Who were the ‘Conquistadors of the Useless'? Antoine Terray gives us a glimpse into the life of his famous father the mountaineer Lionel Terray

Antoine Terray is a skier, a runner, and a businessman here in Chamonix – he is also the son of one of the greatest alpinists of his time, Lionel Terray. Adopted at the age of 4, Antoine spent just a few months with his father before his tragic death while climbing in the Vercors near Grenoble. Devastated at the loss, Antoine’s mother Marianne was left to raise him and his brother alone. 

In this week's podcast, Antoine talks about how, over the decades, he has been able to piece together who his father was through anecdotes, stories, and of course, the book Lionel wrote - Conquistadors of the Useless, a book described by many as one of the finest and most important mountaineering books ever written.

Of his father, Antoine says he was a kind, caring man who had a deep and profound love for his wife, Marianne, and whose uncompromising love for the mountains, finally robbed the community of one of its most passionate figures. 

“If the word has any meaning at all, I am a mountaineer.” Lionel Terray

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