Henry Duhamel

Henry or Henri Duhamel (born 9 December 1853 in Paris, died 7 February 1917 in Gières (Isère)) was a French mountaineer, author and skiing pioneer. He introduced the practice of skiing to his circle of friends at Grenoble, leading to the creation of the first ski club in France.

Bourgeois athlete Henry Duhamel was born in Paris in 1853 and moved in 1873 to Gières, near Grenoble, due to health problems. Finally in 1877 Boileau de Castelnau and his guide Pierre Gaspard reached the top, taking the first path traced by Henry Duhamel. Henry Duhamel turned to other peaks, both in France and Kabylie, and established twenty-three new routes, including first ascents of eight virgin peaks.

Ski pioneer Henry Duhamel moved in all seasons in the mountains of Dauphiné, but the winter remained a problematic season. Horses and sleighs pulled by use of a coupling were limited when the snow reached dizzying heights. The athlete could not find a way to stay in shape with outdoor exercises. He considered snowshoes, but they were not suitable for hiking and he failed to find shoes manufactured with satisfactorily wide flanges.

In 1878, looking for Canadian snowshoes, he visited the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Duhamel realized that the simple lace binding was complex. Due to his lack of mastery of the link with an adapted shoe, he was awkward and took several years to master skiing technique. In 1889, with the best bindings cobbled together by a craftsman, he managed one successful trial to Chamrousse,

As a supporter of the mountain sports world, Duhamel sought to share his passion with others by publishing numerous articles for the CAF, a Guide du Haut-Dauphiné in 1887 (in collaboration with W. A. B. Coolidge and Félix Perrin) which included a topography in color of the Mont Pelvoux massif, and a tribute to the Alpine troops, Au Pays des Alpins, in 1899.

Legacy Duhamel's library was dispersed at two sales in Lyon in 1921 and 1922. In honor of Duhamel, a street in Grenoble bears his name, as does the gap separating the Croix de Belledonne from the central peak of the Belledonne range, and one of the side peaks in the Massif des Écrins (the Pyramide Duhamel). Duhamel appears as a character in the novel Le roman de Gaspard de la Meije by Isabelle Scheibli.

Books Tentatives d'Ascension au Pic Occidental de la Meije ou Aiguille du Midi de la Grave (Hautes-Alps) (1876). Extract from the Annuaire du Club Alpin Français (1875). Paris: Typographie Georges Chamerot. Guide du Haut-Dauphiné (1887). With W. A. B. Coolidge and Félix Perrin. Grenoble: Alexandre Gratier. Supplément au Guide du Haut-Dauphiné (1890). With W. A. B. Coolidge and Félix Perrin. Grenoble: Imprimerie Breynat et Cie. Alpes Dauphinoises (1890). Guides-Joanne. Paris: Hachette. The Central Alps of the Dauphiny (1892). With W. A. B. Coolidge and Félix Perrin. London: Fisher Unwin. Carte du Haut-Dauphiné (1892). Winterthur: Würster et Randegger. Mémoire de la Blottière (1892). Grenoble: Librairie X. Drevet. Grenoble considéré comme centre d'excursions alpestres (1893). Grenoble: F. Allier père et fils. Description des vallées des grandes Alpes (1894). Grenoble: X. Drevet. La topographie du Haut-Dauphiné (1896). Grenoble: X. Drevet. Au Pays des Alpins (1899). Grenoble: Falque et Perrin. Voyage d'inspection de la frontière des Alpes en 1752 par le Marquis de Paulmy (1902). Grenoble: Falque et Perrin.