About the film by Nicolas Philibert
In 1986, fate smiles on me. The film that I have just made, “Christophe” causes quite a stir in the small world of mountaineering cinema: it receives awards in specialized festivals and is sold to several foreign TV stations. For some time now, "sporting adventure" films, as they are known, are booming as new disciplines are developed: paragliding, snow-surfing, canyoneering, rafting, snowboarding, barefoot climbing, bungee jumping, etc. The TV channels are following the trend. TF1, Antenne 2 and France 3 each devote a weekly slot to the phenomenon. This media effervescence creates a demand: more and more “adventurers” appear. To finance their projects, they seek sponsors who demand images in return for their financial support...
Mountaineering is experiencing the same upheavals. Every peak in the Alps has been “conquered” by every route possible, by every face and from every angle - in summer, in winter, single-handed, etc… Therefore, it is necessary to invent new challenges, resulting in this idea of “combinations”, which is going to experience an amazing boom in the eighties. Another new phenomenon is the appearance of the stopwatch. Until this point, the prestige lay in the difficulty of the ascent carried out, however long it took. But, for a few years now, a new generation of mountaineers is at work. They do not hesitate to tackle the most difficult routes “100% solo”, in other words without ropes or belays. They climb alone, they don't use ropes and, on reaching the summit, they return to the valley by paraglider or hang-glider. One record is shattered after another.
Christophe Profit is one of these mountaineers. On June 30, 1982, he enters mountaineering history by climbing the “American Direct” on the west face of Les Drus in 3 hours and 10 minutes at a time when the best teams of climbers needed a day and half to do it. He is only twenty-one. In March '85, he climbs the north face of the Eiger in 10 hours after the previous two solo climbs in winter of this same face, by a Japanese and then a French mountaineer, required 8 and 6 days respectively.
In late 1986, he is preparing the “combined” ascent of three of the greatest north faces in the Alps - Les Grandes Jorasses, the Eiger and the Matterhorn - and asks me to make the film that will record this epic undertaking. After shooting on Les Drus, devised as a fiction shoot (a “remake” of his feat of June '82 for which we needed several days to “re-enact”, shot by shot, the sequence of an ascent that was presented as taking just a few hours), the idea of shooting a film in real time delights me.
In early January, I visit Christophe at home in Chamonix. He is completely focused on the project and prepares for it with painstaking care, helped by Sylviane. A strict diet, daily training: climbing, cross-country skiing, ice falls, running… Eighteen months earlier, he first "combined" these three mythical faces - in 24 hours! - but that was in summer and so “easier”. This time, he thinks it will take 40 hours.
Considered for many years as “the last three great challenges of the Alps”, the north faces of Les Jorasses, the Matterhorn and the Eiger are the most prestigious in eyes of mountaineers of all ages. They have been the setting for legendary and often dramatic adventures in the past and their difficulty, the scale of the climb and the commitment that they require inspires and fuels the imagination of the most audacious climbers. With its wall 5,400 feet high, the Eiger is probably the moist impressive and least hospitable of the three. Vertical and even overhanging for two thirds of its height, this gigantic limestone wall, continually sheathed in ice, is frequently swept by falling rock. The north face of the Matterhorn offers a much more dazzling image. It's the ideal mountain, a perfect pyramid. But its rock is unstable and its north face too is often swept by rock falls. Finally, the huge barrier, as wide as it is high, that rears above the Mer de Glace, the north face of Les Grandes Jorasses is a series of “mixed” routes, blending ice corridors an rocky spurs, that offer hardly any means of escape.
Using photos and maps, Christophe explains the details of his project. The night before the big day, he will go up to the Refuge du Couvercle, that he will leave around midnight, after sleeping a few hours, to reach the foot of Les Jorasses, that he hopes to start climbing at around 3 in the morning. Once he reaches the summit, hopefully by mid-morning, he will take off by paraglider for Courmayeur, on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc range where a friend will be waiting with a car. They will then return to Chamonix, from where he will take a helicopter to the foot of the Eiger, in the Bernese Oberland. After the north face of “The Ogre” (Eiger) and another paraglider descent, a helicopter will then take him to the Valais... where all he will need to do is climb the Matterhorn! Despite its apparent simplicity, the project's organization is extremely complex, notably for obscure legal reasons: in theory, a French helicopter has no right to fly over Swiss territory… and vice versa. As for the shooting proper, it's a real nightmare! Trips by car, chopper flights, customs formalities for the film gear, loading of film stock into the cameras, roping up of technicians for possible drops on the face, meals, hot drinks, sleeping arrangements… there are countless logistic problems that soon lead me to the conclusion that we shall need three independent crews and at least two helicopters, not counting the one that Christophe will need to travel from one mountain to another. We therefore need to revise our budget upwards.
In the meantime, I shoot a little footage of Christophe in training, then return to Paris to start preparation. The problems listed above are compounded by that of the cold. All our attention is focused on the equipment. There is no question of our cameras breaking down halfway. They will be powered by lithium batteries that are designed to withstand temperatures of - 40°. By mid-February, everything is ready. There is till one unknown element however: the weather. The start date will depend on it. The whole crew is on stand-by. Every morning and evening, Christophe calls the weather stations in Chamonix and Geneva airport. I soon discover that we won't have a monopoly on the images… far from it! Antenne 2, Paris-Match, Europe 1, Swiss French-language television, Equipe Magazine and the mountaineering monthly Alpirando will all be along for the ride. How will Christophe manage to retain the necessary concentration if he has to climb in the middle of a swarm of helicopters? As time passes, the tension increases. My nights are more and more agitated.
On March 9, after three weeks of grey skies, an improvement is announced at last. Good weather, cold and dry. Christophe confirms that the three faces are in top condition: covered with fresh ice, rather than soft and unstable snow. Bingo ! We head for Chamonix. One last meeting. For the hundredth time, we go over the whole operation in detail: car transport, helicopter flights, drop-offs on the face, equipment, camera magazine loading, food, ATA notebooks for customs, accommodation, etc. Each crewmember has very precise instructions. The media are also there: radio, TV, Paris-Match... If we don't want to step on each other's toes or fight each other for a place on a helicopter, we need to lay some ground rules between us. This is the first time that a mountaineer will be climbing "live". We are entering a new era. After years isolated from the media circus, mountaineering is falling prey to it as well.
Of course, this will cause a great deal of ink to flow! Some will speak of heresy. Christophe Profit will be criticized for no end of things: using a helicopter, his physical preparation, his painstaking organization and his medical backup comparable to that of a top athlete. He will be accused of turning the mountains into a stadium and of orchestrating the media ballet himself. What of it? His feat remains exceptional for the physical and mental qualities required. What then, a climbing machine, Profit? A hothead? The exact opposite! Sensitive and endearing, Christophe has reached extraordinary heights in the mountaineering world while remaining incredibly normal himself.
