André Roch

André Roch (21 August 1906 in Hermance, Switzerland – 19 November 2002 in Geneva) was a Swiss mountaineer, avalanche researcher and expert, skier, resort developer, engineer, and author. Roch is best known for having planned and surveyed the Aspen, Colorado, ski resort, and also as an adviser on avalanche management whose expertise was sought throughout the world.

Early life Roch was born near Geneva, Switzerland, in 1906, the son of an academic physician who would later become the president of the University of Geneva. He was introduced to mountain sports by his father, who was an avid climber, and he learned to ski at an early age. He won both the downhill and the slalom races at the 1927 Student Olympics in Italy. In his youth he traveled and pursued university education in the United States.

Mountaineering accomplishments Roch became a member of the Swiss Alpine Club in 1928 and later became the president of its Geneva section. While a university student at Reed College in Oregon in 1931,

Beginning in 1931, Roch made the first ascent of many routes in the Mont Blanc Massif. Over the course of his life, Roch made 25 first ascents in the Alps and 27 first ascents in Asia. Mont Forel in Schweizerland, East Greenland was first climbed by a Swiss expedition led by André Roch in 1938.

In 1952, at the age of 45, he was the most experienced member of a group of four Swiss climbers who, along with Tenzing Norgay, pioneered the route on Mount Everest which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay used to reach the summit the following year. Two members of the 1952 expedition, Raymond Lambert and Norgay, reached to within 200 meters (656 feet) of the summit before being forced to turn back due to severe weather conditions and lack of oxygen.

He last climbed in the Himalayas at age 84. Roch drew on these experiences to publish more than a dozen books on mountaineering.

Avalanche expert Roch joined the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in the late 1930s and became head of the section on snow and avalanche mechanics and avalanche control. During this period, Roch published many scientific articles on avalanche prediction, snow pack evaluation, and glaciation. Roch contributed to advances in avalanche safety in the Alps, in Scotland, and in the US.

His experience with avalanches extended beyond scientific observation, as he was personally caught in an avalanche on three occasions, but while awaiting further funding, World War II broke out and development halted. When the resort opened in 1946, a ski racing trophy, the Roch Cup, was awarded to the winner of the combined downhill and slalom race at Aspen.

Personal life Roch was married twice. He had three children – one son and two daughters – with his wife Emilie Dollfus. Roch suffered personal tragedy when one of his daughters, along with her friend, were killed in a climbing accident in 1962. This accident would have taken Roch's life as well if a rope connecting him to his daughter had not broken.

Filmography Demon of the Himalayas (1934)