Jules Jacot-Guillarmod

Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (24 December 1868 – 5 June 1925) was a Swiss physician, mountaineer and photographer. He was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1868 and died in the Gulf of Aden in 1925. As a mountaineer he was known for his ascents in the Swiss Alps but particularly for his participation in two Himalaya expeditions.

Biography Jules Jacot-Guillarmod was the son of the animal painter Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (1828–1889). He successfully studied medicine in Lausanne and Zurich between 1888 and 1895. Graduated in 1895, he established himself as a general practitioner at Corsier (Canton of Geneva), from 1898 to 1902 at Lignières from 1904 to 1910 and then at Saint-Blaise (canton of Neuchâtel) from 1910 to 1912. In 1907, he married Madeleine Bovet. From 1912 on, he ran a psychiatric clinic located at the Château de Prilly and in 1920, the couple bought the château after running the clinic in Vennes between 1915 and 1920. Two years later, Jacot-Guillarmod himself organized an expedition, this time to the Nepalese and 8585m high Kangchenjunga near Everest. His expedition consisted of two Swiss men and Aleister Crowley, whom he met during the K2 expedition in 1902. For the organisation of the expedition in Darjeeling, they called upon an Italian hotelier who knew the local language. From Darjeeling, the group advanced on the border between Sikkim and Nepal. After climbing through the Yalung Chu valley, the summit is surrounded by a very steep glacier, now known as The Bottleneck. Three Nepalese carriers and a Swiss participant lost their lives, falling into a crevasse at an altitude of 6,500 metres. The expedition was subsequently abandoned, and the return journey through the Sikkim mountains was made without Crowley, who fled after the avalanche with the remainder of the money Jacot-Guillarmod had provided for the expedition. In 1925 Jacot-Guillarmod attended the International Geographical Congress in Cairo. After the congress, he intended to cross Africa overland to the Cape. However, upon arriving at Lake Victoria, he fell so seriously ill that he decided to return home via Mombasa. However, en route he died of myocarditis at sea and was buried in the Maala cemetery in Aden, Yemen.

Publications Journal du 1er janvier 1886 au 27 mai 1925, 74 carnets; Fonds Jacot-Guillarmod, Bibliothèque de la ville de La Chaux-de-Fonds. Nouvel an à la cabane Fridolin, L'Écho des Alpes, 1895, p. 117-131 Au Mont-Blanc, L'Écho des Alpes, 1897, p. 249-268 Autour de Chanrion, Patrie suisse, n°4, 1897, p. 279-281 La pellotine chez les aliénés, Thèse de doctorat de Jules Jacot-Guillarmod, Lausanne, 1897 Album des cabanes du Club Alpin Suisse, Berne, Schmidt & Francke, 1898 Dans les Alpes de la Suisse primitive, L'Écho des Alpes, 1896, p. 211-217 et 335–345 Dans l'Himalaya, Suisse libérale, 1902, numéros 107 (9 mai), 108 (10 mai), 121 (26 mai), 122 (27 mai), 158 (8 juillet), 159 (9 juillet), 166 (17 juillet), 167 (18 juillet), 184 (7 août), 209 (5 septembre), 210 (6 septembre), 219 (17 septembre), 220 (18 septembre) Un record dans l'Himalaya, Jahrbuch des Schweizer Alpen Club, n°38, 1902–1903, p. 212-227 Six mois dans l'Himalaya, le Karakorum et l'Hindu-Kush: voyages et explorations aux plus hautes montagnes du monde, Neuchâtel, W. Sandoz, 1904 Vers le Kangchinjunga (8585m), Himalaya népalais, Jahrbuch des Schweizer Alpen Club, n°41, 1905–1906, p. 190-205 Au Mönch (4105m) par l'arrête nord-ouest, Jahrbuch des Schweizer Alpen Club, n°43, 1907–1908, p. 364-371 Crampons et piolets, Jahrbuch des Schweizer Alpen Club, n°45, 1909–1910, p. 344-353 Au Kangchinjunga: voyages et explorations dans l'Himalaya du Sikhim et du Népal, L'Écho des Alpes, 1914, p. 389-406 À l'assaut des plus hauts sommets du monde, L'Écho des Alpes, 1921, p. 337-350 Les grottes des Dentaux, Bulletin de la Société vaudoise des sciences naturelles, n°203, 1921, p. 193-204 Les résultats de l'expédition de l'Everest en 1921, L'Écho des Alpes, 1922, p. 117-120 Esquisses topographiques du Chogori ou K2 et du Kangchinjunga (Himalaya), Bulletin de la Société neuchâteloise de Géographie, vol. XXXIV, Neuchâtel, 1925, p. 34-37.