Two kids vs. Mont Blanc in winter. What could go wrong? Everything. Spectacularly.
This documentary is a reconstruction, based on archive footage, testimonies, and filmed reconstructions, of the Vincendon / Henry tragedy. December 1956: Jean Vincendon and François Henry, two young mountaineers, aspire to join the High Mountain Group. Lacking experience, they set out to climb Mont Blanc via the Brenva spur in the middle of winter. The weather conditions deteriorated, and they decided to give up before meeting Walter Bonatti and Sylvano Gheser. They then decided to continue the climb and set off in two different roped parties. Bonatti decided to take refuge at the Vallot refuge higher up, rather than descend. The two young mountaineers, overcome by the poor weather conditions and fatigue, remained stuck for several days at 4,000 meters. What followed was a completely disorganized rescue operation that became, for more than ten days, a spectacle for all of France and a national tragedy.
Direction
Reconstruction blurs nightmare and documentary seamlessly
Cinematography
White hell — the mountain as abstract death
Editing
Archive and fiction merge into collective memory
Director
Denis Ducroz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This tragedy killed the romantic era of French alpinism. Post-1956, climbing became professionalized, regulated, and a little less beautiful.
Walter Bonatti — who survived — became Italy's greatest mountaineer, but carried guilt for decades. The Vincendon/Henry ghost followed him to K2 and back.
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