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At 5.15pm on Tuesday 31 May 2022, a group of four, including Éric Bonnem, founder of Secret Planet and Expeditions Unlimited, reached the summit of Mount Denali at 6,190 meters. A wild and beautiful expedition, which we'll be reporting on shortly, and which gave us the urge to delve back into the history of the first mountaineers to have trodden this superb mountain almost 110 years earlier, in far more heroic conditions! Mount McKinley... Denali.

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.

For several years, thanks to our great friend, guide and explorer, Dixie Dansercoer, who tragically passed away in Greenland in June 2021, we have been developing a rare expertise in expedition snowkiting, whether crossing Greenland, Antarctica or Alaska. Thanks to him, we've been able to get close to the best polar kiters in the world, and it's in this spirit that we're now expanding our range of programs, with four new stays or mini-expeditions guided by French snowkiter Michaël Charavin.

At a time when Nepal has just lifted its quarantine for vaccinated people, we take a look back at our ascent of Everest last spring: a five-strong Franco-Swiss team attempted to climb the roof of the world at 8,848 metres via its southern Nepalese side during an expedition led by Bernard Muller.

The Second World War temporarily postponed the conquest of the world's ninth highest peak, Nanga Parbat. At 8,126 meters, it continues to resist the efforts of Himalayan climbers. After the tragedies of 1934 and 1937, it wasn't until 1953 that Germany, licking its wounds, considered taking up the challenge again. This is the second part of our saga of Nanga Parbat, ‘the killer mountain’.

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.