Michel Vaucher

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Don Whillans was one of the leading rock climbers of his generation. This film examines Don’s gritstone horrors, his hard routes in Wales, then follows him to the Alps and beyond on several of his epic expeditions. But it also focuses on Don’s unique humor, his devastating oneliners that pricked pomposity wherever he found it and poked fun at those who deserved it. Don may have died 20 years ago but the myth surrounding Whillans can still be heard whenever climbers reminisce about a time when hard men were hard and legends were being made. Perhaps his partner Joe Brown best sums him up, 'Don was unique'.

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TSR documentary on the 1979 expedition to Algeria in the Atakor massif (Hoggar desert), organized by Geneva mountaineer Michel Vaucher and Jean-Blaise Fellay. The climbers make a dozen ascents including the famous summit of Adaouda (which means "finger" in Tamasheq, the Tuareg dialect), by several routes. Then a new route on the peaks of the southern Tezoulegs. They discover the volcanic geological characteristics of the Atakor massif and meet the nomadic inhabitants of the region, the Tuaregs, who are increasingly settling in the town of Tamanrasset.

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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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A climb to mark the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn, live on TV. The program, a co-production of the Swiss, French, Italian and British televisions, was shown throughout Europe, in the United States and in Japan in a series of 5 broadcasts between 8 and 16h. This film is the re-edited version by the BBC of all the broadcasts in a single program. Ian McNaught-Davis roped with the guide Heinrich Taugwalder and Jean Juge with Robert Bichler narrate the ascent while they climb by the original Whymper route. They follow the progression of Michel Darbellay and Hilti von Allmen who climb the north face by the Schmidt route. All them meet at the summit.

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Les Etoiles de Midi is an engaging docudrama about some of the more spectacular exploits of French mountain climbers over the last several decades. In one re-enacted story, there is a wartime escape through the mountains, and in another, a daring rescue of a pair of climbers who had been missing. The actors themselves are adept at the sport of climbing, and they give the scenes an immediacy and real daring that brings the stories alive. A combination of their acrobatics and skill and the outstanding episodes in the history of French climbing creates a winning 78 minutes.

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"Les Habitants des Flammes de Pierre" is the making-of documentary for the film "The Pillar of Solitude," which recounts Walter Bonatti's historic 1955 ascent of the southwest pillar of the Drus (the Bonatti Pillar) in the Mont Blanc massif, an 800-meter-high vertical face, climbed solo in six days, despite having only three. In the film, the renowned Swiss mountaineer Michel Vaucher portrays Bonatti. Unlike the film "The Pillar of Solitude," which was shot in black and white, the making-of documentary was filmed in color.

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A climb to mark the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn, live on TV. The programme, a coproduction of the Swiss, French, Italian and British televisions, was shown throughout Europe, in the United States and in Japan in a series of 5 broadcasts between 8 and 16h. This film is the reedited version by the french televison of all the broadcasts in a single program. Ian McNaught-Davis roped with the guide Heinrich Taugwalder and Jean Juge with Robert Bichler narrate the ascent while they climb by the original Whymper route. They follow the progression of Michel Darbellay and Hilti von Allmen who climb the north face by the Schmidt route. All them meet at the summit. Michel Vaucher, Yvette Vaucher and Othmar Kronig who were also ascending the north face are interviewed, and the program ends with the television teams descending the mountain. Ettore Bich and Paul Etter ascended by the Italian side.

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"Les Coulisses De L'Exploit" was a French television program of sports information created by Jacques Goddet and Raymond Marcillac, and broadcast on RTF Television then on the first channel of the ORTF from December 13, 1961 to August 16, 1972. The principle of this program is to report on sports news but also to meet men and women performing exceptional feats. According to Raymond Marcillac: "Competitive sport is not our only field of action. It never has been. We want to discover beings whose life is enriching, exhilarating; men who have accomplished acts that can be offered to our admiration without reluctance."

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