...

1989, together with Pierre d'Alboy * Fourth, Pierra Menta 1991, together with

Lionel Mailly __TOC__ Lionel may refer to: Name *Lionel (given name) Places *Lionel, Lewis, a village in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland *Lionel Town, Jamaica, a settlement Brands and enterprises *Lionel, LLC, an American designer and importer of toy trains and mo ...

* First descent of the south face of the

Tour Noir The Tour Noir is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif on the Swiss- French border. It is located between the Aiguille d'Argentière and Mont Dolent. See also *List of mountains of Switzerland This article contains a sortable table of many of th ...

, with Ben O’Connor-Croft, 16 April 2013

References

External links

Gabarrou's personal web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabarrou, Patrick Alpine guides French mountain climbers French male ski mountaineers Sportspeople from Évreux Living people 1951 births Tibet freedom activists Ice climbers