Himlung avalanche: “The heavy toll paid by Nepalis could have been avoided”
Sixteen dead, all of them Nepali. Yet the avalanche that swept through Himlung base camp at the start of the autumn season was anything but unpredictable: the camp’s exposure had long been known, and the forecasts had announced the deteriorating weather. A pioneer of guided ascents on this 7,000er since 2002, Paulo Grobel questions the economic model of expeditions, and our own responsibility as...
Logan’s Other Summit #2: The Undertow
Deep in Logan’s magnificent vastness, the world below seems to fade away. But memories come back in waves. Little by little, the expedition becomes a space where grief seeks its place, in the undertow of this second episode. It is right there, within sight. But its summit is hard to make out among the subsidiary summits. Yet the little Pilatus Porter flying us 150 km into the heart of the massif...
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Avalanche on Himlung: Sixteen Casualties at a Base Camp That Was Already Hit in 2014
An avalanche swept through the base camp of Himlung Himal, 7,126 metres, in Nepal’s upper Naar Phu valley on 27 September. Four Nepalese workers have been found dead and twelve people remain...
Adam Ondra climbs legendary routes in the Dolomites
In his new video, Adam Ondra focuses primarily on two generations of extreme climbing on the immense south face of the Marmolada, the jewel of the Dolomites. The Czech climber begins with the “Fish”...
Thierry Renault: A Tribute to a Master of Style
From the 1980s through the 1990s, Thierry Renault was one of France’s finest alpinists. He was also, quite simply, one of its best climbers: third at Bardonecchia in 1985, Renault freed major...
Eiger: Fay Manners and Roger Schäli Open Solar Eclipse, a New 33-Pitch Route on the North Face
Between July 27 and August 13, Fay Manners and Roger Schäli established Solar Eclipse, a new 900-metre, 33-pitch route on the north face of the Eiger. They spent eighteen days working on the...
Soline Kentzel, first woman to complete the free ascent of Darbellay on Petit Clocher du Portalet in Switzerland
After Golden Gate on El Capitan, Le Voyage at Annot and a solo ascent of The Nose, Soline Kentzel has added another historic line to her résumé. The French climber has just completed La Darbellay on...
Mont Blanc, The Impossible Mountain
It is a cruel irony. 240 years ago, Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard reached the summit of Mont Blanc for the first time. On the 8th of August, 1786, after years of attempts, the impossible...
AVALANCHE: TEN CLIMBERS, INCLUDING NIRMAL PURJA, MISSING ON BROAD PEAK
An avalanche struck the upper slopes of Broad Peak (8,047 m) in Pakistan on Thursday. Ten climbers are currently missing, including Nepal’s Nirmal “Nims” Purja, one of the most...
World Climbing Postpones Decision on Israel’s Suspension
Meeting in an extraordinary general assembly on Thursday, July 23, World Climbing’s member federations were expected to consider suspending Israel, Russia, and Belarus, eleven days after a large...
How French mountaineer Nicolas Jean set a new FKT on La Meije, an iconic and challenging Alpine peak
Setting out at 8:30 a.m. from the church in La Grave—a mecca for French freeriding—Nicolas Jean returned there at 12:41 p.m. after crossing La Meije in 4 hours and 11 minutes, nearly half an hour...
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From Everest to Depression : Cory Richards, His Journey To Calm The Chaos Within
He climbed Everest without oxygen, and completed the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II. A Nat Geo photographer and himalayist, Cory Richards is a survivor in more ways than one. His...
Painting the mountains, full movie
The Patagonian mountains attract the best climbers, but more rarely skiers, and for good reason: the tawny granite spires that streak across the skies of El Chalten are big walls where there is...
Ice climbing : the new guidebook for Briancon, the French Ice Climbing Mecca
350 pages, 850 ice and mixed routes: it’s been a long wait, but not in vain! Twenty years have passed since the previous topo, and now the new guidebook for ice climbing around Briancon,...
Their First Ascent: how they do it… and how they tell it
It’s a popular drawing by French artist Samivel published in his collection Sous l’oeil des choucas in 1937. The first box of the strip shows two mountaineers climbing a small, debonair...
