Christophe Delachat (b. 1963)
Birthplace:
Sallanches, France
Born:
June 24, 1963
Christophe Delachat, born in 1963, is a French mountain guide, writer, extreme cameraman, reporter, and documentary filmmaker. He climbed the highest peaks in the world before turning to reporting and documentaries. His career as a mountain guide led him to discover other mountain populations around the world. He became an extreme cameraman for the France 3 program "Montagne" (Mountain). This collaboration lasted ten years: Ushuaïa and Okavango, Zone interdite with Toni Comiti (France Televisions), the Albertville and Athens Olympic Games, and all international television channels to film reports on Mont Blanc, which Christophe Delachat has climbed more than 250 times. He rounded Cape Horn aboard the sailboat Balthazar, then explored Tierra del Fuego as a trapper and made several treks up to 6,000 meters in the Andes, in the Ruwenzori Mountains in Africa, Greenland, Everest, and Annapurna without reaching the summit. "The mountains taught me everything; they are still my school of life because I left the other world at 16 out of a thirst for adventure. I am a true autodidact, with all the pitfalls that entails, until the day I was able to prove to the system that this school also works. That's why I created the character of Louis Galion, who will cross seven continents to advocate for oppressed populations whose natural environment is threatened." Christophe Delachat, in the same spirit, created the Heirs of Mont Blanc association to preserve the cultural identity of mountain populations. He has directed three films, the first of which, "Les Héritiers du Mont Blanc," traces the lives of the guides of the Saint Gervais company from 1760 to the present day. The second, "Les Caravanes de l'Ombre," shows the work of the volunteers of the Mont Blanc mountain rescue society, and finally, the third installment of the Mont Blanc trilogy, "In the Footsteps of Charles Hudson," traces the route of the Royal Route to Mont Blanc, which Charles Hudson opened in 1855. These three DVD films are available, and the Héritiers du Mont Blanc association is marketing them to reinvest in other projects. Christophe Delachat is preparing the next adventures of Louis Galion in Peru. A blue-eyed adventurer with a tender heart, Christophe Delachat invites us to share his stories, his adventures, and his images, and reflects on the profound meaning of life, the earth, nature, and what we do with them, while campaigning for oppressed mountain peoples.