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| Achieved on 9th of October 2005 |
The Mont Aiguille
"le paradis suspendu"
.... by Skyandsummit.com
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The story of the Mont-Aiguille begins in 1492 when King Charles VIII impressed by the singular shape of this mountain decides to conquer it. This legendary act is now considered as the birth of alpinism.
Our story, much more fun and modern begins 500 years later. On a sweet month of October, while snow and coldwave are coming on the Alps, I propose to go up there and fly from the summit. Rendez-vous fixed on Sunday morning, Pierre and Nico cannot resist to the envy of setting their bivouac on the summital plateau on Saturday evening. The rest of us are going to follow the first plan and join them on Sunday up there.
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The sun is rising over the Vercors, the journey is promising. While our two friends spend their morning taking pictures, Carine, Simon and myself are being obsessed by a single idea : taking off from this legendary place. We are in the heart of the mountain, suspended on historical cables and the strong wind make us doubt on our fate. The rucksack weight is suddenly heavy to carry !
But anyway, the objective is getting to the top. Sharing theses magical instants of life with friends is going to be great memories.
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- Altitude 2086 m -
After some hours on the shadow of the west face between forest and then rocks, our deliverance comes over an immense chimney. We are surprised to be suddenly on the summit, the verticality let place to an immense green meadow big as an olympic stadium. Hanging in the middle of the sky, it looks like an inaccessible paradise, floating over the world, few hundreds of meters beneath. A plane even landed here in 1957! We join Nico and Pierre on their 5 stars bivouac. All around us, we see mountains extending to infinite. On one side, the crests are going to the Mont Blanc and we can see the Mont Ventoux (near Avignon) on the other side.
The wind is still too strong on the summit but we're happy to be here, having a lunch together, still positive and thinking a so great adventure cannot end by walking down the mountain. After the dessert, Pierre takes his harmonica and plays an ode to Eole...the charm seems to be heard by the God of winds, who let the breeze become finally lighter.. wo go looking for a west-oriented slope.
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Pierre prepares his wing and takes off, showing us the limpidity of aerology seen through 30 years of experience. This wonderful demonstration motivate us to deploy our paragliders quickly. Simon then Nico join the sky, and I finally leave the ground with a huge emotion, sharing the flight with my passenger Carine. The flight near these big cliffs is like surfing in the air, the autumnal colors are dropping us in the middle of a dream. Evasion from our daily lives,just a rest time...
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Nevertheless, flying from this summit is forbidden and we know the police sometimes try to catch us like butterflies on landing. Hopefully we discretly diseappear in the nature without leaving any traces behind us but invisible turbulences in the air...
The adventure finally ends late this evening... This night is going to be be full of dreams and images...
Text : Fabrice Brun © Skyandsummit.com
Photos : Simon Perriard - Nicolas Helmbacher - Fabrice Brun © Skyandsummit.com
Special thanks to Guillaume Laget for the 3 big pictures on this webpage. I invite you to visit his website on the Mt Aiguille : http://montaiguille.tetras.org/
Remember that flying there is striclty forbidden and SkyAndSummit.com promptly advise you NOT to do it. In case you
were
forced to do it due to a major life threatning issue, wait for early morning or late evening.
Do NOT be seen by anyone!
SkyAndSummit.com declines all responsibility resulting of doing such stupid acts!