After years of mass tourism in the Alps, a rethinking is slowly taking place. Whether researchers, artists or philosophers, many are trying to approach the essence of the mountains in new ways.
Following in the footsteps of Frison Roche, 7 climbers explore the main Hoggar massifs in Algeria. Their main objective is the ascent of the Garet El Djenoun summit via the north ridge, a long climb symbolic of a certain difficulty and a significant commitment, due to its location in the desert. They also attempt the Diedre Agresti, a daring route from the 70s, opened in around ten days on artificial, and unequipped; it is a path that has never been repeated; the objective is to do it free and almost only on wedges, with difficulties up to 7b/c in a sometimes very delicate rock... Excerpts from the film shot in 1970 by Henri Agresti on this same route, allow us to compare the technical and material means of the time to those of today. They also discover the beauty of the Algerian desert, its silence, its rock paintings, the customs of the Tuaregs, etc... a fascinating journey.
Filmed chronicle by mountain filmmaker Mario Fantin, of the 1964-1965 expedition of the Italian mountaineer Guido Monzino to the summits of Hoggar in the Algerian Sahara with the ascents of Garet el Djenoun, Tizouyag Nord, Saouinan and Iharen. The mountain ranges of the Hoggar desert turn out to be more complex and interesting than most mountaineers suspected at the time.
Less than two years after his serious road accident, Eric Escoffier brought together the "Turbo" team (Frédéric Ancey, Michel Fauquet, Christine Janin and Stéphane Schaffter) with whom he will attempt to climb Everest without oxygen and without prior acclimatization in the Himalayas, the project being to complete the Paris-Everest-Paris loop in two weeks. It is also a medical experiment: the athletes spend a week at Mont Blanc, at the Vallot observatory between 4000 and 4800m, then a week in a hypobaric chamber in Grenoble. Doctors (Dr. Richalet, Herry and Bittel) perform tests throughout this training, which will learn about how the body acclimatizes to altitude and allow applications in the management of mountain-related illnesses . On September 2, 1989, they arrived at Everest base camp in China. They attempted the ascent via the North Col but could not carry out their project, prevented by bad weather.
After reading the book "Guide to Hoggar Climbing," guide Pierre Agresti and his wife Isabelle Agresti set off into the Hoggar massif in the Algerian Sahara and tackled the west face of Garet El Djenoun. After a first attempt in 1967, they successfully reached the summit in 1970 and, with an old camera, made a film that remained unused for 25 years. In 1996, they decided to bring the past back to life through the ascent and encounters with the Tuaregs in the rock salt mines of Amadror. The film was shown in competition at the Trento Film Festival in 1997.
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Annapurna, premier 8000 à ski
For decades, an elite handful of climbers have competed for the coveted speed record on the 3,000-foot Nose of El Capitan, risking big falls to shave mere seconds off the fastest time. When a record held by superstar Alex Honnold is broken by little-known climbers Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds, Honnold drafts fellow climbing legend Tommy Caldwell to establish a new mark that will stand the test of time. Honnold pushes for perfection while Caldwell, a family man, wrestles with the risk amid a series of accidents on the wall that lay bare the consequences of any mistake.
Un Pic pour Lénine
In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Avid for steep slopes, Marco Siffredi (1979-2002) obeys only one rule: not to fall. This gifted kid with hair sometimes blond peroxidized, green or blue clashed in his valley: Chamonix, mecca of mountaineering. His thing was to go up and down on a snowboard. . 90 minutes September 8, 2002, altitude 8848 meters, rare oxygen, his head already brushing the sky and his snowboard running, Marco Siffredi, 23, rushes from the summit of Everest in the Horbein corridor and its slopes at 50 degrees . A year earlier, he had already made the first descent of the mountain on a snowboard. But there remains another corridor… more direct. It's not a challenge, just a reason to be... However, that day, at the top of the roof of the world, his trace is lost...
Fear. Most people don’t understand fear, nor are they willing to accept it. Mountain Bike Superstars accept fear as a critical aspect in their daily lives. What differs from each athlete is the origin fear and how they channel, ignore or flat our conquer it. "Reverence – A Journey Into Fear" is a full length mountain bike film that delves deep into the psyche of elite Mountain Bike Superstars on a quest to understand what motivates them to tirelessly to lay down their legacy. Our featured athletes are defined by their fans as they stand in awe of their continuous and staggering accomplishment riding their bikes. Through the timeline of the film we will take the viewer on a journey showing where each athlete’s fears originate from, how their fears got implanted into their psyche and what they do to manage through their fears to accomplish the unthinkable to be revered by all that are thunderstruck by their riding.
In July 2024, Liv Sansoz and Bertrand Roche (aka Zébulon) made history in Himalayan mountaineering by climbing K2 (8,611m) without supplemental oxygen, then paragliding from the summit. The couple achieved a highly coveted first, and for Zébulon, the feat was all the more impressive as he had already completed the first tandem paragliding flight from Everest in 2001. More than just a climb, this film is a love story where Liv and Zeb share their doubts, emotions, and determination, carrying a shared dream where every step is taken together, united to the very end.
In this one-of-a-kind skateboard film, we follow professional skateboarder Andy Anderson on an impromptu hometown session. We start the journey from his home—an Ambulance parked outside a community centre—and venture across town to the local coffee shop. We gain powerful insights from Andy as he weaves his way down the street, takes shortcuts through alleyways, runs through a forested ravine and skates uphill. "It's the dead space I'm excited about." We observe how his attitude toward each spot—and every random encounter—brings them to life.
“Roche” from father to son… Bertrand Roche, nicknamed Zébulon, the spring-loaded character from The Magic Roundabout, comes from his inability to stay still. At 11, he reached the summit of Mont Blanc, which he has since climbed more than fifteen times. At 12, he took up paragliding and, in the United States, climbed the famous Nose face of El Capitan in Yosemite with his father, Jean-Noël Roche, known as Pap’s, a renowned Himalayan mountaineer and paraglider. He was filmed during this journey by Philippe Lallet and became the central figure in the documentary film Pap’s and Zébulon, as well as in the book written by Jean-Noël Roche and Claude Roche: Pap’s and Zébulon, or, The Extraordinary Adventures of a 12-Year-Old Mountaineer.
Behind every breakthrough in the progression of climbing, there's a true story of doubt and determination, perseverance in the face of failure. From boulders, to big walls, to competition podiums, the climbers at the top of the game share a commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve their vision.
Expedition Laponie
Stéphane and Alizée, two rock-climbers looking for a breakthrough, spend their winter in Catalonia—the perfect place for climbing hard. Their projects lie in the sector called “El Pati” (the playground). Success, more than a physical achievement, seems to be a state of mind.
Follow Australian Olympic snowboarder Torah Bright as she heads from her home in the foothills of the Australian Alps, deep into Alaska's glaciated Chugach mountain range. Torah dedicated her life to conquering the mountain, and now she's working with her team to understand and protect these epic ecosystems from an ever-changing world. Standing over the ledge of a 2000-foot vertical drop, we unravel the science behind the earth's most incredible mountain environments and ride these untamed peaks.