Jean-Louis Lechêne

Biography

Jean-Louis Lechêne is a high mountain guide, born in Hautmont (Nord) in 1947. He is known for his commitment to Pyreneism. An ice gully bears his name at Petit Vignemale.

After a difficult childhood due to his father's brutality, he was separated from his family at the age of 9. Thanks to his good grades, he benefited from a stay in a youth camp in Cauterets, in the Pyrenees, where he discovered the mountains in 1961, at the age of 14.

At 16, settling permanently in Cauterets, he became a mason, one of the rare trades practiced in the villages of the Pyrenees at a time when ski resorts were barely being built. In this capacity, he participated in the construction of the Marcadau and Oulett...