Jacques Ramouillet

Biography

Jacques Ramouillet, born in Vannes (Morbihan) on April 20, 1941, and died on November 27, 2016, in Agde, was a French mountaineer, high-mountain guide, and teacher. A member of the Groupe de Haute Montagne (High Mountain Group), he made several first ascents in the French Alps as well as in North Africa, notably in the Hoggar Mountains in Algeria and in Canada's Logan Mountains. He co-directed *Voyage En Face Sud* (Journey to the South Face), a mountaineering film documenting the first solo ascent of the south face of the Aiguille du Fou. He was also a painter. Jacques Ramouillet was born in Vannes on April 20, 1941, to a father who was a house painter and stained-glass artist. He grew up without his parents: his mother died in 1942, and his father was sent to a Stalag the same year for his clandestine activities. He studied at the Lycée Jules Simon, as did his cousin (their grandfathers were brothers) Yves Coppens. At 16, he passed the entrance exam for the École Normale Primaire (a teacher training college) and discovered mountaineering and rock climbing in the crags of Brittany and Fontainebleau, then in Les Deux Alpes during his first mountain training course. Jacques Ramouillet fled the Algerian War as a left-wing pacifist, hiding with relatives. He was denounced but escaped the punishments for draft dodgers. He was forced to perform his military service, where, through acts of insubordination and refusal, he was eventually discharged. Living in Algeria for many years, during which he worked as a teacher in a cooperative program, he became very knowledgeable about the Algerian Sahara. He began teaching as a cooperative teacher in Algeria immediately after independence, in Teniet-el-Had, El Goléa, Ain Salah, and Tamanrasset, before being transferred to Sochaux in 1972. He thus became very familiar with the Algerian Sahara. As one of the great mountaineers of his generation,[5] Jacques Ramouillet practiced climbing and mountaineering with Patrick Cordier, Claudio Barbier, Jean-Marc Boivin, Jacques Collaer, and Pierre Chapoutot, achieving several first ascents. In 1976, he filmed Patrick Cordier making the first solo ascent of the south face of the Aiguille du Fou; this ascent became the subject of the film Voyage En Face Sud, which he co-directed. That same year, he became a member of the Groupe de Haute Montagne (High Mountain Group). He participated in the Belgian Alpine Club expedition to the Logan Mountains, where he established a new route in 1977 with Jacques Collaer. He passed his high mountain guide exams in 1987 in Chamonix. He then worked as a guide in France and around the world (Peru, Nepal, Jordan, Oman, North Africa, the Algerian Sahara, etc.), notably organizing treks in the Sahara Desert and in the Sultanate of Oman during the winter. Jacques Ramouillet published articles in mountaineering journals and gave lectures. He retired from guiding at almost 70 years old and died on November 27, 2016 in Agde, following a relapse of lung cancer which he had been battling for 3 years.