Himalayas

In summer, for our high-altitude climbs, we have to leave Nepal or the Andes to head northwest of the Himalayas, sheltered from the monsoon, towards Pakistan, Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. An update on our very-high mountaineering expeditions for summer 2024.

On 30 October, Valentin, Dawa and Nurpu reached the summit of Baruntse at 7,129 metres. Alone at base camp, with an uncertain weather window, much of the ridge unequipped and many teams turning back, our team was rewarded for its patience and tenacity.

On May 29, 2023, the mountaineering community will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Our friend Jean-Michel Asselin, journalist and writer, takes us back to 1953, to relive this feat that forever marked the history of Himalayan climbing.

The 1938 expedition was the last to be led by the British on the north face of Everest. The conquest of the poles eluded them. The French, their long-standing adversaries, took the first 8,000 m ascent from them. That's all they need. Now they have to climb Everest.

3 June 1950, 2pm, 8,091m. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal photographed themselves at the summit of the first 8,000-metre peak ever climbed by man. A few minutes of glory, but at what price? While Maurice Herzog survived the terrible tragedy of the descent relatively unscathed, gaining fame and honours, the same cannot be said for Lachenal, who was condemned to silence in the name of the honour of the Republic. To disentangle the true from the false, it is necessary to take the time to look seriously at the writings of each person in order to go beyond the myth.

It had taken fifty-six years of intense effort to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga. Finally, in 1955, it was the route initiated by Crowley that provided the key to success for the British duo of George Band and Joe Brown. We take you back to those intense years.

At a time when Nepal has just lifted its quarantine for vaccinated people, we take a look back at our ascent of Everest last spring: a five-strong Franco-Swiss team attempted to climb the roof of the world at 8,848 metres via its southern Nepalese side during an expedition led by Bernard Muller.

The Second World War temporarily postponed the conquest of the world's ninth highest peak, Nanga Parbat. At 8,126 meters, it continues to resist the efforts of Himalayan climbers. After the tragedies of 1934 and 1937, it wasn't until 1953 that Germany, licking its wounds, considered taking up the challenge again. This is the second part of our saga of Nanga Parbat, ‘the killer mountain’.

Nanga Parbat, ‘the killer mountain’. Between Mummery's first attempt in 1895 and Hermann Buhl's first ascent in 1953, 30 people lost their lives on its slopes. A sad record. Unlike most of the 8,000, there is no obvious route to the summit. We take you back to those tragic moments in the history of Himalayan climbing.