# Bernard Pierre > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bernard_Pierre > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bernard_Pierre.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Pierre > Source revision: 1354365298 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|French mountaineer}} {{Infobox climber|birth_date=27 July 1920|birth_place=[Chelles](/source/Chelles%2C_Seine-et-Marne), France|death_date=10 August 1997|death_place=[Neuilly-sur-Seine](/source/Neuilly-sur-Seine), France|occupation=lawyer, author, and businessman|firstascents= [Salcantay](/source/Salcantay), [Nun](/source/Nun_Kun), [Mount Damavand](/source/Mount_Damavand)|typeofclimber=[mountaineering](/source/mountaineering)}} '''Bernard Pierre''' (1920–1997) was a French mountaineer, notable as a climber and an expedition leader. ==Biography== Born in Chelles, Pierre was trained as a lawyer and ran his family's textile business, and was a mountaineer on the side. He made a number of notable ascents in the Alps, including of the north face of the [Aiguille du Dru](/source/Aiguille_du_Dru) and the northwest face of [La Civetta](/source/Monte_Civetta). With [Gaston Rébuffat](/source/Gaston_R%C3%A9buffat) he made the second ascent of the [Piz Badile](/source/Piz_Badile)'s northeast face,{{cite book | title = Starlight and Storm. The Ascent of Six Great North Faces of the Alps | date=1956| first = Gaston| last = Rebuffat |publisher =J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd | access-date = 29 October 2025 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=HocmAAAAMAAJ | pages=29-50 }} and was a lead climber on the first ascents of a route on the Aiguille des Aigles and the face of the [Aiguille de la Brenva](/source/Aiguille_de_la_Brenva). In 1951 he climbed in the [Hoggar Mountains](/source/Hoggar_Mountains) in southern Algeria, making a number of first ascents—he returned to the mountain range in 1961. In 1952, he led a French-American expedition including [Claude Kogan](/source/Claude_Kogan) to the Andes, and made the [first ascent](/source/first_ascent) of [Salcantay](/source/Salcantay).{{cite journal |last1=Bell|first1=George I. |first2= W.V. Graham |last2=Matthews |first3= David |last3=Harrah|title=Bernard Pierre 1920-1997 | journal = American Alpine Journal |url=https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199946600/Bernard-Pierre-1920-1997|year=1999|publisher=The Mountaineers Books|isbn=9781933056463|page=466ff | access-date = 16 July 2025}} Pierre also led the team which made the first ascent of [Nun](/source/Nun_Kun) in India. He was part of the group which set out from a high camp towards the summit on 28 August 1953 but he could not continue to the top because he had not fully recovered from being caught in an avalanche a few days earlier.{{cite journal | title = Expeditions: Nun-Kun 1953 | journal =Alpine Journal| date=1954| first =Bernard | last = Pierre | issn= 0065-6569 |volume =#59 | issue = 289 | pages= 341-342 | access-date = 15 September 2024 |url = https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1954_files/AJ59%201954%20341-342%20Expeditions.pdf }} Later that same day Claude Kogan and Pierre Vittoz reached the summit.{{cite book | title = A Mountain called Nun Kun | date=1955| first =Pierre| last = Bernard |publisher =Hodder & Stoughton | url =https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3031/page/n29/mode/2up | access-date = 16 July 2025 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19530909&id=culOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dAAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3989,3223520|title=Woman with Mountain Team That Reaches Himalayan Peak: Paris Dress Designer and Six Men Realize 'Dream Of Every Mountaineer'|date=9 September 1953|work=[Toledo Blade](/source/Toledo_Blade)|accessdate=27 April 2014}} He led a French-Iranian expedition to [Mount Damavand](/source/Mount_Damavand) for its first ascent in 1954, an expedition to the [Rwenzori Mountains](/source/Rwenzori_Mountains) in 1955–1956, and to the Caucasus in 1958. Besides a climber, Pierre was an avid writer, writing a celebrated book on synthetic textiles, and a number of books on his own mountaineering expeditions and on the "great rivers of the world". He was a member of the elite French 'Groupe de Haute Montagne', and Past President (1991-1995) of the [Société des explorateurs français](/source/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_des_explorateurs_fran%C3%A7ais), Honorary member of the [Alpine Club](/source/Alpine_Club_(UK)), the [American Alpine Club](/source/American_Alpine_Club), and the [Himalayan Club](/source/Himalayan_Club).{{cite journal | title = Bernard Pierre (1920-1997) | journal =Himalayan Journal| date= 1998| first =Bernard | last = Odier | volume =#54 | pages= | access-date = 16 July 2025 |url = https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/54/21/in-memoriam/#point2 }} ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierre, Bernard}} Category:1920 births Category:1997 deaths Category:French mountain climbers Category:20th-century French explorers Category:French male non-fiction writers Category:20th-century French male writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bernard Pierre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Pierre) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Pierre?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.