About Jean-Marc Boivin
Jean-Marc Boivin was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, 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. Two years later, in 1981, he set an altitude record together with Dominique Marchal for a two-man hang glider by launching from the summit of Aconcagua (7,021 m (23,035 ft)). In 1975, Boivin and Gabarrou made first ascents of the direct north faces of Les Droites and the Aiguille Verte, followed by the Supercouloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, and came to be seen as "the young new wave of the moment". On 14 July 1985, Boivin again broke the altitude record for a hang glider by launching from the summit of Gasherbrum II (he had reached the 8,035 m (26,362 ft) summit the week before, on 8 July, and reclimbed the mountain to make his jump).
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