Jean-Marc Boivin

Jean-Marc Boivin (6 April 1951 – 17 February 1990) was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, award-winning film maker, and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paragliding, the creator of numerous first ascents and first ski descents in the Alps, a member of the team that broke the record for a sub-glacial dive and the first person to paraglide from the summit of Mount Everest, Boivin was a pioneer of extreme sports. He died from injuries incurred after BASE jumping off Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world.

Boivin was born in Dijon in 1951. He went to secondary school in Dijon, Belfort and Tournus, and gained his Baccalauréat de technicien in 1971. Between 1972 and 1973 he studied mechanical manufacturing in Sens. It was while working at the Peugeot factory in Dijon that he decided to live "in" and "for" the mountains. Coming to both climbing and skiing quite late in his childhood at the age of 14, he climbed on the cliffs of Cormot, in the cirque du Bout du Monde near Nolay, as well as in Brochon, Fixin and Saffres, and skied in the Jura mountains. By 1972 he was sufficiently proficient at skiing to come fourth in the Série Nationale. He gained his aspirant guide diploma from l'Ecole Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinisme de Chamonix in 1973, the same year that he completed his military service with the 159th Regiment of Alpine Infantry in Briançon, section Eclaireurs en Montagne. From this point, Boivin dedicated himself to being what he called "an all-round professional adventurer".

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