Original title : Bienvenue à Riante Vallée In summer, the Mont-Blanc Massif sees the stealthy silhouettes of crystal-makers in search of a kind of Grail: rock crystal. There are less than a dozen of them in the Chamonix region, unearthing these translucent stones that lie dormant at the heart of the steepest rock faces, in … Continued
Original Title : À l’assaut de l’Himalaya In 1951, the third French expedition to the Himalayas set out to conquer the 7,800 m high Nanda Devi. After days of difficult approach, the expedition set up its base camp at an altitude of 5,000 m. The ascent of Nanda Devi then began, which ended tragically for … Continued
Original Title : Allo, Charcot ! “Hello, Charcot, answer…”. This is the call that the radio of the Urville base makes every morning in Terre Adélie, in the Antarctic, to his colleague in Charcot, an advanced post dug in the snow 300 km away. That morning, Charcot did not answer. All suppositions are allowed: a … Continued
Original title : Balisage au Groënland For the exploration of the Greenlandic massif, the autochenille was the only alternative to the traditional dog sled until recently. The plane could not land on the frozen ground, and flying over the icy solitudes allowed only very superficial exploration. The helicopter changed all that thanks to its qualities … Continued