Search Results for "mountaineering documentary film"

Vertical Opera is a documentary film directed by Jean-Paul Janssen, with climbers Patrick Edlinger and Jean-Paul Lemercier in the Gorges du Verdon. The film opens with a training sequence of Patrick Edlinger then he links the routes with Jean-Paul Lemercier "L'Ange en décongelation" (7a), in which he falls voluntarily to demonstrate the usefulness of the rope, then "Le Septième Saut" (7b+). Finally, the final scene, an anthology, consists of a close-up of Edlinger who climbs free solo and barefoot the route "Débiloff", still in the Verdon, above hundreds of meters of void, all to lyrical music. It is "Wie Furchtsam Wankten Meine Schritte", the aria for alto voice from Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata BWV 33, music not unrelated to the subject of the documentary: "How faltering and fearful my steps were".

Joseph Vallot, geographer, naturalist and mountaineer born in 1854 in Lodève, was a visionary man, full of humor and whose curiosity was insatiable. He had spent some forty years of his life studying the Mont Blanc massif, sacrificing a good part of his fortune to this multifaceted passion. He was notably the first to demonstrate that one could sleep, work and even do science at an altitude of over 4000 meters, at a time when ascents to the summit of Western Europe were still adventurous expeditions. This documentary tribute follows in his footsteps, via the route taken at the time, on foot from Chamonix via the Grands Mulets refuge to the summit of Mont Blanc to the Joseph Vallot observatory nestled at an altitude of 4400m, with a team of guides, journalists and scientists.

Surrounded by the mountains and people who are his inspiration, in ‘Path to Everest’, the mountain athlete Kilian Jornet reveals his most intimate fears, contradictions and passions. Summits of My Life is the personal project of Kilian Jornet, in which for five years he has traveled to some of the most important peaks of the planet to try to establish FKT (fastest known time) of ascent and descent of some of the most emblematic mountains of the world. The project is closely linked to values and a way of understanding the purist and minimalist mountain. The experiences lived in each challenge have been captured in different films.

Half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to stand atop the highest mountain of earth. Now, their sons and Brent Bishop, son of the first American to summit Everest, make a historic expedition to face Everest's unforgiving heights. Experience their harrowing, deeply individual quests to conquer this awesome peak - and discover the dramatic history of Everest, from tragedy and triumph to the unsung role of the remarkable Sherpa people. With gripping, on-location filming and never-before-seen archival footage, this is the thrill of Everest as only National Geographic can present it!

Fifteen years have passed since the spectacular images of Jean-Paul Janssen's "Life at Your Fingertips" introduced the general public to free climbing and its embodiment: Patrick Edlinger. We witnessed the birth of a sporting phenomenon that would leave a lasting mark on generations of climbers. But fifteen years later, in 1997, beyond the myth, where is Patrick Edlinger? Gilles Chappaz found him on some of the most beautiful walls of the Verdon Gorge and other cliffs during the filming of Maurice Rebeix's documentary "Roc'n Wall 97," where he shares his climbing practice and philosophy with the younger generation, including Liv Sansoz and Arnaud Petit.

Writer and mountain guide Doug Robinson explains the sport of climbing, focusing on the climbing movement, with several leading climbers providing examples on challenging routes across the United States.

In 2019, Nepalese mountain climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja set out to do the unthinkable by climbing the world’s fourteen highest summits in less than seven months. (The previous record was eight years). He called the effort “Project Possible 14/7” and saw it as a way to inspire others to strive for greater heights in any pursuit. The film follows his team as they seek to defy naysayers and push the limits of human endurance.

Lucien Abbet, better known as Lulu, is a pioneer of sport climbing and route-breaking in Valais. Although considered one of the best climbers of his generation in the field, his humility and his way of life have never been able to fit with the codes of public notoriety. Money, recognition, material goods have never interested him. He has devoted his entire life to his passion, a happy vagabond, as he likes to say: climbing and traveling.

The French Alpine Club's film about the French expedition to conquer Makalu (8481m) via the west pillar in Nepal, which began on February 24, 1971. Composed of 11 mountaineers, Robert Paragot (expedition leader), Georges Payot, Lucien Berardini, Yannick Seigneur, Claude Jager, Jean-Paul Paris, Jean-Claude Mosca, François Guillot, Bernard Mellet, Robert Jacob and Jacques Marchal (surgeon), it took twenty-five days of walking on the Himalayan trails with 460 porters and 18 Sherpas to transport 14 tons of equipment to reach the base camp. Finally, it was Mellet and Seigneur who managed to reach the summit on May 23, 1971: 8481 m, temperature - 30°, oxygen 30%, no wind.

A film about the 1979 expedition to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, led by Lyon native Jean-Pierre Frésafond. After a city tour, they set off by bus and then on foot with Sherpas to base camp. Having set out to attempt the Rupal Pillar, the expedition was unable to reach its objective in time (torrential rain, blocked roads, scree, etc.) and lost precious time before choosing to attempt the Mazeno Ridge by default. The team theoretically had the means to do so, since it brought together no fewer than 21 strong climbers, with a large core from Lyon—a concentration of talent rarely seen. But the resulting group dynamic worked contrary to expectations, and they had to settle for the most modest of consolation prizes: the ascent of the First Peak (6,880 meters). Frésafond recounted this in a book-testimony "The Revenge of the Himalayas - The Human Adventure at Nanga-Parbat".

Two-time Olympic champion, seven-time world champion, overall World Cup winner – Laura Dahlmeier is one of the most successful German biathletes and sportswomen of all time. But at an unusually early age, at just 25, she turned her back on winter sports and devoted herself to mountaineering. A film crew accompanied the exceptional athlete from Garmisch-Partenkirchen for three and a half weeks on her expedition to the spectacular Ama Dablam in Nepal. In addition to incredible drone footage of the mountain landscape, the documentary also features private moments during the ascent of the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas." The biathlon legend talks about her life as a mountain guide and alpinist after her sporting career, without concealing the dangers involved. Conversations with parents and friends reveal the character and motivation of the 31-year-old, making it clear why this exceptionally talented woman turned her back on the biathlon circuit at such a young age.

Meeting in Chamonix with Éric Escoffier, famous mountaineer of the 80s, victim of a car accident in September 1987. Victim of multiple fractures and total paralysis on his left side, Escoffier managed to walk again, despite the doctors' pessimistic prognoses... The commentary on images of Éric Escoffier in his daily life in Chamonix and archive images and photographs alternates with archive documents, extracts from the films "Profession grimpeur" by Philippe Lallet and "Face nord" by Jean Afanassieff as well as interviews with the protagonist, Rémi Éric Escoffier and Michel Garcia. Great among the greatest, Éric Escoffier, who disappeared in the mountains at Broad Peak on July 29, 1998, will never have been an ordinary man.

There was a child, Stéphane Hiroz, who dreamed of birds, a child among many others, a child however very different from the others because he has Down syndrome. Integrated into his small mountain village, he lives like an ordinary boy. Thanks to his mother who refuses to exclude her disabled child and his brother the director Pierre-Antoine Hiroz who do everything to make him a fulfilled person, Stéphane discovers passions which become reality thanks to the love which surrounds him: the Opera, ski touring...

From John Muir in the 1860s to today's super-athletes, Vertical Frontier tells the rich and captivating saga of these free-spirited climbers whose contributions to the techniques, equipment, and ethics of mountaineering enabled them to be the first to conquer Yosemite's legendary big walls. Illustrated with spectacular footage, both old and new, shot on these granite walls, the story is told by the climbers whose artistry and relentless determination helped launch a sport now enjoyed by millions around the world, including David Brower, Warren Harding, Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost, Jim Bridwell, Lynn Hill, Hans Florine, Dean Potter, and many others. Their epic feats range from the first ascent of El Capitan, which took 45 days over a year and a half, to today's speed climbers who complete the same route in under three hours.

At 5959m, Mount Logan is the second highest peak in North America, and certainly one of the wildest mountains in the world. To reach it, Hélias Millerioux, Alex Marchesseau, Thomas Delfino and Gregory Douillard did not choose the easiest option. The approach is done on foot and on skis, in total autonomy, with 80kg per person to carry over hundreds of kilometers of moraines and tormented glaciers! We head for the East ridge, where the 4000 meters of vertical drop have never been skied before, then return to the ocean by raft... A total adventure, with friends, in a hostile but grandiose nature… Just magical!

This entertaining film documents the first ascent of the very difficult South Face of Annapurna, a huge Himalayan wall that the right team could achieve the seemingly impossible. The ascent of the South Face of Annapurna in 1970 was one of those breakthrough ascents - both technically and psychologically. Chris Bonington assembled the cream of British mountaineering and American Tom Frost for the attempt. The documentary is punctuated by wry observation, understatement and cutting humor from a by-gone age when the game of taking huge risks was matched by a determination not to take it too seriously.

In October 1984, Pierre Béghin, an engineer from Grenoble, and Jean-Noël Roche, a high-mountain guide, completed the Himalayan ascent of Dhaulagiri (8,172 m). The expedition's context: seven people crossed Nepal to Muri, collected accounts from trekkers—including that of the author Robert Rieffel—and attended Sherpa prayers at base camp. Then, the two of them embarked on a rocky and snowy route without supplemental oxygen. At over 5,000 meters, on the mountain of winds, Jean-Noël Roche made a paragliding flight. The climbers brought back footage with their Super 8 camera from 6,500 meters, but only photographs have been able to confirm their presence on the summit ridge of the seventh highest peak in the world.

On November 12, 1958, nearly a year and a half after planting his first piton, Warren Harding climbed to the summit of El Capitan, the legendary face of Yosemite, which he became the first to climb via the equally legendary Nose route. An extraordinary undertaking closer to a heavy Himalayan expedition than to rock climbing. Climbing mainly on weekends in the fall and spring with companions whose level of skill was of little importance to him, Warren Harding spent a total of 47 days (spread over 17 months) on the face. 675 pitons (including 125 expansion pitons) and several thousand hammer blows were necessary to build his legend, despite the displeasure of the "Christians of the valley," as he somewhat sardonically nicknamed Royal Robbins and his cronies, who swear by style.

In March 2002, the Italian climbers of the Ragni di Lecco group embarked on an expedition across the Algerian Sahara. Mario Conti, Simone Pedeferri, Marco Vago and Massimo Bosetti, during a long journey, completed numerous ascents: Ihaghen, Adaouda, Tizouyag Sud, Dôme de l'Éléphant (Tesnou mountain range) and around thirty new boulders, including La Gazelle (7b) and Le Guépard (7c). But the main objective was the opening of a new climbing route on the face of Garet El Djenoun, in the Tefedest mountain range. The 400-meter route, named "Mariolino Fotonico", has 13 pitches (8 new, plus 3 spans with "Mosquitoes" and 2 with a "Voie des Espagnoles" from 1985), with a maximum difficulty of 8a/A1. This film has a special significance, as it is the first film of the rebirth of the Ragni group, after the 90s marked by tragedy, and at the same time the end of the tragic black decade in Algeria which raged between 1992 and 2002.

In 1970, Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell set out to climb Early Morning Light, better known as Dawn Wall, in Yosemite National Park. Arguably the most controversial climb in the park's history, due to multiple storms and a rescue attempt by the Yosemite Service. The climb thrust the event into the media spotlight, creating a controversy within the local climbing community. In this short documentary, Warren Harding himself recounts the climb.