Monique Richard

Monique Richard (born 1975) is a Canadian mountaineer.

Biography

Born to an impoverished family in Montreal, Monique had a difficult childhood and lived with several foster families. During her childhood, she was subjected to physical and psychological violence. Early on, it was through sports that she learned to channel her anger and frustration, developing her passion and her taste for action and she quickly stood out by her talents, her performance and her physical abilities.

At 22 years old, she was full of energy and desire to discover the world. Often unemployed, or employed at minimum wage, she finished high school and spent her days in libraries where she discovered literature and the arts. Through books, she developed a great interest in Europe, culture and travel, but her situation increased her feeling of helplessness and frustration. Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, she felt trapped, and she descended into a deep depression, to the point of thinking of ending her life.

When she returned she didn't have a job but she wanted to continue on her path somehow, so she became a letter carrier for Canada Post.

She discovered mountains later, during her hike of the GR20 in Corsica when she was 34 years old. Monique finally found her peace of mind in this environment.

Her first experience with altitude would be on Kilimanjaro in 2009. After the climb, she did a safari where she came face to face with a leopard, her spirit animal, for the first time.

Notable ascents

The Seven Summits Monique Richard completed the Seven Summits in 2012 when she summited Mount Everest.

She completed the seven summits in 32 months, which is the Canadian women's record for the time taken to complete the seven climbs.

2011 Vinson Massif

2012 Everest Second attempt, from the South side, 6 months after a first expedition in October 2011.

Everest

She took part in three expeditions on Mount Everest.

Mount Logan solo

In 2017, the year of the 150th anniversary of Canada, she made a first attempt on this mountain with a companion. They reached the summit plateau but had to turn back at an altitude of about 5,500 m.

On May 30, 2018, at 2:38 pm, Monique Richard reached the summit of the highest mountain in Canada, Mount Logan, from the west side (Kings Trench).

She is the first woman in the world to have reached the top of this mountain solo. She required a rescue after reaching the summit. Richard's ascent was the first solo to the summit by a woman, though her subsequent rescue leaves the door open for a complete solo ascent and descent.

In 2018, a year much less busy than the previous one, very few teams are on the mountain and she is the first climber flown at base camp. At no point during the expedition that lasted 19 days did another team found themselves in front of her. The solo expedition became a solitary climb.

In the spring of 2018, temperatures are particularly cold in this part of Yukon. To these conditions are added several hardships; broken equipment, fall into a crevasse, storms, avalanches.

After reaching the summit she required a rescue; she descended and made an unexpected detour of several kilometers that forced her to climb a 300 m sub-summit before finding her way. That day she covered a distance of 18 km in 14 hours on the summit plateau and found her bivouac around 1:30 am. she made the decision to contact Parks Canada emergency services and request an evacuation. Parks Canada then asked two other climbers who were on the mountain to assist Monique Richard so that she could descend to a lower altitude to be evacuated. They managed to reach Richard at her bivouac where they found her weak but conscious and assisted her to ski down to camp 4 from where she was evacuated, at an altitude of about 5,200 m. In order to carry out the evacuation, the operations managers had to purchase additional equipment. The helicopter company has since acquired a new aircraft with a higher operational altitude (an Airbus AS350-B3e Squirrel) which allows it to reach all the upper parts of Mount Logan.

Other ascents Since 2009, Monique Richard has reached the summits of the following mountains with an altitude of more than 4,000 m around the world, and made dozens of other lower-altitude climbs in various mountain ranges, including the Canadian Rockies. Temperatures dropped to -17 C and gusts over 100 km/h swept the mountain.

Unfortunately, her friend did not survive and died in her arms of hypothermia in the early morning. She herself was affected by advanced hypothermia but found the strength to descend to Camp Muir where she was assisted by a team of rescuers who were there for training exercises, then evacuated by a US Armed Forces helicopter. Monique Richard returned to Mount Rainier the following year to install a commemorative plaque near Camp Muir. Since the tragedy, each year Richard commemorates the death of her friend Arvid Lahti on her social media.

Physical training

Monique Richard is known for her meticulous physical preparation and hard training. Her routine is to get up around 5:15 am to train, which she does between 4 and 5 times a week, for 2 hours a day, including cardio and weight training.

In 2019, Monique Richard decided to join the fight against bullying and violence against children and make this her favorite cause.

Annexes

Filmography Documentary : "L'affront des cimes" Film by Florence Pelletier and Caroline Coté (Canada) 2017 – 11 minutes

Documentary "Alexis le randonneur" TVA Sports 2019 – 30 minutes