History in the heart of the mountains

The^1st edition of the Festival d’histoire de la montagne, entitled Expériences, will take place from April 11 to 13, 2025, on the initiative of the Musée Dauphinois and Grenoble Alpes University.

There’s no doubt that a “mountain” event has been missing in the Grenoble basin. That’s the challenge taken up by the creators of this festival, supported by the Musée Dauphinois, the magazine L’Alpe (ed. Glénat), the Laboratoire historique Rhône-Alpes (Larhra) and the Bibliothèques de l’Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA).

The aim? To take a long-term look at the Alps, drawing a link between the past and visions for the future, with a stopover in contemporary times.

” We wanted to create a meeting place around the history of the mountains, bringing together historians and students, as well as museum and library professionals. During this first edition – dedicated to the notion of experience, in the dual sense of practice and experimentation – a morning session will bring them together to discuss methodological issues around digital technologies and modeling in mountain history research “, explains Anne Dalmasso, professor of contemporary history at Larhra. These discussions, which will take place at the University Library on the Saint-Martin-d’Hères campus, will focus on the enhancement of Valaisan cultural heritage, the creation of the Digitalps cross-border virtual museum and avalanche research, with Florie Giacona, a researcher at Inrae.

The morning will conclude with a talk by Florence Roche, Deputy Director General of UGA Libraries, entitled L’aventure, réenchanter l’incertitude : how can adventure in extreme environments renew our vision of uncertainty in everyday life? She will present the new book she has edited, L’aventure, réenchanter l’incertitude, published by UGA Éditions.

April 11 and 12 will take place at the Musée Dauphinois and will be aimed more specifically at the general public. Several Labex ITTEM historians will be taking part:

• Stéphane Gal will present his work in experimental archaeology, based on a reconstruction of the first ascent of Mont Aiguille in 1492, equipped with virtual reality helmets. A feature-length version of Ludovic Veltz’s film Retour au Mont Aiguille, based on this work, will be screened.
• Anne-Marie Granet-Abisset will be co-hosting the round table ” Raconter la montagne sportive, des récits des premiers scientifiques alpinistes aux influenceurs d’aujourd’hui“, with Mathis Dumas, the mountain guide who took the YouTubeur Inoxtag to the summit of Mount Everest in 2024.
• Anne Dalmasso will be in conversation with Paul Petzl, CEO of the Petzl Group and patron of this first edition, on the theme of The mountain, an inexhaustible source of experimentation. They will discuss the relationship between mountain dwellers and entrepreneurs in terms of time.

Sunday afternoon will take the form of a sensitive approach to the mountains, at the Musée Dauphinois and on the Bastille site: a philosophical stroll with writer Simon Parcot, a dialogue on landscapes with Erika Wicky (Larhra) and Nelly Valsangiacomo (University of Lausanne) and an Alpine-sounding concert combining violin and harmonica.

Discover the full festival program.

For further information, visit the UGA Libraries website and theUGA website.