René Desmaison ranked high among the small but resolute group of mountaineers dominating the sport in the 1960s and 1970s who, through print and film, projected their exploits to an enthralled Europe-wide audience. In an alpine record that stretched over 50 years he accounted for 114 first ascents of routes in the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes, to which he led 14 expeditions. His adventures were recorded in nine films, four for television, and eight books, marking him as one of the first postwar professional mountaineers who could earn a good living and satisfying career from simply doing what they best enjoyed: tackling the most difficult mountaineering routes in the most challenging conditions.

A contemporary of Walter Bonnati, perhaps the greatest mountaineer to emerge from France at this time, Desmaison was born in Périgord but brought up by relatives in Paris. His mother died of cancer when he was 15 and his father had been crippled by severe head injuries sustained in the First World War. It was his godfather, a keen amateur climber, who introduced him to the sandstone boulders at Fontainebleau, the key stones of many great mountaineering careers. His first inclination may have been towards the sea but military service in the 99th Alpine Infantry Regiment was the catalyst to a lifelong love of mountains.

For nine years he climbed as an amateur before joining the École Nationale d'Alpinisme in Chamonix and qualifying as a professional guide. By then his climbing partners included Jean Couzy, a member of the French expedition to Annapurna and who reached the summit of Makalu. Together Desmaison and Couzy made the first ascent of the northwest face direct of the Orlan, the first winter ascent of the west face of the Dru and attempted to climb directly up the overhanging wall alongside the Cima Ovest di Lavaredo in the Dolomites. They failed but when Desmaison returned the following year, after Couzy had died in a climbing accident, the great wall was finally scaled and named after Couzy.

Desmaison's reputation as a climber prepared to accept extreme challenges, along with his not being native to the close-knit Chamonix community, led to problems of local acceptance. Nor did his increasing success as an author and film-maker who popularised the exclusive mysticism of mountaineering endear him to his fellow guides. Readers of Paris Match read his dramatic reports and a radio audience measured in millions shivered with him during a live broadcast caught in a storm on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses. His books dealt strongly on the hardship, struggles and danger of extreme mountaineering. A cold, rather anxious face and thin smile added to the impression of a man more admired than loved. His autobiography, Les Forces de la Montagne, attempted to redress the balance but failed to reflect much happiness in his life, concentrating hard on his focused passion for climbing.

The breaking point, which ended his association with the Chamonix guides, came in 1966 on the west face of the Dru above Chamonix when he led a rescue operation to save two German climbers trapped high on the rock face.

Responsibility for mountain rescue was historically delegated by the gendarmerie to the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix but before they could reach the trapped men, Desmaison's scratch team of international climbers pre-empted their efforts and brought the Germans to safety. For this insubordination he was expelled from the Guides.

In the 1960s when many of

the so-called “last great problems” in the Alps were being addressed, Desmaison played a leading part in solving them. One attempt on the unclimbed Central Pillar of Freney, high on the Brenva face of Mont Blanc, became a France v Britain race. A team including Chris Bonington, Ian Clough and Don Whillans had

a day's lead and were attempting

the difficult overhanging crux of

the climb when a group led by Desmaison appeared, attempting the same pillar by a nearby line. Bonington recalled that the corner crack they were trying to climb

was too wide for their pitons but

too small for the protective wooden wedges they were carrying. A request to the French for suitable gear met a firm and not unreasonable “non”, as the same gear was needed on their own route. Bonington and Whillans persevered, overcame the crux and dropped a rope to the rest of their team which the French then asked to use to ascend the difficult pitches. The rope was left, but seemingly failed to find a mention in French accounts of the climb.

Desmaison's closest brush with death came in the winter of 1971 attempting a new route on the Grandes Jorasses. With Serge Gousseault, a newly qualified Chamonix guide, the two climbers became trapped by violent storms sweeping the mountain face. After six days of slow, difficult climbing the weather had closed in. They reached a summit cornice, an overhanging lip of snow and ice, only a short distance from safety but were unable to move, hanging from pitons in a festoon of ropes. Rescue helicopters twice arrived above them but failed to understand Desmaison's signals for help. On the 12th day Gousseault froze to death and it was two days later

that Desmaison, near death himself from cold and dehydration, was air-

lifted to safety. Two years later he returned and completed the climb, once more arriving on the summit in a storm.

Desmaison's place in French alpine history was acknowledged in later years and he was rehabilitated with the climbing Establishment and reinstated into the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix.

He is survived by his wife and four children but for two years had lived alone at the Col de Cabres in the Vercors region. The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, paid personal tribute to him as “a great French alpinist”.

René Desmaison, French mountaineer, guide, author and film-maker, was born on April 14, 1930. He died on September 28, 2007, aged 77