Himalayas

Everest, the roof of the world at 8849 meters, remains the dream of many a mountaineer, despite the criticism of its organization, which increases every year. The last few seasons have seen some serious changes in the number and value of climbers visiting the mountain. In this article, we look back at the recently concluded Spring 2024 season, during which, for the first time since 2019, the Tibetan North Face was also accessible. Weather windows, summit push, number of permits and percentage of summiters on the Nepalese and Tibetan sides, highlights... Everything worth remembering about this 2024 Everest mountaineering season.

Since 2021, we have been partners of the Tri-Haut pour l'Everest project, a student association whose aim is to collect, treat and recycle plastic waste from the Everest region of Nepal. It's a wonderful project that deserves our support.

You have successfully climbed Mont Blanc. You have extensive mountaineering experience in the Alps... And the call of high altitude is winning you over. Now you're dreaming of the highest peak on the planet: Mount Everest at 8849 metres. Find out how to prepare yourself.

In summer, for our high-altitude climbs, we have to leave Nepal or the Andes to head northwest of the Himalayas, sheltered from the monsoon, towards Pakistan, Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. An update on our very-high mountaineering expeditions for summer 2024.

On 30 October, Valentin, Dawa and Nurpu reached the summit of Baruntse at 7,129 metres. Alone at base camp, with an uncertain weather window, much of the ridge unequipped and many teams turning back, our team was rewarded for its patience and tenacity.

On May 29, 2023, the mountaineering community will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Our friend Jean-Michel Asselin, journalist and writer, takes us back to 1953, to relive this feat that forever marked the history of Himalayan climbing.

The 1938 expedition was the last to be led by the British on the north face of Everest. The conquest of the poles eluded them. The French, their long-standing adversaries, took the first 8,000 m ascent from them. That's all they need. Now they have to climb Everest.

3 June 1950, 2pm, 8,091m. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal photographed themselves at the summit of the first 8,000-metre peak ever climbed by man. A few minutes of glory, but at what price? While Maurice Herzog survived the terrible tragedy of the descent relatively unscathed, gaining fame and honours, the same cannot be said for Lachenal, who was condemned to silence in the name of the honour of the Republic. To disentangle the true from the false, it is necessary to take the time to look seriously at the writings of each person in order to go beyond the myth.

It had taken fifty-six years of intense effort to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga. Finally, in 1955, it was the route initiated by Crowley that provided the key to success for the British duo of George Band and Joe Brown. We take you back to those intense years.