For 29 years, a whole succession of sailors, divers, mountaineers, athletes, pilots, champions, scientists, explorers and artists have taken to the stage of the Henri Oreiller Convention Centre to remind us that “The value of a thing sometimes does not lie in that which one attains by it, but in what one pays for it—what it costs us.” These are the opening words of extract 38 of Twilight of the Idols, entitled “My Conception of Freedom”. And it seems unlikely that any of the festival’s adventurers would disagree with Nietzsche!
Filmmakers, explorers and competitors all describe their journey to achieving their goals. Their ordeal has perhaps been difficult, sometimes exhilarating, often distressing, but always enlightening.
Their experiences alternate between pleasure and pain, torment and joy, injury and inspiration.
Between shattered dreams and achievements beyond their wildest expectations, some adventurers even discover who they really are!
Whatever may be lost along the way, shed like the skin of a reptile, that inner magic does its work, transforming the very being. “What it costs us” is exactly that, the price to pay for adventure.
And because there is no gain without pain, the experience is even more sublime.
The Aigle d’Or prize awarded at the end of the festival offers food for thought. Just what inspired the winning adventurer to push the boundaries so far?
The Adventure & Discovery festival also teaches us that achievement hones our thinking, heightens our sensitivity and intensifies our feelings. Listen to them, those adventurers who return from distant lands, oh so inspired by the journey behind them! To quote Nietzsche once again (at the start of Ecce Homo), “The greatest agility of the muscles has always gone hand in hand with an overflowing creative power.” We really should have invited him to Val d’Isère—the travelling philosopher who loved the mountains so much. But he was otherwise engaged. Beyond Good and Val.
Sylvain Tesson
Photographe
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Andy Parant
