ECO-TOUR OF THE CHAMONIX VALLEY WITH VIVIAN BRUCHEZ

 

A festive moment took place at the Nouvelles Galeries in Annecy on March 31, 2023 to look back on the eco-tour of the Chamonix valley organized by Compagnie du Mont-Blanc. This original two-day challenge brought together Vivian Bruchez, Mathieu Dechavanne (Chairman & CEO of Compagnie du Mont-Blanc) and Antoine Burnet (Sales & Marketing Director). Ghislain Pipers, co-founder and CEO of Samaya, talks to ODS Radio about how Samaya came to be, and focuses on the Samaya ASSAUT2 tent. ULTRA chosen by the three mountaineers for their expedition.

 

ODS You are the founder of Samaya, a company that sells mountain equipment, particularly tents. How did you come up with the idea of creating Samaya ?

 

Ghislain Pipers I started working on the project thanks to a study project with a professor I knew who was also a long-time mountaineer. I wanted to propose a mountaineering tent that would be ultra-high-performance, while maintaining a certain level of comfort. I'm from Annecy, I was a member of the French climbing team for quite a few years, I've been climbing since I was a kid with my parents, I've had a climbing wall at home since I was 7, so I've been immersed in this environment for a long time. It was a project that appealed to me, because I'd been bivouacking in the mountains since I was very young. We were two mountaineers at the origin of the project. We wanted innovative, less ageing products for our expeditions, and as time went by, our friends also wanted our tents, so Samaya started to grow and today we're a team of around twenty people. We don't go off to the other side of the world as much to do mountaineering, but it's still our passion, it's what makes us tick. We're keen to shake up the world of bivouac and roaming equipment.

 

ODS What do you mean by aging?

 

GP : There were a lot of things to reinvent in terms of materials, construction, design and the need for a scientific approach to benefit the consumer, to revolutionize the use of a tent in extreme conditions in the four corners of the globe.

 

 

ODS Here we have the Samaya ASSAUT2 tent. ULTRA. What's so special about it? How is this product innovative compared to the aging equipment you mentioned earlier?

 

GP We've got our favorite lightweight product here: Samaya ASSAUT2 ULTRA weighs less than a kilo for two people. This product is designed for use in extreme conditions, at very high altitudes. This is the product Kilian Jornet chose to take on Everest. What makes it stand out from the crowd is its high performance and light weight. When you're bivouacking at an altitude of 8,000 metres, the slightest defect in the tent can be fatal. So it's both a safety product and a place where you can rest to regain your strength and set off again. And last but not least, comfort. The innovation lies in combining the three pillars of performance, lightness and comfort under the same roof, resulting in the ultimate product.

 

ODS Finally, how do you ensure that your products perform in all circumstances?

 

GP We have products that are always in the field, with users pushing the limits of alpine performance at every turn. We absolutely wanted to position the scientific approach at the heart of product development, and thus for the benefit of the user. We do a lot of simulation and testing. We have a wind tunnel and a cold room on our premises. It's this approach that has built our legitimacy with athletes and consumers alike, for both extreme and more accessible experiences.