Vaucher, Yvette (1929–)

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Vaucher, Yvette (1929–)

Swiss mountaineer. Born Yvette Pilliard in Vallorbe, northeast of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1929; m. Michel Vaucher (a mountaineer), in 1962.

Began rock climbing at the Salève (1951); moved to Neuchâtel (1955), took up free-fall parachuting, and made over 100 descents; formed a climbing team with Michel Vaucher; made many important climbs: Piz Badile, Triolet, Drus, Eiger, and Grandes Jorasses; also climbed Ninagougo in Zaire and the West Ridge of Mt. McKinley in Alaska; made 1st direct ascent of North Face of Dent Blanche (1966); made 1st female ascent of North Face of the Matterhorn; was a member of the disastrous International Everest Expedition (1971) during which one man died of exposure.

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