Armand Charlet

Armand Charlet (9 February 1900, Argentière – December 1975) was a French mountaineer and mountain guide.

Charlet was amongst the most celebrated mountaineers and guides of his era. Alain de Chatellus regarded him as the "undisputed leader and lighthouse of his generation," Claire Engel commented,

"[He was] head and shoulders above anyone else. His name has been associated for almost fifty years with the toughest climbs in the range of Mont Blanc. All those who have been with him in the mountains have been struck by his impresssive, almost tragic face, his intelligence and culture, and above all by his speed and poise when climbing,"

and Wilfrid Noyce stated that "It was amusing to note how Armand's pre-eminence was recognized by the other guides and hut-keepers. His word was law."

He made 3,000 ascents and guided over 1,200 friends and clients – of whom a third were women. He specialised in ascents of the Aiguille Verte in the Mont Blanc massif, which he climbed 100 times by fourteen different routes, including seven first ascents, amongst them the direct line on the Couturier couloir, climbed on 1 July 1932 with Alfred Couttet and Georges Devouassoux. He also made the first ascent of the wildly pinnacled Aiguilles du Diable. In 1928 he made the first attempt on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses, one of the six great north faces of the Alps, via the Croz Spur. His party did not use pitons or any artificial devices and did not progress far up the face. He made another unsuccessful attempt on the face in 1934 with Robert Greloz, a guide from Chamonix, reaching 11,800 ft on the face and, according to Gaston Rébuffat, "[causing] quite a stir at the time".

As a guide he also made first ascents with his clients; for example, on 4 August 1928 Chalet led Miriam O'Brien and Robert L. M. Underhill on the first traverse from the Aiguilles du Diable to Mont Blanc du Tacul, during which he overcame a Grade V pitch on L'Isolée with a jammed ice axe (today a piton is in place).

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