Marcel Rémy (6 February 1923 – 10 July 2022) was a Swiss amateur mountaineer and rock climber. He was well known for his achievements in rock climbing.

Biography

The son of François and Bertha Rémy, Marcel was born in the

Gruyère District Gruyère ( ; ) is one of seven Districts of Switzerland, districts of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ). Its capital is Bulle. Municipalities Mergers and name ch ...

on 6 February 1923. His father was a farmer and a

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

before he became a railway worker. He began working as a farmer at a young age. At the age of eight, he discovered mountaineering from contact with tourists. He taught a number of courses in the

Vaud Alps The Vaud Alps (, , ) are a mountain range of the Western Alps, located in western Switzerland. They are sometimes also referred to as the western Bernese Limestone Alps and as an extension of the Bernese Alps. According to SOIUSA, they are thus t ...

and the , as well as the iconic

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

, Grand Combin, and

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

. Passionate about mountaineering, he introduced many people to the practice, such as his sons, Claude and Yves, who themselves became high-level sport climbers. In 2017, at the age of 94, Rémy climbed the ''Miroir d'Argentine'', a 450-meter cliff in the

, accompanied by his two sons. Despite medical operations and two prosthetic hips, he continued to train daily. In 2019, he climbed ''La guêpe''. In 2022, at the age of 99, he lead-climbed a 4c route on a 16-meter indoor rock wall. Marcel Rémy died in his sleep at home on 10 July 2022 at the age of 99.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rémy, Marcel 1923 births 2022 deaths Swiss mountain climbers People from Gruyère District 20th-century Swiss people 21st-century Swiss people