“On va marcher sur l’ Everest”/ “Everest, summit of desire” (France, 2014, François Damilano, 54’)
Everest – Summit of Desire follows in the footsteps of Sophie Lavaud as she attempts to reach the summit of the “Roof of the World”. Sophie is our guiding thread during a two-month interlude from everyday life in the shadow of the legendary north face of Mount Everest, battered by the furious winds that blow across the long summit ridge.
Setting off to climb the highest mountain on Earth is a great adventure and a huge personal commitment. We accompany Sophie to find out what this adventure involves. But we also explore the “desire for Everest”, a desire that arises from a yearning for change or to achieve an absolute and which extends far beyond the mountaineering community.
Everest – Summit of Desire provides a day-by-day account of the uncompromising journey to very high altitude, thereby revealing the constant tension between personal qualities (determination, fortitude, strength of mind, belief, abnegation, patience) and the outside world, which, for a time, is reduced to the icy slopes of Mount Everest (8,850 m).