Patrick Cordier

Patrick Cordier, born on December 29, 1946, in Besançon, and died on June 5, 1996, in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, was a French climber, mountaineer, and researcher.

The son of teachers living in Paris, he discovered the mountains at a young age in Chamonix, where the family owned a chalet, and learned to climb on the crags of Fontainebleau and Saussois.

A rock climber first and foremost, specializing in big walls and solo climbing, he became one of the best climbers of his generation within a few years. In 1967, he was…