FODACIM

After South Georgia in 2008 and Antarctica in 2010, Isabelle Autissier, Lionel Daudet, and their crew set off on a new adventure to Greenland. This non-motorized sporting, environmental, and scientific expedition began on June 10th and concluded in mid-September 2016. Aboard a sailboat with an aluminum hull capable of navigating Arctic ice, the crew sailed to southwest Greenland. Lionel Daudet, Enzo Odo, and Siebe Vanhee embarked on a journey to explore this land of discovery, aiming to open new and breathtaking routes on big walls. An adventure between sea and mountains, crew and climbing team.

It is a fact that our winters are less and less cold. Therefore it is harder and harder to get the conditions for ice-climbing. Fortunately, man adapts to his environment and makes progress: this is how dry-tooling was born. This movie will make you discover this discipline: its history, its evolution and the current practice. You will also see how much excitement dry tooling can bring. Dry-tooling now allows to free-climb some routes which were impossible to climb without aid in the past.

When Katherine Choong suggested to her friend Éline Le Menestrel that they tackle the Zahir, a classic route in the Swiss Alps and a demanding gem of the Wendenstöcke, Éline agreed... on one condition: that they only use sustainable transport to get to the foot of the wall. As the days passed suspended on the rock, they realized the scale of the challenge: intense commitment, tiny holds, accumulated fatigue from cycling... every movement became a challenge. Between motivation and euphoria, perseverance and doubt, would Katherine and Éline manage to reach their Zahir, that summit where audacity and wild beauty come together?

On August 10, 2011, Lionel Daudet set off on the Dodtour, a circumnavigation of France without motorized transport, following the land border and coastline as closely as possible, from the Alps to the Rhine, from the English Channel to the Atlantic, from the Pyrenees to the French Riviera. On November 15, 2012, he returned to his starting point, the summit of Mont Blanc, after traversing the country on foot, by bicycle, through fields and along beaches, by kayak, and by sailboat, sometimes alone amidst breathtaking landscapes, sometimes accompanied on the outskirts of towns. 3,000 kilometers of mountain ridges, forests, and rivers, and 3,500 kilometers of coastline. A 15-month (465-day) journey to take on a physical challenge, explore, and tell the story of what makes France what it is.

In October 2019, Benjamin Védrines and Nicolas Jean climbed the northeast couloir (1,500 m, M3/M4, 65°) of Chamlang (7,321 m, Nepal) to an altitude of 7,240 meters, using alpine style with a bivouac. The young French team had initially aimed for the north pillar of this mountain, a favorite among top climbers. Although they had to abandon their ascent of the northeast couloir, their climb was selected for the Piolets d'Or "big list."

Nicolas Jean, a 14-year-old climber, decided to meet climbers who have left their mark on their era and contributed to the evolution of climbing in their own way. Among them is his coach, Laurent Perez, who will guide him on an original project: re-equipping a 7c+ route and adding a variation that will make it his first 8a if he manages to complete it! Nicolas Jean will later become a high-mountain guide and the alter ego of his climbing partner, Benjamin Védrines, with whom he will achieve numerous first ascents, including the summit of Jannu Est (7468 m) in October 2025.

A shepherd in his childhood, Sunar tended his flock, barefoot, in the pastures of Laprak, a small village at an altitude of 2000 meters in the Himalayas, in the Manaslu region. At twenty years old, he decided to become a porter for trekking agencies and met a couple of French trekkers who became attached to him and brought him to France to help him. Sunar then dreams of becoming a mountain guide. Thanks to his determination and perseverance, supported for years by a chain of solidarity set up to allow him to realize his dream, Sunar won the prestigious high mountain guide medal from ENSA in 2008. He did not stop there, and benefited his country by creating, with his friends, a guide school in Nepal like that of Chamonix. Today, the skills of the Nepalese resulting from this training are recognized internationally. A first!

In 2013, Mario Colonel photographed the nomads of the Kham mountains, a region in eastern Tibet. Near a monastery, he encountered a little girl on a pilgrimage with her family. The photograph he took of this young nomad quickly became iconic; it evokes a powerful emotion, thanks to the beauty and strength emanating from her gaze. He exhibited it in his gallery in Chamonix and sold it regularly. Magazines bought it for their covers. Eventually, it slipped from his grasp. In 2017, Mario wanted to find this little girl to tell her the story behind the image and share it with her. He decided to return to Kham with the photograph in hand to find Droma, whose first name was all he knew. This film retraces this quest in this mountainous region, this human adventure filled with encounters and original, endearing characters, far removed from idealized images.