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Au-delà de l’Everest / Beyond Everest

  • April 15, 2021
  • Mountain Life Media
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mots/words ::  Peter Oliver // photos :: Bernard Franke

Il ne peut y avoir qu’un seul plus haut sommet sur terre; le mont Everest. Une distinction qui est autant source d’inspiration que malédiction.S’élevant au-dessus de la frontière qui sépare le Népal et le Tibet, la majestueuse montagne se dresse comme le monument de l’ultime aventure reconnu à l’échelle planétaire.

C’est pourquoi une vague humaine déferle chaque année sur l’Everest, des grimpeurs désireux d’être reconnus pour avoir gravi le sommet le plus haut sommet du monde. Plus de 5000 personnes ont réussi, dont près de 900 en 2019 seulement. À titre de comparaison, le K2, le deuxième plus haut sommet du monde, semble laissé pour compte avec moins de 400 réussites en 65 ans depuis que les premiers alpinistes ont atteint le sommet. Parmi les montagnes, l’Everest, au sens propre comme au figuré, trône seul au sommet.

Le taux élevé de fréquentation, bien sûr, a suscité de nombreuses plaintes — surpeuplement et dégradation de l’environnement — et a mené à une nouvelle tendance en journalisme; les histoires d’horreur de l’Everest. Si vous voulez vendre un magazine, rien n’éveille l’intérêt public comme une histoire de misère et de mort sur l’Everest.

Bernard Franke, 61 ans, de Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, avoue qu’avant de se rendre au Népal à l’automne 2018, il était lui aussi parmi les nombreux inspirés par l’Everest. Mais il n’était pas poussé par la soif de laisser ses traces dans la neige du sommet. Il voulait simplement être en présence du colosse. Il voulait le voir sous différents angles et photographier son aura envoûtante avec précision et vivacité. Ce qu’il avait en tête était une sorte de pas de deux photographique entre l’homme et la montagne.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal monastere

Ainsi, après 15 mois de préparation minutieuse, incluant des ascensions répétées du mont Tremblant portant une lourde charge pour se préparer aux rigueurs du trekking himalayen, Franke participe à une expédition de 25 jours dans la région de l’Everest organisée par les Karavaniers, un spécialiste du voyage d’aventures basé à Montréal. Il apporte des appareils photo haute définition qui lui permettront de produire des photos d’une telle clarté que chaque striure sur la roche et chaque plumeau de neige sur les flancs de l’Everest seront révélés. Le camp de base de l’Everest sera pour lui le point le plus rapproché du sommet.

Franke choisit volontairement une voie indirecte pour se rendre au camp de base. La plupart des 35 000 visiteurs annuels du camp de base partent de la ville de Lukla, où se trouve probablement l’aéroport le plus dangereux du monde. Ils passent deux semaines à faire des allers-retours sur un sentier de 65 kilomètres tellement fréquenté qu’on le surnomme parfois « l’autoroute ». Le groupe de Franke se dirige plutôt vers le nord depuis Lukla jusqu’à la crête de Gokyo Ri située à 5 483 mètres, puis vers l’est à 5 420 mètres du col Chola, pour ensuite tourner vers le sud en direction de Dughla, où il rejoindra « l’autoroute » pour la dernière poussée vers le camp de base à 5 362 mètres. De là, ce sera un retour direct à Lukla.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo sommet Gokyo Ri

L’itinéraire plus long nécessitera plusieurs jours de trekking supplémentaires, mais il présente au moins deux avantages. Franke aura ainsi l’occasion de photographier l’Everest à partir de divers points de vue et plus de temps pour s’acclimater au manque d’oxygène dans l’air au-dessus de 5000 mètres d’altitude. Comme Franke le fait remarquer, on aperçoit régulièrement des hélicoptères qui s’affairent à transporter des passagers manifestant des symptômes d’œdème pulmonaire, du camp de base jusqu’à une altitude plus basse pour permettre leur rétablissement. La cause première de leur mal des hauteurs : pas assez de temps accordé à l’acclimatation.

Certes, la photographie était l’objectif premier du voyage, mais l’effort physique que représentent 180 km de randonnée à haute altitude, incluant plus de 12 000 mètres de dénivelé vertical, a également attiré Franke. Il admet avoir peur des hauteurs, et traverser de très hauts ponts suspendus instables lui donnera l’occasion d’affronter et de surmonter cette peur. Il aura aussi à composer avec un poids supplémentaire de sept kilos d’équipement photo dans son sac à dos — une charge facile à gérer à des altitudes moins élevées, mais un lourd fardeau à porter à plus de 4000 mètres.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo Helicoptere mountainside

Et, comme il le découvrira, le simple fait de prendre des photos exige plus physiquement que ce à quoi on pourrait s’attendre. En haute altitude, enlever un sac à dos et une couche de vêtements pour se préparer à prendre une photo peut se révéler une tâche étonnamment ardue. « J’ai dû me donner des coups de pied pour prendre des photos », dit-il.

Après un trajet en jeep de huit heures dans la jungle népalaise, le groupe de Franke — composé de cinq randonneurs, d’un guide québécois et d’une équipe de sherpas — commence l’ascension vers Gokyo Ri. Après quelques jours de trekking, le groupe atteint Namche Bazar et aperçoit l’Everest pour la première fois. Ce n’est toutefois qu’au sommet du Gokyo Ri que Franke découvre un panorama à 360 degrés de flancs verticaux, surmontés par l’Everest. « C’était un endroit d’une beauté stupéfiante », dit-il. La vue à couper le souffle au sommet du Gokyo Ri a révélé l’immensité de l’Himalaya népalais dominé par l’Everest et les sommets environnants.

60016a95b67a 1

Après l’ascension du col de Chola, Franke est saisi par une autre manifestation du sublime paysage de montagne. L’Ama Dablam, à 6856 mètres d’altitude, peut sembler chétif sur les cartes de relief à côté de l’Everest qui culmine à 8848 mètres. Mais « découpé, escarpé, enneigé », l’Ama Dablam se dresse telle une pyramide de roc gravée dans le ciel. « C’était d’une grande intensité », dit-il. Quelques jours plus tard, il éprouvera un étonnement visuel similaire durant la montée vers Kala Patthar, à près de 5600 mètres d’altitude, où il parvint à croquer une photo de l’Everest au coucher du soleil.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo Helicoptere terraces

Franke savait qu’il allait côtoyer la splendeur physique de l’Himalaya au cours de son voyage. Mais d’autres surprises étonnantes l’attendaient. D’abord, il a trouvé que le camp de base de l’Everest, si souvent décrit par les médias comme un endroit surpeuplé et jonché d’ordures, était immaculé de propreté. Cela s’explique en partie par le fait que la principale saison d’escalade a lieu en avril et en mai. Lors de son passage à la fin de l’automne, le camp de base était pratiquement vide. Le gouvernement népalais a reconnu les problèmes liés à la popularité du camp de base et à la montagne au-dessus. Il a donc pris d’importantes mesures pour assainir la situation, notamment en imposant des règles strictes d’enlèvement des déchets à toute organisation qui demande un permis de guide.

Aussi, Franke a été frappé par le peuple népalais — « une merveilleuse civilisation ». Les gens sont, selon Franke, « toujours souriants, toujours joyeux, extrêmement respectueux ». Franke a l’habitude des voyages, ayant parcouru, entres autres, l’Europe, le Kazakhstan et le Vietnam. Au Népal, il a trouvé « une chaleur et une gentillesse qu’on ne voit pas » ailleurs.

Enfin, il voulait voir les vestiges de la dévastation causée par le tremblement de terre de 2015 qui a tué près de 9000 personnes au Népal. La terre s’est soulevée, laissant derrière elle un mélange de roches, de boue et de gravats. C’est une tragédie dont le pays se remet encore. Mais c’est aussi un rappel de l’activité tectonique à l’origine de ces montagnes extraordinaires. La force qui a presque détruit le Népal il y a quelques années est aussi celle qui a donné naissance à de majestueuses montagneuses emblématiques et photogéniques qui fascinent les gens comme Franke et dont l’Everest est le joyau central.


There can be only one highest place on Earth, a distinction for Mount Everest that has been both a source of inspiration and a curse. Rising above the border between Nepal and Tibet, the great mountain stands as a worldwide totem of the ultimate in adventurous possibility.

That’s why a wave of humanity sweeps over Everest every year, climbers intent on claiming the cachet of having stood atop the world’ s highest peak. More than 5,000 people have succeeded, almost 900 in 2019 alone. By comparison, K2, the world’s second-highest peak, gets a cold shoulder, with fewer than 400 summiters in the 65 years since the first climbers reached the top. Among mountains, Everest, literally and figuratively, stands alone.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Ama Dablam

The high rate of visitation, of course, has generated widespread complaints of overcrowding and environmental degradation and has spawned the rise of a whole sub-genre of journalism—Everest horror stories. If you want to sell a magazine, nothing piques the public interest like a story about misery and death on Everest.

Sixty-one-year-old Bernard Franke of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts admits that, before traveling to Nepal in the fall of 2018, he too was among the many inspired by Everest. But he wasn’t driven by a desire to plant a footprint in the summit snow. He wanted simply to be in the great mountain’s muscular presence. He wanted to see it from various angles and to make a photographic record of its magical aura in precise and vivid detail. What he had in mind was a kind of photographic pas de deux between man and mountain.

The high rate of visitation, of course, has generated widespread complaints of overcrowding and environmental degradation and has spawned the rise of a whole sub-genre of journalism—Everest horror stories.

So, after 15 months of painstaking preparation, including repeated climbs of Mont Tremblant with a heavy pack to ready himself for the rigors of Himalayan trekking, Franke joined a 25-day expedition to the Everest region led by the Montreal-based outfitter Karavaniers. He brought with him high-definition camera gear that would allow him to produce photos of such clarity that every striation of rock and feathery pinion of snow on Everest’s flanks would be revealed. The closest he would come to the summit would be Everest base camp.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal monastere

The route that Franke’s trek would follow to base camp was deliberately indirect. Most of the 35,000 annual base-camp visitors start in the town of Lukla, home to what is possibly the world’s most dangerous airport. They spend two weeks hiking back and forth on a 65-kilometre trail so well-traveled that it is sometimes called “the autoroute.” Franke’s group would instead head north from Lukla to the 5,483-metre crest of Gokyo Ri, bear east toward 5,420 m Chola Pass, then turn southward toward Dughla, where they would join the “autoroute” for the final push to base camp at 5,362 m.

From there it would be a straight shot back to Lukla. The longer route would entail several extra days of trekking, but that plan had at least two advantages. It would provide Franke an opportunity to photograph Everest from various vantage points, and it would allow more time to properly acclimatize to the oxygen-starved air above 5,000 m. As Franke notes, helicopters are regularly seen ferrying passengers, stricken by symptoms of pulmonary edema, from base camp to lower elevations for recovery. The primary cause of their illness: insufficient time to acclimatize.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo Helicoptere mountainside

Although photography was a principal objective of the trip, the physical challenges of 180 km of hiking at high altitude, including more than 12,000 vertical metres of climbing, also appealed to Franke. He admits to a fear of heights, and crossing high, wobbly suspension bridges offered a chance to confront and overcome that fear. He would need to deal with the additional weight of a seven-kilogram backpack filled with photo gear—an easily manageable load at lower elevations but a heavy burden above 4,000 m. And, as he would discover, the act of taking photographs would be more physically taxing than might be expected. At high altitude, the process of taking off a backpack and a layer of clothing in order to prepare to take a photo can be a surprisingly arduous task. “I had to kick myself to take pictures,” he says.

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After an eight-hour jeep ride through the Nepalese jungle, Franke’s group—consisting of five trekkers, a Quebec-based guide, and a team of Sherpas—began the ascent toward Gokyo Ri. After a couple of days of trekking, the group was treated to its first sighting of Everest in Namche Bazar, but it was from the summit of Gokyo Ri that Franke was treated to a 360-degree panorama of mountainous upthrust, topped by Everest. “It was a stunningly beautiful place,” he says. The Gokyo Ri outlook revealed in one, breathtaking sweep, that Everest had plenty of company in conveying the Himalayan grandeur of Nepal.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo Helicoptere terraces

After the climb to Chola Pass, Franke would encounter another expression of sublime mountain architecture. Ama Dablam, at 6,856 m, might appear puny on relief maps next to Everest’s elevation of 8,848 m. But “jagged, rugged, snowy” Ama Dablam, a statuesque pyramid of rock etched against the sky, all but stopped Franke in his tracks. “It was so physically striking,” he says. He would experience similar visual astonishment a few days later in his climb to Kala Patthar, at nearly 5,600 m, where he was able to capture, photographically, Everest at sunset.

The physical beauty of the Himalayas was something Franke knew he would encounter on his journey. But a few other things revealed themselves that he hadn’t necessarily expected. For one, he found Everest base camp, so often characterized in media coverage as an overcrowded, trash-strewn place, to be immaculately clean. That was partly due to the fact that the principal climbing season is in April and May, and base camp was mostly empty when Franke arrived in late fall. But the Nepalese government has recognized the problems that popularity has inflicted on basecamp and the mountain above it. The government has taken strong measures to clean things up, including the imposition of strict, trash-removal rules for any organization seeking a guiding permit.

Beyond Everest Franke Nepal Photo sommet Gokyo Ri

Also, Franke was struck by the people of Nepal – “a beautiful civilization.” The people were, says Franke, “always smiling, always happy, extremely respectful.” Franke is an experienced world traveler, having been to, among other destinations, Europe, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam. But in Nepal, he encountered “a warmth and kindness you don’t see” elsewhere.

Finally, he was interested to see the vestiges of the devastation caused by the 2015 earthquake that killed almost 9,000 people in Nepal. The earth heaved, leaving behind a jumble of rock, mud, and rubble. It was a tragedy that the country is still recovering from. But it was also a reminder that tectonic activity was what created these extraordinary mountains in the first place. The force that nearly destroyed Nepal a few years ago is the same force that gave birth to an iconic, photogenic world of mountainous majesty that enthralls people like Franke, with Everest as the crown jewel.

Excerpted from Vie en montagne, winter 2020.

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