François Guillot

Biography: François Guillot, born in 1943 in Uzès, Gard, is a French climber and mountaineer. A free climbing specialist and brilliant mountaineer, he is one of the leading figures of the new generation of Marseille climbers of the 1960s. He particularly distinguished himself in the Verdon Gorges but also participated in numerous alpine expeditions around the world. Born in 1943 in Uzès, Gard, François Guillot spent his childhood and adolescence in Marseille, where his father worked as an ophthalmologist at the Timone Hospital. His father, who was involved in the world of high-level skiing, passed on his passion for this discipline to him. François Guillot spent two years of his adolescence in Chamonix, where he skied intensively and discovered climbing at the Rochers des Gaillands. Back in Marseille, he enrolled in the CAF (French Alpine Club) and climbed in the Calanques, where he repeated the most difficult routes. From 1964 onwards, François Guillot became a leading young climber: he blazed new trails in the Calanques, repeated major routes in the Western Alps (Walker Spur in the Grandes Jorasses, the south face of the Pavé in Oisans), and participated in the high-difficulty course organized by Georges Livanos in the Dolomites. A free climbing specialist, François Guillot was a fast climber, breaking the speed records of the time, and became the leader of the young generation of climbers from Marseille. In 1965, François Guillot participated in an expedition to the Caucasus and then accompanied René Desmaison and Gary Hemming during the high-profile rescue of two Germans on the west face of the Drus. In the summer of 1967, he returned to the Caucasus and made the second ascent of the American direct ascent of the Drus in the Alps. The following winter, he participated in the Marseillais expedition to the East Pillar of Fitz Roy, organized by the Provence section of the CAF (French Association of French Mountaineering Associations), under the patronage of the FFM (French Federation of Mountaineering Federations) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Alongside his mountaineering activities, François Guillot studied economics in Aix-en-Provence. In 1968, François Guillot completed the aspiring guide course at the National School of Skiing and Mountaineering and became a teacher there, before becoming a high mountain guide in 1971, graduating top of his class. He then completed his military service at the Military High Mountain School. He achieved several firsts in the Mont Blanc massif and the Verdon Gorge, including the first ascent of La Demande, a long, sustained crack spanning 300 meters on the Escalès face. That same year, he participated in the French Himalayan expedition to the West Pillar of Makalu. However, he didn't have fond memories of this Makalu expedition and henceforth avoided participating in such "heavy" expeditions. Throughout his life as a climber and mountaineer, François Guillot always maintained a "significant safety margin" in his ascents, notably avoiding extreme solos. François Guillot, nicknamed "the Oracle of the Verdon," was one of the founders of the Compagnie des Guides de Provence in Marseille. At 70, he was still climbing 7a.