FIVE STAR BASE CAMP 2021

ROCHEFORT PASS – SEPTEMBER 2021

Once is not custom: here is Samaya® back in the high mountains for the second edition of the "Samaya® Five Star Base Camp", still in this magical Mont-Blanc massif, and once again with exceptional guests. Tonight, more than twenty people will meet at 3,385 meters above sea level and marvel in this mystical theater facing the granite towers, the Vallée Blanche and Mont Blanc itself. The group thus formed – of journalists, athlete-guides and members of the Samaya® team – is made up of novices, insiders and experts. At the gates of autumn, an anticyclone will allow them to enter this environment, as hostile as it may be, with an air of gentleness...

It all starts at the first light of day when part of the Samaya® team sets out to prepare for this unique event, under the guidance of athlete-guides from the Samaya® Family who know the glacier like the back of their hand.

The first roped parties reach the Col de Rochefort, located between the Dent du Géant and the Aiguilles Marbrées, by climbing the Courmayeur Skyway and Pointe Helbronner. Once there, Léo Billon probes the ground to make sure that the camp will be located outside a crevassed zone. When everything is secure, the Samaya® team gets down to setting up camp under a blazing sun: optimization of the terrain, organization of living tents (mess and kitchen), making snow tables and benches...

From nothing, it is a comfortable and welcoming place to live that is created in the middle of the glacier. Stemmed glasses are laid out on one of the snow tables and the cooks are starting to get busy behind the stoves to prepare an exceptional dinner at high altitude. Now all that remains is to welcome the guests.

In the distance on the glacier, we can see new ropes approaching: ten journalists, accompanied by the athlete-guides as well as the members of the Samaya® team, are heading towards the camp. As they get closer, the guests discover the camp with wonder and gradually learn about the place. This type of installation in such a setting rarely leaves one indifferent.

Everyone chooses their room with a view, arranges their personal belongings there and familiarizes themselves with their cocoon for the night. It's almost time to gather around the snow table prepared for the aperitif. Hostilities can begin!

In the middle of this mythical place, Ghislain Pipers and Arthur Jallas, co-founders of Samaya®, open the ball by presenting this extraordinary concept of the "Samaya® Five Star Base Camp" which allows you to experience a new vision of luxury according to Samaya®. Authenticity is key. The brand's mission takes on its full meaning: "To experience exceptional moments in bivouac, Samaya® reinvents the lightness of your expeditions". Discussions and a presentation of the products follow. The clinking of glasses officially launches the second edition of the “Samaya® Five Star Base Camp”.

According to the exchanges, and while the sun disappears beyond the peaks, the spirit of the times according to Samaya® takes on its full meaning. The sky has now taken on a rosy hue and the whole massif is ablaze: from Mont Blanc to the Dent du Géant, passing through the granite towers of Tacul, the Aiguille du Midi, the Aiguilles de Chamonix and the Grépon, the panorama is sumptuous. The oppressive heat of the afternoon gradually gives way to the biting cold that characterizes this environment. These steep minute-to-minute temperature gradients may surprise those less familiar with high mountain adventures. The intensity of the moment is palpable. Everyone then bundles up in their expedition gear. It's time to reach the mess tent to take shelter from the elements and enjoy a gourmet dinner there at more than 3,000 meters above sea level.

After taking their seats on the benches, the hostilities continue and the dishes flow from the kitchen tent to the mess tent. Everyone fully savors these moments and the evening is in full swing. Night has fallen on the camp and a magnificent starry sky devoid of any light pollution is a spectacle for our guests. The moon illuminates Mont Blanc and the surrounding peaks like a divine light that reveals a whole new landscape full of mystery, in which we even notice some beams of light from mountaineers approaching the summit of Mont Blanc. Such images, sometimes accompanied by showers of shooting stars that seem to belong to another world, always leave unforgettable memories, whether you are there for the first or the thousandth time.

While some finish their hot drink before going to their room, others still have a glass of wine in hand. With Samaya® Family athlete-guides Léo Billon, Michel Lanne and Hélias Millerioux, anecdotes, expedition stories and mountain stories never cease to animate the mess tent. The atmosphere is there. It is the body, the heart and the spirit enriched by these sharings that everyone finally goes to their room to find their cozy cocoon for the night.

In the early morning, everyone rediscovers with amazement the raw beauty of the place while breakfast is served on the snow table. After a night on the glacier, the sweetness of the morning has no equal and is savored with all the more intensity than in the valley. The mountain continues to reveal itself in unrealistic lights. In front of this exceptional panorama, everyone listens attentively to Hélias Millerioux who leads the briefing and the reminder of the safety rules on the glacier. Once the distribution of the groups has been made between glacier hiking and ridge running, each one equips himself with his harness, his crampons and his ice axe. The roped parties go away and the sun comes to warm the atmosphere of the camp at the time of dismantling.

Three teams supervised by Léo Billon, Michel Lanne and Julien Ravanello take the direction of the Aiguilles Marbrées for a rock climbing course on the magnificent granite of the massif. For some, this is their first mountaineering race. When the summit is reached at 3,535m altitude after a north-south crossing, the emotion is there. There follows a descent on the wire of the south ridge accompanied by abseils to reach the glacier. During this time, the two other parties supervised by Lise Billon and Hélias Millerioux experience a hike on the Géant glacier accompanied by the ascent of a summit.

Back in the gondola, the eyes reveal the joy that comes from the magic of a bivouac in the high mountains. Everyone comes down amazed and somewhat transformed by the timeless moments of fulfillment experienced up there. Looking forward to the third edition...