FIVE STAR BASE CAMP 2020
COMBE MAUDITE - MONT-BLANC - 2020
The world's greatest mountaineers and climbers, brought together in the Samaya Family, gather in the Mont-Blanc massif for an extraordinary experience with French chef Jean Sulpice, two Michelin stars and Gault & Millau's Cook of the Year 2018.
Set sail for Samaya FIVE STAR BASE CAMP.
On the Col du Géant, just off the Helbronner cable car, a dozen mountaineers, all members of the Samaya Family, are bustling around a large blue trunk. Loaded as if for a Himalayan expedition, they try to fit as many bulky bags as possible onto this imposing trunk and a narrow pulka. Tied together by meters of rope, the two boats wobble, drift and sometimes overturn, escaping the track at the first opportunity. Gradually, a swarm of ropes and mountaineers organize themselves to hold, pull and push the two crude sledges as best they can.
But where are these climbers going and what are they planning to do all togther and with that much equipment?
That's the question in the eyes of those they meet, but which few dare to ask. Some recognize themselves and know that these climbers are more accustomed to alpine style, light and fast ascents with 40-liter backpacks than to sarcophagi with enigmatic contents... especially in the Mont-Blanc massif!
The purpose of this outpouring of energy is the result of a slightly mad inspiration: to recreate a real high-altitude base camp in Himalayan colors in the Combe Maudite, with the best French and international mountaineers gathered around the Samaya brand, itself at the origin of the project.
It would have been possible to call in a helicopter to carry the hundreds of kilos of equipment and food needed to accomplish such a feat. But in the end, the value of the journey, the effort and the complicity required to reach the goal are just as important to the success of the whole. It's a "by fair means" approach, so dear to Samaya, in which the end doesn't justify the means. With the help of the cable car having already largely fulfilled the mechanical part of a voluntarily meritorious adventure, it's time to sweat it out.
A micro-community emerges and comes to animate a landscape of monochrome colours.
Cahin-caha, the caravan of climbers passes some of the massif's most beautiful monoliths. These sentinels of rock that watch over the tranquility of the Combe Maudite are both attractive and frightening. The members of the Samaya Family have sparkling eyes. Accustomed to summits that are three times the height of the surrounding peaks, it's not anxiety that shows on their faces, but greed. Planted on gums of ice, sharp as stone canines, they draw the eye and command respect.
It is in this setting, which is both close and accessible, as well as exotic and wild, that the location of base camp is settled upon. The setting must be breathtaking, with a flat surface and minimal crevices to limit the risks and ensure the safety of all the protagonists. In the centre of the glacial tongue of this coomb, cursed for some, blessed for others, a probe is planted. After a few stings through the frozen skin of the glacier, dealt by a sharpened probe, the signal is launched. The terrain seems free of devious traps.
Within minutes, an ephemeral micro-community emerges from the ground. Born from a blank page, its layout is at the discretion of its creators. On the surface of a sea of ice several hundred meters deep, the Samaya BASECAMP from the 8K range is born to serve as a "tent-mess". It will be the heart of this small company, which is just coming to life. All around, domes, as if magically tinted in the colors of Samaya's ALPINE, 8K and ULTRA ranges, bloom in the snow, illuminating and enlivening the monochrome landscape.
Luxury isn't always where you expect it.
For Samaya, this gathering is a celebration of the mountaineers and himalayists who associate their advice and image with a company of enthusiasts. Accustomed to hauling their own tents and making do with freeze-dried food, few of them have any idea of the surprise that awaits them at base camp. This time, in an environment that is nonetheless familiar to them, Samaya has thought of everything so that they will remember this bivouac as a five-star experience! Like them, Samaya is convinced that luxury is not always where you expect it to be, and that nature, particularly in the high mountains, can offer priceless experiences.
For this exceptional event, taking place in an exceptional setting at an altitude of 3,400 meters and designed for exceptional guests, Samaya asked chef Jean Sulpice to join the Samaya Family. Twice Michelin-starred and voted best chef by Gault & Millau in 2018, he shares the Samaya Family's passion for the mountains, and honored all guests with his presence and performance at the summit!
In this improvised gourmet restaurant, the floor of which has been largely dug out, snow benches have been fitted out and covered with insulating carpets. All around this famous blue trunk, which empties to the rhythm of the tasting, are comfortably seated mountaineers and himalayists from the Samaya Family, who come from the four corners of Europe and even beyond the Atlantic, and whose main residence is often Chamonix. They all talk about their latest or forthcoming expeditions. Side by side, Hélias Millerioux, Symon Welfringer, Lise Billon, Matteo Della Bordella and Jordi Noguere are on the same wavelength.
Both ambitious and modest, they are among those who do very serious things without really taking themselves seriously. Most of them work as guides to subsist and self-finance their projects. No one star shines brighter than the others, but the constellation formed by this cheerful team is impressive.
A Magnum cork pops as the first delicious pies appear, majestically followed by ravioli "al Plin de lapin" with capers and lemon, ripe cheeses and finally sweets and other delicacies, which are still vividly remembered. This base camp meal is like a hallucination. The bio-dynamic wines set fire to the powders and do not help clairvoyance. Tasting such nectars in stemmed glasses with the south face of Mont Blanc as a backdrop is a unique experience that leaves a lasting impression. Accented by the contrasting high-alpine landscape, this is the dinner of all superlatives. The smiles that decorate the chiseled faces of each of the guests are the same as the ones at the summit of a remarkable ascent: unfailing. For dessert, the American Colin Haley and the Englishman Tom Linvingstone turn up as a surprise. With their hands still full of chalk, they arrive from the Grand Capucin, which they just ascended. Neither of them expects such a welcome, nor such a feast!
It's a powerful act that has helped the Samaya Family to forge a lasting bond.
If the evenings are lively, the days are even livelier. Several climbs are made on the stone obelisks lining the glacier by roped parties formed for the occasion. For angry lions whose tents Samaya can no longer contain, Combe Maudite is a profusion of granite treats. Choices have to be made: they won't be able to taste everything. Some of them, in the same day, offer themselves ridge climbs in the morning, big routes for lunch and even a third ascent for a snack. Some climbing times are halved or even tripled, and it's only the arrival of the storm that brings the climbing to an end. From the top of the routes, each of the roped parties nevertheless takes the time to contemplate the mandala formed by each of the ten tents, which together form a harmonious design. The rock in this corner of the massif, a compact red protogine with perfect cracks, is one of the most beautiful on the vertical planet. The accessibility of the site, the beauty of the setting and the quality of the lines on offer make it an unmissable destination.
This high-altitude base camp is also the perfect opportunity for Samaya to present its new finalized models to its athletes, following on from the reflections and tests carried out in close collaboration with them on the prototype versions. Life-size tests that are no more when the elements are unleashed and lightning strikes. A night-time sound and light show in the form of a final bouquet enlivens the last night and brings to a close an event that will never be compared to any other.
This type of event, like mountaineering, could raise questions. What's the point of expending all this energy on activities that some would describe as pointless? Samaya 's vision is that bringing together, with the utmost care and attention, exceptional flesh-and-blood beings to celebrate their relationship with the mountains at altitude is a powerful act that nurtures the lasting complicity of the Samaya Family. It is this closeness that enables us to push the excellence of Samaya and its products ever further, and thus the intensity of each of the experiences associated with them.
Long live this type of celebration, whose ingredients are now known, but whose proportions Samaya will keep secret for some time to come!
