Fred Souchon: guide, PGHM rescuer and vol-bivouac pioneer on Mont Blanc

Fred Souchon discovered the PGHM at age 19, during an encounter with a team on a glacier — an experience that sparked his calling. He joined the unit in 2005, after a demanding path: candidates must first be gendarmes before applying, pass selection tests close to those of a high-mountain guide, then undergo complete training spanning 4 to 5 years before becoming fully operational.

The PGHM has around 300 personnel spread across some twenty units in France; the Chamonix unit, with nearly 40 personnel, is the largest. Each rescuer must master three areas: rescue techniques themselves (rope, helicopter, climbing, glacier, water environments), judicial and police training, and civilian qualifications — high-mountain guide, ski instructor or ski patroller. In the field, an operation systematically mobilizes a pair of rescuers, a doctor and a helicopter crew (pilot and winch operator/mechanic), with tactical choices often decided in flight, by consensus.

"Our life is worth as much as the life of the person I'm going to rescue."

The PGHM has also structured psychological support — systematic debriefing after each operation, access to psychologists, dedicated spaces to talk — for professionals regularly confronted with traumatic situations.

With twenty years of experience responding in extreme conditions, Fred Souchon points out that technology does not replace judgment: an avalanche beacon, airbag pack or phone are not a reason to push your limits. His recommendations align with those detailed on this site's safety page: tell someone your itinerary before setting out, report your return on arrival, equip yourself according to the day's actual weather and altitude, and honestly assess your level against the difficulty of the objective.

In the Alps, his climbing record includes the Grandes Jorasses, les Droites, les Drus, the Dolomites, the Vanoise and the Écrins. Internationally, he climbed the iconic El Capitan in Yosemite — via the aid routes Tangerine Trip and The Shield, with portaledge bivouacs suspended on the wall — and went on to climb the Poincenot and Guillaumet spires in Patagonia, before a Fitz Roy attempt was stopped 200 m from the summit.

A paraglider since 2010 — after a first speed-riding flight on skis in Chamonix — Fred Souchon specialized in vol-bivouac: combining climbing on foot and free flight over several days, with high-altitude bivouacs between stages. He has led several such expeditions in the Himalayas and the Caucasus, an expedition in Kyrgyzstan alongside Martin Beaujouan, and a tour of the Mont-Blanc massif by ski and paraglider with Andy Busslinger and Kari Eisenhut.

"Beyond the difficulty, it's above all the pleasure of being 'up there' and enjoying these moments that make us privileged: the sun brushing the peaks, an improvised bivouac where you didn't sleep a wink all night but that you'll remember for the rest of your life, the sparkle in your rope partner's eyes on reaching the summit, long conversations with the refuge warden in the evening, and the pleasure of a shared drink after a route."

His next big project, the Airtour, plans a 325 km crossing of the Alps over 7 days, on foot and by paraglider. He is an ambassador for the paraglider brand Advance and a mountain ambassador for the outfitter Cimalp.