Pierre Mazeaud

Terray. This name sounds like a challenge and evokes deep respect in the memory of every mountaineer. For all, Lionel Terray remains forever the "Conqueror of the useless", the example of a generous and mature mountaineer, far from any egocentrism and any ambition. Not only a pioneer and witness to the history of mountaineering, Terray is also remembered as a man and a master more than an athlete. Forty years after the tragic death of this extraordinary mountaineer and guide, who liked to think of himself as a "simple mountaineer", his former friends and the youngest generation of mountaineers come together in this film to celebrate and remember his legacy.

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In 1983, three climbers became the first French people to reach the summit of Everest. Among them were expedition leader Pierre Mazeaud and a promising 25-year-old climber, Jean Afanassieff. Twenty years later, the two legends, accompanied by mountain guide Michel Pellé, retrace the steps of their exploit and make the trek from Kathmandu to the foot of the roof of the world. This is an opportunity to retrace the history of the successive assaults on Everest and to assess the current situation of a mountain that has become a victim of its own success: while Sherpas have been able to take advantage of Western enthusiasm and thus enrich themselves and equip the summit to make it more accessible, the site's attendance poses numerous problems, both human and ecological.

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On July 11, 1961, a rope team of seven men—led by the Italian Walter Bonatti and the Frenchman Pierre Mazeaud—set out to scale the Frêney Pillar on the south face of Mont Blanc. After days of grueling effort—and just as they were nearing their goal—they were trapped by a violent storm. Stranded at an altitude of over 4,500 meters in temperatures of minus 20 degrees, the seven climbers were forced to bivouac in hellish conditions. Exhausted, spent, and with one of their number injured, they displayed extraordinary solidarity, exemplary courage, and a determination that commands respect right to the very end. Yet the mountain proved cruel. Lost in fog, blinded by the darkness, and gripped by the cold, four of the seven climbers perished from exhaustion after a perilous five-day, five-night ordeal in hell. Only three made it down alive, including the Italian Walter Bonatti and the Frenchman Pierre Mazeaud.

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The American mountaineer Gary Hemming marked the era of the 1960s. The story of this "exceptional" character is intimately linked to that of the rescue of the two German mountaineers on the west face of the Drus, in 1966, a rescue which he had took the initiative. While the official emergency services of the EHM try to reach them from above, a pirate rope made up of Gary Hemming, René Desmaison, Lothar Mauch, Gil Bodin, Mike Brurke, François Guillot, the filmmaker Gérard Bauer organizes to join them from below and succeeded after a fierce struggle the rescue. The press seizes the event and elevates Gary Hemming to the rank of national hero. All the newspapers feature this big guy with a cool attitude, mismatched clothes, jovial smile and long blond hair on the front page. From then on, he was nicknamed: "the beatnik of the peaks".

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Les Parois de la Mémoire – Le Pilier Central du Frêney is a 25-minute documentary film directed by Jérôme Equer in 1994 and broadcast on the FR3 weekly program Montagne. The film highlights the tragic story of the July 1961 attempt to climb the Frêney Central Pillar (on the Italian side of Mont Blanc), during which a Franco-Italian team—led notably by Pierre Mazeaud and Walter Bonatti—was trapped by a violent, multi-day storm of exceptional intensity, resulting in a tragic retreat and the deaths of four of the seven climbers. It draws on archival footage, excerpts from Lothar Brandler’s film Inferno am Montblanc, and firsthand accounts from the participants, including mountaineer and politician Pierre Mazeaud.

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In this documentary first broadcast in 1993, Chris Bonington looks back at the first ever expeditions to conquer Mount Everest and the effect that the achievement of climbing the mountain had on climbing as a whole worldwide.

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Al Filo De Lo Imposible is a documentary series, broadcast on the second Spanish channel, with the theme of adventure and exploration of wild and extreme places on Earth, such as climbing peaks over 8,000 meters, exploring the polar ice caps, free-flying crossings, scuba diving, etc. This series, which includes more than two hundred documentaries whose first program was broadcast in January 1982, under the title "Dimension 8000", is the only television program that has filmed the 14 peaks over 8,000 meters high that exist on the planet, as well as the three poles (the North Pole, the South Pole and Everest).

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Mountaineering documentary on the Nanga Parbat expedition, in India, in 1982. Led by mountaineer Pierre Mazeaud, this international expedition brings together eight French people, two Germans, an Iraqi, an Austrian and an Englishman including Michel Afanassieff, Michel Berrueux, Walter Cecchinel, Kurt Diemberger, Hans Engl, Shah Jehan, Karim Imamdad and others. On July 14, 1982, Hans Engl reached the summit after twelve hours of struggle.

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It was a sporting feat, a national feat, but also and above all a technical feat: on October 15, 1978, three French mountaineers, for the first time, reached the summit of Everest: Pierre Mazeaud, Nicolas Jaeger, Jean Afanassieff, accompanied by Kurt Diemberger, Austrian mountaineer and cameraman. A performance broadcast live on the radio thanks to the France inter teams and filmed for television by TF1. Christian Brincourt, a great French reporter, tells us about this expedition and questions the members of the expedition on their motivations. With Pierre Mazeaud (expedition leader), Jean-François Mazeaud (doctor), Claude Deck, Raymond Despiau, Nicolas Jaeger, Walter Cecchinel, Jean Afanassieff, Kurt Diemberger.

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Re-enactment of the attempt made in July 1961 by a french-italian group in order to climb Freney Pillar, in Mont Blanc massif. The expedition was composed by the frenchmen Pierre Mazaud, Robert Guillaume, Pierre Kohlmann and Antoine Vieille and by the italians Walter Bonatti, Andrea Oggioni e Roberto Gallieni. The groups arrived separatly to the camp of Col de la Fourche, but with the same aim. They united by chance to conquest the famous peak. The attempt is crushed by bad wheather and, during the descent, three French and an Italian will die.

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In 1971, American Norman Dyhrenfurth led an expedition of 30 climbers from 13 different countries, including Don Whillans, Dougal Haston, Naomi Uemura, Pierre Mazeaud, Michel Vaucher, and others. This expedition aimed to simultaneously climb the southwest face and the direct west ridge. During the ascent, Indian climber Harsh Vardhan Bahuguna perished at Camp 3 in a storm. The expedition, already suffering from organizational problems, was severely tested after his death. The Americans decided, unilaterally, to abandon the west ridge. The Europeans, who had spent days equipping the route, were left out and felt relegated to the roles of route setters and porters. Frenchman Pierre Mazeaud, Swiss climbers Michel and Yvette Vaucher, and Italian Carlo Mauri then left the expedition. The Americans continued their ascent of the southwest face up to 8,350 meters before giving up.

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From Trento to Chamonix, via Zermatt; from the Morgiou cove to the Eiger's north face; from Planica to the Lavaredo peaks, the Alps are depicted, illustrated, and magnified in all their unique and sublime beauty, through the sports practiced there and the most typical customs and traditions of their inhabitants. A helicopter rescue and a parachute jump from the Red Wall by Wolfgang Weizenbocks are experiences not to be missed.

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In February 1966, Pierre Mazeaud and Lucien Berardini traveled to the Atakor massif, in the Hoggar mountain range of the Sahara in southern Algeria. There, they attempted a challenging first ascent: the Takouba spur, one of the peaks adjacent to Garet El Djenoun, a legendary mountain in the Hoggar massif, first climbed by Roger Frison-Roche and Raymond Coche in 1935. The documentary, superbly filmed by Jacques Ertaud, won the Grand Prize at the Trento International Mountain Film Festival in 1966.

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Three famous climbers, the Frenchman Pierre Mazeaud, the German Winfried Ender and the Italian Roberto Sorgato, meet up at the bottom of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and decide to join together in a single roped party, climbing the 'Direttissima' on the north face of the Cima Grande di Lavaredo. The beautiful film illustrates with precise sequences the climb of the route, that was opened in 1958 by the filmmaker himself, Lother Brandler. The film wants to highlight the idea of frienship, cooperation, fraternity and peace showing three men from historically-confronted nationalities roped and working together as a single team. The film won the Grand Prix at the Trento Film Festival in 1964.

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