First ascent of Mont Aiguille: a film at the summit

The documentary Retour au Mont Aiguille, the result of a research project conducted within Labex ITTEM, recently won an award at the Festival Montagnes et Sciences.

Directed by Ludovic Veltz, the film looks back at the scientific reconstruction of the first ascent of the emblematic Mont Aiguille in the Vercors, led by historian Stéphane Gal, a teacher-researcher at the Rhône-Alpes Historical Research Laboratory (Larhra).

Surrounded by a team of enthusiasts, and following an experimental archaeology approach, he sought to reconstruct the human, material and technological conditions of the first ascent of this summit by Captain Antoine de Ville and his troops in 1492. Starting with the most “plausible” route taken at the time.

The documentary, which premiered at the Montagnes et Sciences festival in Grenoble on November 11, 2023, won the Grand Prix for scientific adventure films. The project will also be the subject of a book, Escalade 1492, aux origines de l’alpinisme, to be published by Editions Arkhé in 2024.

In January, the festival will tour Lyon, Modane and Clermont-Ferrand, where the film will be screened again(see program).

Read also the article published in Alpine Mag and watch again the program Si on parlait on Télégrenoble with Ludovic Veltz.

The official film poster :