Marc-André Leclerc, an exceptional climber, has made solo his religion and ice his homeland. When filmmaker Peter Mortimer begins his film, he places his camera at the base of a British Columbia cliff and waits patiently for the star climber to come down to answer his questions. Marc André, a little uncomfortable, prefers to return to the depths of the forest where he lives in a tent with his girlfriend Brette Harrington. In the heart of winter, Peter films vertiginous solos on fragile ice. He tries to make appointments with the climber who is never there and does not seem really concerned by this camera pointed at him "For me, it would not be a solo if there was someone else" . Marc-André is thus, the "pure light" of the mountaineers of his time, which marvel Barry Blanchard, Alex Honnold or Reinhold Messner, interviewed in the film. An event film for an extraordinary character.
Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.
Third Man on the Mountain is an American film directed by Ken Annakin and produced by Walt Disney Productions, released in 1959. It is adapted from a novel by James Ramsey Ullman, entitled "Banner In The Sky". In the middle of the 19th century in Switzerland, a famous British mountaineer, Captain John Winter, wanted to climb a difficult summit, the Citadel. He goes to a small village but no guide wants to accompany him. A young man from the village, Rudi Matt, whose father died fifteen years earlier during an attempt to climb the Citadel, is determined to accompany him, with the help of his uncle. Winter also manages to hire a guide from a neighboring village and competitor, Emil Saxo. The roped party of four men then begins the ascent of the still untouched summit.
"Perilous Assignment" is an episode of ABC's Walt Disney Presents. Disney loved to show viewers behind the scenes of the daring shoots of its theatrically released or TV shows. The theme of the episode is the making of his next film, The Third Man on the Mountain, an adaptation of James Ramsey Ullman's novel Banner in the Sky, based on the true story of the first ascent of the Matterhorn. Walt Disney will not be limited to a simple promotional making-of. He offers to meet exceptional people, including the French mountain guide Gaston Rébuffat. The latter will show climbing techniques and then reveal breathtaking images of his ascents of steep cliffs with a client for the ascent of Mont-Blanc, filmed for the occasion. In 1958, Walt Disney will therefore offer him to be deputy director on the high mountain scenes of the film "The Third Man on the Mountain".
Gaston Rébuffat is part of the history of mountaineering. Marseillais prodigy, high mountain guide of the Chamonix guide company and famous for the ascent of the most famous north faces: some are 1st rehearsals, others 1st French or 1st as a guide. Filmed by Georges Tairraz, this masterpiece released in 1955 reveals the beauty of effort and the pleasure of sharing in the mountains. Apart from the feat, the mountains are not there to satisfy egocentric ambitions. A classic !
Account of the first French expedition to the Himalayas, which attempted to climb the hidden peak (Gasherbrum I) in 1936, from the preparations for the trip to the end of the ascent. After a long approach walk through quasi-desert regions, then on a huge glacier, the caravan of 700 porters arrives at the foot of Hidden Peak. The expedition was led by Henry de Ségogne, with Jean Charignon, Pierre Allain, Raymond Leininger, Jean Carle, Jean Deudon, Louis Neltner, Jacques Azémar, doctor Jeand Arlaud and director Marcel Ichac. Weather conditions, logistical problems and a strike among Sherpas forced the team to retire at 6900m on the south face. The film received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1938.
The first ascent of the Matterhorn was made on July 14, 1865 by Edward Whymper, Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz and two guides from Zermatt, Peter Taugwalder father and son. Douglas, Hudson, Hadow and Croz are killed on the descent after Hadow slips and drags the other three men down the north face. Whymper and the two Taugwalders, who survive, are later accused of having cut the rope that connected them to the rest of the group so as not to be dragged into the fall, but the ensuing investigation finds no evidence of their guilt and they are acquitted. The Matterhorn is the last great peak in the Alps to be conquered and its ascent marks the end of the golden age of mountaineering. One hundred and fifty years later, a team undertakes the same expedition in order to unravel the mystery.
History of the first ascent of Aconcagua by the south face in February 1954 by the French shock team led by René Ferlet and composed of Lucien Bérardini, Adrien Dagory, Edmond Denis, Pierre Lesueur, Robert Paragot and Guy Poulet. In seven days of combat, they extricate themselves from the mountain in a pitiful state; all except Robert Paragot will be victims of severe frostbite which earned them amputations, some important as for “Lulu” Bérardini who lost part of his left hand.
Jean des Bossons is a documentary-fiction which recounts the activities of a high mountain guide in 1947. Around Chamonix Mont-Blanc, the guide Jean des Bossons, interpreter by the mountaineer Armand Charlet, accompanies on mountain hikes, Jean-Pierre, an apprentice guide. The novice, skis on the shoulder, is already clumsy. The professional taught him how to travel on skis uphill and downhill, then mountaineering in ice and rock parishes. By dint of training, Jean-Pierre has made it his job. Guides are also lifeguards. A group went to a glacier to rescue a man who had fallen into a crevasse. During this rescue, Jean des Bossons is the victim of an accident. A drama that prevents him from practicing the profession, but not climbing. The man sinks into the fog and Jean-Pierre cannot find him.
"Sur Les Traces De Premier De Cordée", a color documentary from 1952 which will be released the same year as the eponymous photo book published by Arthaud, features Roger Frison-Roche and his sidekick Georges Tairraz II on the Aiguille du Grépon (3482 m) in the Aiguilles massif which overlooks the Chamonix valley. Together they co-produce the images of the ascent. The young Pierre Tairraz, who completed his training in Paris, at the school in the rue de Vaugirard (Cinema promotion in 1953), also took part in this very technical aerial filming as assistant to his father Georges Tairraz II and cameraman.
L'Appel Des Cimes, directed by Alain Pol, is a documentary commissioned by the CAF and the various French ministries on the practice of post-war mountaineering. In 1946, climbers trained at the Fontainebleau Climbing School. Guy Poulet and Jacques Poincenot try to climb the Aiguilles de Chamonix but fail during the climbing phase. After a night in a refuge with Denise Rouzeau and the guide Pierre Allain, the mountaineers make a new attempt. Successful demonstration for those who continued the approach walk then the passage of the seracs of the glacier. On the rock, the roped party crosses a chimney and a crack to reach the summit and abseil down. Led by high mountain scouts, Guy and Jacques rediscover the glaciers and needles of the Mont-Blanc massif during the next lesson.
Struggle for the Matterhorn (German: Der Kampf ums Matterhorn) is a 1928 German-Swiss silent drama film co-directed by Mario Bonnard and Nunzio Malasomma and starring Luis Trenker, Marcella Albani, and Alexandra Schmitt. The film is part of the popular cycle of mountain films of the 1920s and 1930s. Art direction was by Heinrich Richter. Based on a novel by Carl Haensel, the film depicts the battle between British and Italian climbers to be the first to climb the Matterhorn. Trenker later remade the film as The Challenge in 1938.
History, advice and demonstrations of mountaineering in the Mont Blanc massif by the renowned guides of the National School of Ski and Mountaineering from Chamonix. The film starts with an historical summary illustrating the aspirations and methods that lead man to conquer the mountains. Armand Charlet teaches mountaineering techniques and takes his students to the field for glacier or rock exercises. Gaston Rebuffat makes demonstrations of particularly dangerous climbs. At altitude, people move in solitude, cold and silence, like circus acrobats without spectators, but nothing stops the modern mountaineer.
"Flammes de Pierre" is the first documentary made by Gaston Rébuffat himself in 1947. It depicts Rébuffat in full ascent of the Flammes De Pierre, wild ridges in the heart of the Mont Blanc massif overlooking Chamonix. Like Roger Frison-Roche, Walter Bonatti, René Desmaison or Giusto Gervasutti, Gaston Rébuffat has written and filmed the great pages of contemporary mountaineering but above all, he knew how to talk about it with enough poetry so that it is not simply airtight race stories for spectators. Stories that have been triggers for many readers, who have come to know “stone flames” thanks to him.
This is Gaston Rebuffat's fourth film, in which, with several close friends, he discovers the sublime landscapes of the Alps. “Mont-Blanc is beautiful. I climbed it several times depending on the time, the color of the sky and the shape of the cornices and ridges. Because of the weather and also because of this feeling of altitude, Mont-Blanc provides great pleasure. For the guide, Mont Blanc is his garden, but the garden becomes more beautiful when shown to a friend. Personally, I really like the bivouacs; only there one penetrates a little the mystery of the altitude. That's why I immediately accepted when Tazieff expressed the desire to spend the night at the top of Mont Blanc in an igloo. The film won the Grand Prix at the Trento Film Festival in 1961.
Georges Livanos, nicknamed the Greek but pure child of Marseille, amateur mountaineer, opened more than 500 routes in the Calanques, 40 in the Dolomites, and repeated many of the greatest routes in the Alps in the company of the best climbers of his time, d friends, and especially his wife Sonia. He is also the author of the classic "Beyond the vertical". This report follows for a day the legend, still 71 years old, of his apartment in the Marseille city in the Calanques. As a true Provençal, he speaks without filter of the exploits that made him famous, gives his opinion on modern climbing and on life in general: the portrait of a great climber and above all of a fascinating character with a sense of humor sharp.
Roger Frison-Roche born in Paris in 1906 and moved to Chamonix at the age of 17. He was quickly adopted by local mountaineers and became the first guide in the Company not to have been born in the valley. He is also an insatiable explorer, in love with landscapes and peoples, having traveled from the Hoggar to the Sami camps in Lapland. And the author, among others, of the famous adventure novel Premier de Cordée! This documentary, made up of archive images and interviews, exposes the prolific life of a man who communicated his passion for the mountains by all possible means. A young journalist from Chamonix follows in the footsteps of Roger Frison-Roche. She meets people who knew him and others who followed in his footsteps: guides, filmmaker and author Philippe Claudel, a director, his family; on a trip to Lapland, Algeria, Chamonix.
The first filmed winter ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn. To set the scene, the tragic story of Edward Whymper's first ascent is skillfully pieced together. The modern expedition, a team of three British climbers, is also plagued with epics: Eric Jones is hit by an avalanche and can only come to a dangerous stop at the edge of a 1000 foot drop. Then the worst storm ever recorded in Zermatt hits the Matterhorn. With time and weather against them, the team is forced to climb in the dark as thunderstorms rumble around them. This adventure captures the skill and courage of the climbers, their agony and tension, and the beauty of the assault on this spectacular mountain. Grand Prize at the Les Diablerets festival (Switzerland) in 1976.
In 1923, André Sauvage produced his first film La Traversée du Grépon. Dedicated to mountaineering in the Mont Blanc massif, this documentary is a performance that earned him the recognition of his peers. André Sauvage and his companions decide to climb the Grépon, the best known of the Aiguilles de Chamonix, in the Mont Blanc Massif. Early in the morning, they cross the Mer de Glace, climb rocky peaks, abseil summits, cross crevasses, snowfields and long seracs. After sixteen hours of effort, the climbers return to the refuge. With his camera, Sauvage documents the difficult undertaking, also showing his strong passion for the mountains. "The deepest perception of mountains begins where intelligence ends." (A. Sauvage). Two long versions of the film have disappeared, one of 90 and the other of 51 minutes and only eight minutes are preserved.
July 1956: like every summer, the actor and cellist Maurice Baquet temporarily deserts the stage and the cinema studios to go to Chamonix where the mountaineer Gaston Rebuffat is waiting for him. A few days later, the two men achieved a historic first, that of the south face of the Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m), a magnificent wall rising like a rampart above the Vallée Blanche. July 1988: to pay tribute to the memory of his friend Gaston, now deceased, Maurice Baquet once again climbed this wall suspended between heaven and earth with the man who, 50 years his junior, is considered one of his best contemporary mountaineers: Christophe Profit.