Jules Bich

He was the last exponent (in the mountaineering field) of a family, the Bich family nicknamed the 'tailleurs', who had already known the illustrious but brief parables of Edoardo and Maurizio, Jules' brothers, who died on their home mountains.

 

Jules Bich's notoriety began in May 1928, when commander Umberto Nobile's airship 'Italia', after flying over the North Pole, crashed into the pack, leaving the cabin and 10 survivors behind, before disappearing forever swept away who knows where by the stormy winds. A sort of international solidarity race against time and environmental difficulties began to save the lives of the castaways, desperately huddled around what was to become a symbol of extreme hardship: the 'Red Tent'. From Italy, a team of specially selected Alpine soldiers left to face the wind and ice of the polar ice cap. Among them was the not yet 21-year-old Jules Bich.

The Alpine guide from Valle d'Aosta was the last living witness of this unsuccessful venture, unfortunately for them, or rather, totally useless due to the orders given to point them in the wrong direction (it was the Soviet icebreaker ship 'Krassin' that saved Nobile and his men): from his exertions in the terrain, to his pride in his Alpine uniform, to his more prosaic distaste for freeze-dried fish food.

When he returned to Breuil, he first became a ski instructor (1934) and then an Alpine guide (1938). He carried out these two activities on his mountains with passion, so much so that in 1942 he was chosen to accompany the then princess (later 'Queen of May') Maria José to the summit of the Matterhorn. Numerous photographic testimonies of this event remain, also portraying him with another local glory, Luigi Carrel, known as 'il Carrellino' because of his petite build.

He was a ski instructor until 1976 and the chronicle records among his clients Duke Luigi Amedeo d'Aosta, Count Lora Totino, Teo Rossi di Montelera and the actor Nino Manfredi.