Challenges

Nanga Parbat, ‘the killer mountain’. Between Mummery's first attempt in 1895 and Hermann Buhl's first ascent in 1953, 30 people lost their lives on its slopes. A sad record. Unlike most of the 8,000, there is no obvious route to the summit. We take you back to those tragic moments in the history of Himalayan climbing.

Ever since the first climbers set eyes on the towering summit of K2, the mountain has fascinated. Firstly by its shape, an almost perfect pyramid, two Matterhorns piled one on top of the other. Then for its difficulties: verticality reigns supreme. Only the best can aspire to its ascent. Here's a selection of some of the bravest climbs.

By the end of 1956, ten of the fourteen 8,000+ summits had been climbed by himalayists. Three had succumbed to the brilliance of Austrian mountaineers. Forerunners of the alpine-style expeditions to come, four Austrian mountaineers, including Hermann Buhl, achieved a feat that went almost unnoticed at the time. Without a base camp, without high-altitude Sherpas, without oxygen, they offered themselves a fine piece of bravery. A look back at this little-known expedition.

In the spring of 2021, Expeditions Unlimited is organising an ascent of Mount Everest (8,848 m) via the South Face, on the Nepal side. François Trouillet, one of the participants, gives us a poignant first-hand account of the main stages of this expedition. In this post, François describes the team of Sherpas accompanying us on this expedition.

In the spring of 2021, Expeditions Unlimited is organising an ascent of Mount Everest (8,848 m) via the South Face, on the Nepal side. François Trouillet, one of the participants, gives us a poignant first-hand account of the main stages of this expedition. In this article, François describes life at the Everest base camp, with all the teams and the Covid atmosphere of 2021.

In the spring of 2021, Expeditions Unlimited is organising an ascent of Mount Everest (8,848 m) via the South Face, on the Nepal side. François Trouillet, one of the participants, gives us a poignant first-hand account of the main stages of this expedition. In this post, François recounts his emotional discovery of the icefall on the Khumbu glacier between the base camp and camp 1: the famous Icefall.

June 11, 1938. Eric Shipton, Bill Tillman and Peter Lloyd descend from Camp VI to an altitude of 8,300 meters. The seventh attempt to climb Everest, via the North Face, fails again. Expeditions Unlimited looks back on this fantastic adventure, which we will bring you in spring 2021.

Peak Lenin, 7,134 meters. THE seven-thousand-metre peak to climb if you want to get to grips with high altitude. Yes, but... After Aconcagua and its 6,962 meters, which is 38 meters short of entering the big league, and whose summit is not as easily conquered as you might think, you have to set off on the slopes of Peak Lenin to hope to break the symbolic seven-thousand-meter barrier.

‘The ascent of Makalu, a happy page in the history of the Himalayas’. It was with this pithy phrase that Jean Franco, leader of the French expedition to Makalu in the spring of 1955, summed up their magnificent victory on the fifth highest peak on the planet. We'd like to retrace this perfect adventure for you... And we take this opportunity to introduce you to our next ascent of Makalu in April 2022, guided by Serge Bazin.