2023 edition

Their names were Xu Djin and Liu Lianman; they had never seen mountains before, let alone practised mountaineering in any way. In 1960, the Chinese Communist Party elevated them to the rank of ‘designated volunteers’ and ordered them, along with the comrades accompanying them, to conquer Qomolangma, as the locals have always called Everest. As an additional task, they were required to place a bust of Mao Zedong on the ‘roof of the world’ (8,849 metres) as a symbolic gesture intended to underline the definitive conquest of Tibet. The climate of propaganda was such that public opinion across the entire country overlooked the fact that the world’s highest mountain had already been conquered seven years earlier from the Nepalese side by Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay.

Because anything is possible, Alban Michon, an expert in extreme adventures, brings you this comprehensive explorer’s handbook. From planning a project to securing funding, from survival techniques in hostile environments to pushing one’s limits, this extraordinary adventurer has conceived this book as an expedition, taking the reader through the process from the initial idea to its realisation. Part practical guide, part coffee-table book on adventure, Alban Michon’s account offers a behind-the-scenes look at exploration, so that everyone can rise to the
realise their dreams.

Together with my friend, the mountain guide Daniel du Lac, I set off from Menton on the Mediterranean coast to cross the Alps on skis, all the way to Trieste, travelling through Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. From 2018 to 2021, at the end of winter, we made our way upwards through the snow. The sky was pristine, the world without boundaries; only the effort marked the passing of the days. I thought I was venturing into beauty, but I was dissolving into a substance. In the White, everything is erased — hopes and regrets.

Why did I love wandering through purity so much?