Yvette Vaucher

Yvette Vaucher (née Pilliard; 11 November 1929 – 30 September 2023) was a Swiss mountaineer and parachutist. Credited as Switzerland's first female parachutist, she was also the first woman to climb the Matterhorn's north face.

Biography Yvette Pilliard was born on 11 November 1929 in Vallorbe, Switzerland. She took up rock climbing in 1951 and climbed mainly on the Salève in the French Prealps near Geneva, where she joined a group of women climbers who were regulars on the Salève. In 1955, she moved to Neuchâtel, where she began free fall parachuting. She had made over 100 mountain descents via parachute before she formed a climbing team with Michel Vaucher, a mountaineer whom she married in 1962.

One of Vaucher's most famous climbs was the Matterhorn in July 1965. When she reached the summit on July 14, she became the first woman to have climbed the Matterhorn's north face. She made the ascent with her husband on the 100th anniversary of the first successful ascent of the mountain, and their "surprise climb" was noted to have "stole the spotlight" from two other climbing teams who were planning to climb the Matterhorn at the same time with film crews to broadcast their ascent on live television. Tensions and conflict were rife within the team, however, and the expedition was ultimately unsuccessful. Vaucher, upset with Dyhrenfurth's leadership, is said to have thrown snowballs at him before leaving the expedition.