François Devouassoud (September 1831 – 1905) was a French mountain guide who made many first ascents in the Alps, notably as guide to Douglas William Freshfield, who claimed that Devouassoud "was the first Alpine guide to carry his ice-axe to the snows of a distant range". [1]
A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by national mountain guide associations which are affiliated to the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA). They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or lead individuals or small groups who require this advanced expertise. This professional class of guides arose in the middle of the 19th century when Alpine climbing became recognized as a sport.
The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, separating Southern from Central and Western Europe and stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries : France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m (15,781 ft) is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Devouassoud was born in 1831 in the hamlet of Les Barats [2] in the Chamonix valley. The eldest of three brothers, both of whom were also guides, Devouassoud was educated at Sallanches, and subsequently at Bonneville. [2] He passed some time in a Jesuit seminary in his youth and he contemplated becoming a priest [3] but returned to Chamonix.
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924.
Sallanches is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department of France with a resident population of over 16,000. Located close to the Mont Blanc massif, many visitors pass through the city en route to other well-known alps towns such as Chamonix, Megève or Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Sallanches is also one of the cities of the Arve Valley, made popular by the presence of many high-tech industries. Over 300 stores are located in Sallanches, making this city a commercial hub.
Bonneville is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.
He was admitted to the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix in 1849. [4] Amongst those who sought his services in the Alps were Freshfield, W. A. B. Coolidge, Francis Fox Tuckett, Horace Walker, Adolphus Warburton Moore and Charles Comyns Tucker. Devouassoud was treasurer of the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix for ten years,<c&a2/> but refused the post of president.
William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge was an American historian, theologian and mountaineer.
Francis Fox Tuckett FRGS was an English mountaineer. He was vice-president of the Alpine Club from 1866 to 1868, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Horace Walker (1838–1908) was an English mountaineer who made many notable first ascents, including Mount Elbrus and the Grandes Jorasses.
Claire Engel offers the following portrait of Devouassoud, based on the account of Freshfield:
Though perhaps not an outstanding climber, Devouassoud was cetainly more than a good guide. He loved exploration and always felt at home in the mountains, whether in Sikkim or Algeria or on the Rowenzori.Though he started guiding very early, in 1849, he knew how to manage a rope and how to proceed on snow slopes. He was able to save the lives of several of his employers. He was at his best on ice. But this grave, refined man, who had a keen sense of humour and taste for culture, was not only an excellent leader on a mountain, he was an ideal companion on long expeditions. [5]
As Freshfield stated, Devouassoud was the first alpine guide to work in the greater ranges. Cunningham and Abney write that he was "the doyen of the pioneers who have set out at different times for the Caucasus, the Himalayas, New Zealand, or the Andes". [3] In 1868 he made the first ascents of Kazbek and the east summit of Elbrus in the Caucasus.
The Caucasus or Caucasia is an area situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range, which has historically been considered a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
In 1887 he was the subject of a photograph by Abney, possibly the one illustrating this article, entitled "A Chamounix Guide, Francois Devouassoud" at the 32nd Exhibition of Photographic Society of Great Britain. [6]
Presanella is a mountain in the Adamello-Presanella range of the Italian Alps of northern Italy. Presanella has an elevation of 3,558 meters and is located in the Adamello Brenta National Park within the Trentino province of Italy.
The Bietschhorn is a mountain in canton Wallis to the south of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. The northeast and southern slopes of the mountain are part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also includes the Jungfrau and the Aletsch Glacier. The Bietschhorn is located on the south side of the Lötschental valley and form part of the UNESCO World Heritage Region at the north end of the Bietschtal valley and Baltschiedertal valley. Most climbers approach the mountain from either the Bietschhornhütte or the Baltschiederklause.
Piz Badile is a mountain of the Bregaglia range in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and the Italian region of Lombardy, the border between the two countries running along the summit ridge. Its north-east face, overlooking the Swiss Val Bregaglia near Soglio, is considered one of the six great north faces of the Alps.
Mount Kazbek, is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located on the border of Georgia's Kazbegi District and Russia's Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.
The Brenta Group or Brenta Dolomites is a mountain range, and a subrange of the Rhaetian Alps in the Southern Limestone Alps mountain group. They are located in the Province of Trentino, in northeastern Italy. It is the only dolomitic group west of river Adige. Therefore, geographically, they have not always been considered a part of the Dolomites mountain ranges. Geologically, however, they definitely are - and therefore sometimes called the "Western Dolomites". As part of the Dolomites, the Brenta Group has been officially recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site under the World Heritage Convention.
Douglas William Freshfield was a British lawyer, mountaineer and author, who edited the Alpine Journal from 1872 to 1880. He was an active member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club and served as President of both organizations.
Charles Kaye Freshfield was a 19th-century lawyer and Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Piz Palü is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, located between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large glaciated massif composed of three main summits, on a ridge running from west to east. The main summit is 3,900 metres high and is located within the Swiss canton of Graubünden, although the border with the Italian region of Lombardy runs about 100 metres west of it at almost the same height. The western summit is named Piz Spinas and is the only one not covered by ice. The eastern summit is named Piz Palü Orientale. The name Palü derives from the Latin palus, meaning a swamp, and the mountain is said to be named after the Alpe Palü, a high alpine pasture some 4 km to its east.
The golden age of alpinism was the decade in mountaineering between Alfred Wills's ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854 and Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, during which many major peaks in the Alps saw their first ascents.
Michel Auguste Croz was a French mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden age of alpinism. He is chiefly remembered for his death on the first ascent of the Matterhorn and for his climbing partnership with Edward Whymper.
Adolphus Warburton Moore (1841–1887) was a British civil servant and mountaineer.
Henry Ray Freshfield was an English lawyer and conservationist.
The silver age of alpinism is the name given in Great Britain to the era in mountaineering that began after Edward Whymper and party's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 and ended with W. W. Graham and party's ascent of the Dent du Géant in 1882.
The Vezzana is the highest peak in the Pala group, a mountain range of the Dolomites, northern Italy. It is located in the northern part of the Dolomites, between the Taibon Agordino and Primiero comunes of Belluno and Trentino. It has an altitude of 3,192 metres.
Adamello is a mountain in Lombardy, Italy. With an elevation of 3,539 metres (11,611 ft), it is the second highest peak of the Adamello-Presanella Alps. It is located in Valcamonica, Lombardy.
Henry "Harry" Fox was an English businessman, sportsman, and adventurer. He played cricket and rugby for his county, and began climbing mountains in the mid-1880s. He was part of the Fox family of Wellington, Somerset, and was a partner in the family business, Fox Brothers, a prominent textile manufacturer.
Thomas Middlemore was an English mountaineer who made multiple first ascents during the silver age of alpinism. His audacity earned him a reputation as the enfant terrible within the Alpine Club. He was also the head of the Middlemores Saddles leather goods company in Birmingham, England, after the retirement of his father, William Middlemore, in 1881. Thomas Middlemore had taken over the management of the company in 1868 and established a bicycle saddle factory in Coventry.
Cima Brenta is a mountain in the Brenta group, a subgroup of the Rhaetian Alps in the Italian Region of Trentino-Alto Adige, with a reported height of 3,150 metres (10,330 ft). The mountain rises imposingly up between the rock towers and pinnacles of the central Brenta Group. A sharp ridge connects the mountain on its southern side to the Spallone die Massodi. The northern ridge steeply descends towards Bocca del Tuckett. Towards north west a slender couloir descends all the way from the top towards the Vedretta di Brenta Inferiore, the mountain's 'lower' glacier. Large shouldering formations extend towards the west, culminating in the Cima Mandrone and the Punti di Campiglio, and northwest, culminating in the Cima Massari. Above these formations a glacier, the Vedretta di Brenta Superiore, the 'upper' glacier descends the mountain, being cut off by a vertical precipice over the Vedretta di Brenta Inferiore. On the eastern side the mountain rises up with an imposing 700-meter high vertical rock face with on its left side a distinct orange-like color. Above this lies a horizontal ledge, the Cengia Garbari, on which the Via delle Bocchette Alte proceeds. The actual mountain has two summits that are some 250 meters apart, of which the eastern top reaches the highest altitude. The glaciers, vedrette, have been shrinking steadily over the last decades as a result of climate change. The historical name Cima Brenta was not always as evident as it is today. The toponymy of these parts was largely established by Nepomuceno Bolognini. The mountain, somehow, became a place where nationalistic sentiments were demonstrated. In 1889 the Austro-Hungarian authorities decided to rename the mountain to Kaiser Franz Josef-Spitze. The name never caught on -not even in German literature. When the occasion occurred to raise a large yellow-black imperial flag on the summit, fully visible from Val Rendena as well as from Molveno, local guide Giuseppe 'Bepaccia' Zeni and some companions climbed the mountain to take it down. In 1912, on the other hand, the Italian flag was hoisted by irredentists on Cima Brenta, deliberately just before the first snow fall, so that the flag remained visible until the next summer. Around 1953 electricity company SISM, predecessor of ENEL proposed to build a cable car trajectory from Molveno to the top of Cima Brenta. The plans were abandoned and in 1967 the mountain became protected as part of the Parco Naturale Adamello-Brenta.
The Große Möseler, also called the Mösele, is a mountain, 3,480 m (AA), and thus the second highest peak in the Zillertal Alps after the Hochfeiler. It lies on the Zillertal main ridge which forms the border here between the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol. Its great size makes it the dominant mountain in the area. Seen from the northwest it appears like a firn-covered dome; but from the northeast as a regularly shaped cone of rock. Prominent arêtes radiate from the peak to the northwest, east and south. The mountain is easily ascended from the Furtschaglhaus and is often visited as a result. It was first climbed on 16 June 1865 by G. H. Fox, Douglas William Freshfield and Francis Fox Tuckett with mountain guides, François Devouassoud from Chamonix and Peter Michel from Grindelwald, as well as two unknown bearers.
Émile Rey was an alpine mountain guide from Aosta Valley in Italy. Dubbed "the Prince of Guides" in Courmayeur, he was one of the most renowned guides at the end of the 19th century, making many first ascents on some of the highest and most difficult mountains in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps. He has been described as "one of the greatest guides of his generation."
Ulrich Kaufmann was a Swiss mountain guide. He was born and died in Grindelwald.