Frédi MEIGNAN

Born in Paris, France, in 1958, Frédi discovered mountaineering at secondary school. It was then that his passion for mountaineering was ignited.

He served as deputy mayor of Morsang-sur-Orge (Essonne) and was then hut caretaker of the Fare Hut (Grandes Rousses) as well as of a mythical hut on the South face of the Meije, the Promontoire Hut (Écrins), perched at an altitude of 3,092 m asl. He also managed the Gélinotte, a café-concert restaurant and cultural exchange centre in Freydières in the heart of the Belledonne mountains. Frédi, driven by a passion for experiencing and preserving the wild mountains, served as president of Mountain Wilderness France for a long time and has also been its vice-president.

In 2022, he was awarded the Legion of Honour for the services rendered to France as a mountain activist. If this recognition honoured him, it is above all the collective effort to preserve and protect wilderness from all urbanisation and heavy development that he wants to see encouraged.