Sophie Lavaud, the first French mountaineer to have climbed the fourteen 8,000, the highest peaks in the world
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This mountaineer, a novice at the time, built up a solid experience and a strong mind while facing the mountains of South America and peaks of 5,000, then 6,000 and 7,000 meters.
“Attempt the fourteen-8,000 challenge! ”
Sophie Lavaud will soon have her sights set on the mythical altitude of 8,000 meters and more. A new quest then begins. In 2012, she seized the opportunity to go on an expedition, the Shishapangma, in Nepal, the most “modest” of the 8,000, which exceeds this symbolic bar of 27 small meters! Then it's the turn of Cho Oyu, on the border between Tibet, China, and Nepal, which is considered “easy”. Its first two peaks of more than 8,000 meters are climbed!
The next objective is Everest: “My dream of going to 8,000 was achieved. But I really enjoyed it, especially this world of expeditions. And I told myself that this quest for a little more altitude, the Holy Grail, was Everest.”, she recalls Lionel Cariou, journalist at ICI Isère, speaking at the microphone for this episode of the podcast The madness of the heights offered by ICI.
Sponsors allow him to meet his budget for this expensive expedition. On May 25, 2014, it reached the summit. It was at this moment that the idea of the fourteen “8,000" germinated in his head. So, at the age of 46, in 2014, she quit her job to give herself every chance of succeeding: eleven summits are still to be reached.
Life at altitude, between base camps, altitude camps and summits
Sophie Lavaud then radically changed her life. And she likes this new life so much that at the foot of the mountains of Nepal, she finally feels at home: “The base camp, which is set up at the beginning of each expedition, is the living place where all decisions are made, and where the ascent strategy is decided. We are a bit cut off from the world [...]. There are expeditions and climbers from all over the world. [...] In recent years, comfort at the base camp [...] improved with quality tents, more comfortable mattresses... We spend two months outside but I like this life” *.
But, between earthquakes, avalanches, equipment problems, climatic conditions, the Himalayist sometimes preferred to back up or turn around and then better start again to attack the 8,000 still to climb and reach the fourteen peaks. A careful mountaineer who, during all her expeditions, has never been injured.
In the spring of 2023, eleven years after his first 8,000, he still had one box to check in his vertical adventure notebook: the famous and dangerous Nanga Parbat in Pakistan... which would allow him to direct “this dream, this big dream a bit crazy about the challenge of the 'fourteen' for which [she] Avai[t] reorganized [his] life” ...
To find out more about these fourteen 8,000...
Everest is the highest peak in the world with an altitude of 8,848 meters. It is located on the border between Nepal and China.
Nepal has eight peaks of more than 8,000 on its territory, some located on its borders, with China, or India. The smallest of the 8,000 is the Shishapangma. The others are further west, in the Karakoram massif in Pakistan. And here too some of them are on the border with China.
This episode of the podcast The madness of the heights was designed by the ICI Isère teams
- A documentary story by Sophie Cuenot
- Narration: Lionel Cariou
- Sound recording and mixing: Simon Berthier
- Production: Christine Siméone-Giocanti — Creative Studio ICI
- Writing the web text: Paule Paganon
- Thanks: François Damilano, mountaineer and director, Ulysse Lefèbvre, journalist and cameraman
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