The Spencer corridor, the Whymper corridor at the Aiguille Verte, the Gervasutti at Mont-Blanc du Tacul or even the gigantic Marinelli at Mont Rose, the largest corridor in the Alps, or the north face of Bionnassay… Saudan had an incomparable record of ski descents, the kind where, before him, only mountaineers ventured up. Degree of inclination: never less than 45° and up to 55°.
First man to ski a peak over 8,000 m
The native of Lausanne had grown up with his feet in the snow or on skis in the winter. And in the lush grass where he looked following the cows in the summer, on the heights of Martigny, at the Combarigny farm. He had travelled the most beautiful slopes in the world, the first man to ski a summit of more than 8,000 m, a pioneer of steep slope skiing, a discipline that he had popularised under the stage name of the skier of the impossible, through his conferences, films and other books.
His trajectory came to an end on the evening of July 14, his partner Marie-Josée Valençot told us. Sylvain Saudan died at his home in Les Houches in the Chamonix Valley following a heart attack.
“A good skier is a standing skier”
Our colleague Nils Louna met him last winter for our magazine Outlines, collecting his final thoughts.
He had posed in front of the Aiguille de Blaitière and the Spencer couloir, for many the place where on September 23, 1967, Sylvain Saudan had signed the act of descent of extreme skiing, in a couloir exceeding 45 degrees of slope (47 to be exact). The virtuoso had looked back on his career, saying that he had never fallen. “A good skier is a skier who always stays upright” he liked to say.
“You have to learn to know yourself without overestimating or underestimating yourself. I tamed difficulties by increasing them over time. They gave me confidence. Apprehension exists, I felt it especially before the first bend but fear has no place. If you are afraid, it’s over.”
