Jacques Boell

Jacques Boell
Born	17 February 1908 Albertville, France
Died	21 August 1997 (aged 89) Grasse, France
Alma mater	HEC Paris
Occupation(s)	Writer and mountaineer

Jacques Boell (February 17 1908, Albertville, France – August 21 1997, Grasse, France), was a French mountaineer and writer, a member of the Bleau Group of young Parisian mountaineers in the 1930s.

Biography

Born in 1908 and raised in Paris, Jacques Boell studied at HEC Paris before becoming an insurance consultant and then commercial director at Saint-Gobain. An amateur mountaineer, between the wars he completed most of the "great races" of the time as well as various first ascents. In 1929, he began to write memories of climbs, collected in 1937 in Cimes d'Oisans (Peaks of Oisans).

During the winter of 1944–1945, alongside his old friend from the Bleau Group Alain Le Ray, Jacques Boell took part in the battles in the Alps. After writing a series of works dedicated to the world of the mountains (race stories, memories of war in the mountains, collection of photographs, an alpine novel for young people), he won the Lafontaine Prize from the Académie Française with his collection of short stories, L'Avalanche.

Jacques Boell died on August 21, 1997, in Grasse at the age of 89.

Firsts

All these firsts are located in the Massif des Écrins:

• south face of the aiguille Dibona, 3,131 m;
• north face of the Aiguille d’Olan, 3,360 m;
• 1934: winter of the Roche Méane, 3,712 m;
• 1943: winter of Pic Gaspard, 3,883 m.

Books

• Jacques Boell, Cimes d'Oisans, Paris, Flammarion, 1937
• Jacques Boell, SES, éclaireurs-skieurs au combat (1940, 1944, 1945), Arthaud, 1945. Reissued in 1987
• Jacques Boell, Oisans, Paris, J. Susse, 1945, prix Hercule-Catenacci of the Académie française in 1946
• Jacques Boell, Paysages d'Oisans, Marseille, Henri Laulagnet, 1948
• Jacques Boell, L'Or de la Muzelle, Paris, Magnard, 1959
• Jacques Boell, Quinze aventures en montagne, Paris, Gautier-Languereau, 1966
• Jacques Boell, L'Avalanche et six autres nouvelles sur thèmes alpins, Paris, Fernand Lanore, 1973, prix Lafontaine of the Académie française in 1974