Raymond Despiau

He made first-rate ascents in the Alps (north face of the Eiger, Bonatti pillar of the Drus, direct from the Cima Canali in the Dolomites), but also in the Caucasus and the Hoggar in Algeria.

In 1978, he will be part of the expedition to Everest led by Pierre Mazeaud, who, accompanied by a handful of experienced mountaineers, decides to undertake the ascent of the highest roof in the world, several nations have succeeded in the feat, except France. Obsessed with this quest, the French will take with him a Pyrenean: the Bagnérais Raymond Despiau, then 43 years old. Le Bigourdan has a great business card: the north face of the Eiger, the Bonatti pillar at Les Drus, the direct Cima Canali in the Dolomites... Climbs performed both in winter and in summer, "demonstrating its strength of character “, underlines Pierre Mazeaud in his book Everest 78.

Engineer at the Pic du Midi

Unsurprisingly, as a true lover of the mountains, it is as an engineer at the Pic du Midi observatory that Raymond Despiau works. "To see it, it looks like a rock", describes the leader of the expedition. With an imperturbable calm, the Bagnérais presents himself as a "balanced man", "taciturn", in love with classical music. As proof, Pierre Mazeaud delivers in his account having heard Bach or Mozart at more than 5,000 meters above sea level. A program signed Raymond Despiau, on the base camp of Everest, just before fighting with the Khumbu icefall.

66 days of expedition, twenty sherpas, journalists present on site to relay the feat: this Everest 78 marked an entire generation. The expedition will go to the end, on October 15, with only three Frenchmen: Pierre Mazeaud, Jean Afanassieff, Nicolas Jaeger and the Austrian cameraman Kurt Diemberger. Raymond Despiau, like others, preferred to give up and wait for the quartet to return. “A force of nature, however, this Pyrenean with many firsts, steeped in great qualities and above all a man of dedication, writes Pierre Mazeaud. Often solitary, he is perhaps the one we know the least, but how enriching his conversation was.

In 2013, while climbing in La Collegats (Spain), Raymond Despiau suffered a heart attack while practicing his passion. He was 78 years old. 78: like the year he started climbing Everest.