There are mountaineers who try to climb Mont Blanc, others who want to reach the roof of the world, Everest. And there is Sophie Lavaud. This mountaineer became, on June 26, 2023, the first French woman to have climbed the 14 peaks at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters. A challenge that took 11 years of his life to accomplish. Guest of Legends Studio by Jacques Vendroux, Sophie Lavaud recounts her life journey, her rises and the dangers she had to face.
“I was organizing my vacation based on wanting to climb a 5,000 meter”
Although she “grew in the mountains” in her youth, in the Chamonix valley, in the Alps, Sophie Lavaud’s passion for mountaineering did not come immediately. She had this spark thanks to a close friend: “At the time, I had a friend who had the dream of doing Mont Blanc. We made a bet and we said to ourselves that we were going to do Mont Blanc. He made his dream come true and it clicked for me.”
Quickly, the desire to go higher and higher appeared: “Alongside my job, I organized my vacations in relation to wanting to climb a 5,000 meter.” Finally, the economic crisis of 2008 “gave him time to attempt an 8,000 meter race”.
To attempt the challenge of the 14 “8,000”, Sophie Lavaud needed a new trigger, this one appeared in the best place, in 2014: “The trigger came at the summit of Everest. It’s the roof of the world, and I said to myself ‘I don’t want to stop at all’ I love this world of expedition, it’s from there that I said to myself ‘what if I tried this Grail,. this slightly crazy dream of climbing 14”.
“Someone who slumps or falls asleep will never wake up”
To accomplish these expeditions, you need very specific organization to be done upstream, which can turn out to be very costly: “We group together with several expedition members on the same permit. In the Himalayas, the mountains are regulated, you have to do permit and authorization requests, there are liaison officers who are attached to each expedition at the base camp. It’s an organization that costs money. The climbers then follow a route “opened by a leading team of Sherpas who will also secure the technical parts”. The ascent is done in pairs, “it’s a climber and a sherpa”. It is together that they define their strategy for the test that awaits them.
Especially since these climbs at an altitude of 8,000 meters carry many risks. Above this altitude, man “is not able to survive”. The main risk is the lack of oxygen: “Hypoxia impairs the body’s thinking and functioning, which makes these climbs extremely difficult. Someone who falters or falls asleep will never wake up. We will not have not the ability to help him come down, that’s what makes these climbs special, very different from the Alps.”
Despite the accomplishment of this extraordinary challenge and the dangers that she was able to avoid, Sophie Lavaud does not intend to stop climbing, quite the contrary: “I am going to stop climbing at 8,000 meters, but it is clear that I cannot I’m not going to stop climbing. I have a new challenge, the ‘Seven Summits’, which is the ascent of the highest points of each continent. A documentary, The last summit by François Damilano, retraces the last exploit of the French mountaineer and will be broadcast on Canal + on May 23.