The North Face of the Camembert

In 2013, Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza desist in their attempt to climb Paiju Peak (6,610m). A year later, his steps cross with Mikel Renteria and Mentxu Mendieta from the WOP Foundation, who decide that the second attempt at Paiju Peak will be the first stage of their WOPeak project. The three members of the cordada land again in Pakistan. Identical scenery, the same objective and a maximum motivation for a challenge beyond mountaineering in a route full of emotions that ends with the opening of a new road in the heart of the Karakorum that they christened '2t'.

In 1961 the southern face of the Central Pillar of Mont Blanc was still unclimbed. Two roped parties of climbers decided to come together to attempt to open a new route. Four days of violent storms caught the climbers just 80 metres from the summit. Of the seven climbers, only three returned home. One of the most intense and dramatic events in the history of climbing relives on the big screen, thanks to accounts and images of the feat.

At the Limit is a documentary about extreme climbing. In this sports documentary, Pepe Danquart shows brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber climbing in Patagonia and on the granite rock "El Capitan" in Yosemite Valley (USA). A key part of the film is their attempt at a speed ascent of the 1,000-meter-high route "The Nose," in which the two athletes aim to break the then speed record of 2:48:30 hours, set by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama in September 2002.

In 1973, 6 guides from the National Ski and Mountaineering School (ENSA), including Charles Daubas and Walter Cecchinel, left by truck from Chamonix to Tamanrasset in the desert in Algeria with the aim of climbing some peaks of the Atakor massif including Adaouda and Tizouyag where they do the first of "La Voie de l'ENSA".

Portrait of Jean-Claude Droyer, a famous French climber and mountain guide. He is known for having participated in the rise of free climbing in France in the late 1970s. Trained at the climbing schools of Fontainebleau and Saussois, he distinguished himself in 1965 by solo climbing the Pentecôte route at Glandasse. He also made first ascents in the Verdon Gorges, winter ascents in the Prealps and the Mont Blanc massif, notably in 1971 the first solo ascent of the Directe Américaine on the west face of the Drus. The film was selected for the "Les Écrans Documentaires" festival in 2004.

René Collet, skier member of the French team, guides a friend from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. This descent is an opportunity to focus on the remarkable elements of the terrain: the cable car and its work still in progress, the surrounding peaks (Capucin, Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc). The two skiers stop regularly, here to observe climbers scaling the south face of the Aiguille, there to visit the Cosmiques Laboratory. They even take the time to rescue a skier stuck in a crevasse at the Séracs du Géant, before continuing their descent in style onto the Mer de Glace.

Sulle orme del K2

In February 1966, Pierre Mazeaud and Lucien Berardini attempted a difficult first ascent to one of the summits of Garet El Djenoun, in the Hoggar massif, a mountain range located west of the Sahara, in the south of Algeria. The mountain has been preserved intact since Roger Frison-Roche's expedition in 1935. The documentary, superbly filmed by René Vernadet, won the Grand Prix at the Trento Film Festival in 1966.

The word Pyreneism was invented by the writer Henri Beraldi at the end of the 19th century. Its definition did not come down to a simple practice of mountaineering in the Pyrenees. To be recognized as a Pyrenean, it was necessary to “ascend, write and feel”. An approach to the mountains, according to him, necessarily accompanied by an artistic or intellectual activity. This documentary looks back at the Pyrenees who have left their mark on history, before interviewing contemporary mountain dwellers who, through their mountain practice, consider themselves, or not, Pyreneanists. What prompted Beraldi to coin this term? Does it result from a Pyrenean complex facing the Alps? Chauvinism or a demand for identity? And today, does this word still have meaning? Beyond the reflection on the subject, this film is a wonderful tribute to the massif.

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Catherine Destivelle has deservedly become the most famous female climber in the world. She rose to prominence with historic climbs, such as the free ascent of the Nameless Tower in Pakistan, and solo winter ascents of the classic north faces of the Matterhorn and the Eiger, climbs that have never been repeated by any woman. She also made history in sport climbing by winning the world championship title. In 1997, this time in Scotland, on the iconic Old Man of Hoy route, opened by Bonington, Patey & Baillie, Martin Belderson crowned Destivelle Queen of the Rock. She was four months pregnant when she made this 137-meter ascent, which was not difficult but on tricky rock.

The story of the ascent of the Aiguille de la République by mountaineers Jacques Fromentin and Michel Bastien. The Aiguille de la République, in the Mont-Blanc massif, culminates at an altitude of 3,305 meters among the Aiguilles de Chamonix group of summits. In the Fontainebleau forest, children learn mountaineering techniques on the bouldering climbing site. In 1954, rock climbing was also practiced in the Chamonix valley. The Montenvers train crosses the viaduct taking tourists or athletes to the Mer de Glace viewpoint. The two climbers take an approach step and reach the Envers des Aiguilles refuge. They then climb this steep and smooth wall, progressing along the ridge. On the platform, a rope throw allows them to climb up and sit at the top to dominate the panorama. Then the return: abseiling from the summit block.

Adventure in Bleau is a documentary about bouldering that takes place in Fontainebleau. Directed by Jean-Paul Janssen in 1980 and produced by Antenne 2, it is part of the series "Les Carnets de l'Aventure" and broadcast on the same television channel. It features different generations of the finest free climbing artists of the time: Patrick Edlinger, Catherine Destivelle, Lucien Bérardini, Jean Pierre Bouvier, and Bertrand Roche 'Zébulon'.

Verdon Vertical Mile

Specimen

Boulders in Valais presents the canton of Valais in Switzerland, its bouldering climbing spots and some of its historical and current actors and driving forces including Lucien Abbet, Benoît Dorsaz, Fred Nicole, Dave Graham... Frédéric and François Nicole gives us spectacular demonstrations of this sport, showing us routes like "Radja", the world's first 8b+. A topo-video part contains 28 climbing sites with a geographical map, and more than 160 video sequences for as many chosen blocks... more than 2h30 of climbing.

Directed by Jean-Marc Boivin in 1977, Glace Extrême is a documentary about mountaineering and extreme skiing at the Aiguille Verte and the Grand Pilier D'angle in the Mont-Blanc massif chain in France, with the legends of mountaineering Jean-Marc Boivin, Patrick Gabarrou and ski champion Patrick Vallencant. It was broadcast in the Carnet de L'Aventure on France 2 in 1980.

Refuges

Dirty Bird, The Derek Hersey Story

The story of Enrique Herreros (1903-1977), cartoonist, advertiser, poster designer, talent manager, actor, producer and filmmaker, and the most daring of mountaineers; the man who, along with his companions from the so-called “other Generation of '27,” brought Hollywood to Madrid's Gran Vía, turning a grey and sinister post-war city into the capital of an incipient and ambitious cultural industry.