Liliane Barrard discovered mountaineering at the age of thirteen, in the Chamonix valley. In 1973, she met her future husband Maurice while organizing an expedition to Peru. But not knowing his abilities in the mountains, and although his freshly graduated physiotherapist diploma could be useful, Maurice declines his collaboration, offering Liliane to participate in a less perilous race in the same country but without him. Maurice and Liliane see each other again and their common passion for extreme ascents brings them closer together. They get married and settle in Francourville in 1977.