Patrick Vallençant, born in Lyon on June 9, 1946 and died on March 28, 1989, was a French mountaineer, mountain guide, and ski instructor, a pioneer of extreme ski mountaineering. At fifteen, skiing became a major focus of his adolescent life, and three years later, he left school for the mountains.

From the ages of 18 to 20, Patrick Vallençant enrolled in the High Mountain Military School...