Patrick Vallençant (9 June 1946 in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

– 28 March 1989) was a French alpinist/skier and pioneer in

ski mountaineering Ski mountaineering (abbreviated to skimo) is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipmen ...

. He was a pioneer in ski mountaineering and leader of the French school of ski mountaineers. His motto was: "si tu tombes, tu meurs", translated as "you fall, you die". In addition to numerous first descents, he was responsible for the creation of the "Pedal-Jump Turn" and co-founded the Degré 7 ski apparel company. He died on 28 March 1989, in a non-skiing related climbing accident as a result of a broken

carabiner A carabiner or karabiner () is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. The word is a shortened form of ''Karabinerhaken'' ...

, while

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

from the top of La Beaume Rouge, in France.

Skiing

Vallençant became known for a number of first descents on skis within the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

that had previously been considered too steep to ski. To achieve this he developed a ski technique known as the "Pedal-Jump Turn". His feats required him to first climb the mountain in order to make the descent on skis, at the time it was uncommon to use helicopters to reach the top. His climbing and skiing partner for many of these first descents was Anselme Baud. In achieving this he took up the mantel of Sylvain Saudan ("Le Skieur de l'Impossible") (French Wiki, Sylvain Saudan) and was a contemporary of other French extreme skiers, such as

Jean-Marc Boivin Jean-Marc Boivin (6 April 1951 – 17 February 1990) was a French mountaineering, mountaineer, extreme skiing, extreme skier, hang gliding, hang glider and paragliding, paraglider pilot, Speleology, speleologist, BASE jumping, BASE jumper, filmmak ...

and Bruno Gouvy.

Pedal-Jump Turn

To cope with skiing the steep terrain (greater than 50 degrees), Vallençant developed a new turning technique, known as the "Pedal-Jump Turn" (also "Pedal Hop Turn" and "Pedal Step Turn"). The technique involved pushing off from the uphill ski, away from the slope and completing a portion of turn's rotation while in the air and then landing back on the downhill ski. With the advent of parabolic skis, using the uphill ski to initiate a turn is now a common technique for carved turns and racing. The key difference is in carving or racing the skier is traveling much faster, the terrain is not as steep and there is no need for such a dramatic thrust off the slope. The "Pedal-Jump Turn" was originally developed on traditional racing skis.

Professional

Patrick Vallençant founded the Stages Vallençant in Chamonix to teach extreme skiing & co-founded the "Degré 7" ski apparel company in 1983 with Iingrid Buchner, a stylist. He sold his share in Degré 7 in 1988.

References

*Ski Magazine (October 1980) – Patrick Vallencant and His Pedal-Jump Tur

*Climbing Magazine – No. 106 – Vallencant Cover Photo by Noble

*Ski Extreme, Ma Plenitude by Patrick Vallencant (Edité par Flammarion, 1992) (French Only, Ski Extreme, My Fullness) *PisteHors.com – Biography of Patrick Vallencan

External links

Degré 7 – Skiing Apparel co-founded by Patrick VallencantChris Noble – Photographed the Founders of Extreming Skiing
* * ttp://www.williamhambevan.com/z13.html Snow News 2003 – "Mountain Mavericks: Patrick Vallencant" br>Steep, Without Risk There Is No Adventure – A history of big mountain skiing, includes archival footage of Vallencant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallencant, Patrick 1946 births 1989 deaths Extreme skiers French male ski mountaineers Sportspeople from Lyon